The Oscars … if you missed it, here’s the only moment you need. Oh, and Oppenheimer won everything.
This week’s What to Watch recs include the new Liane Moriarty miniseries Apples Never Fall, Lindsay Lohan rom-com Irish Wish, the return of first-responder dramas 9-1-1 and Station 19, the premiere of Max series The Girls on the Bus, and NWSL Challenge Cup soccer action. To the TV!
What’s new on TV this week
Apples Never Fall | Peacock | Drama
Miniseries premiere, Thursday, March 14: Liane Moriarty’s previous novels-turned-series Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers set a standard of glossy D-R-A-M-A, and Apples Never Fall (based on her 2021 bestseller) follows suit. The lives of retired tennis coaches Joy and Stan (Annette Bening and Sam Neill) and their adult children (including Alison Brie and Jake Lacey) are shattered when Joy disappears and—you guessed it—dark family secrets come to light. All seven episodes stream on March 14.
NWSL Challenge Cup | Prime Video | Sports, soccer
Coverage begins Friday, March 15, 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET: The Challenge Cup is the unofficial kickoff of the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League, which begins on March 16 and runs through November. NWSL 2023 champions NJ/NY Gotham FC will host 2023 NWSL Shield winners San Diego Wave FC at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey for the Challenge Cup, which has been a traditional match since all the way back in 2020.
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What to watch on Netflix this week
Girls5eva | Netflix | Comedy, music
Season 3 premiere, Thursday, March 14: Netflix to the rescue again: Girls5eva, about a one-hit-wonder pop group who’ve reunited 20 years later for a second shot, was canceled at Peacock in 2022 but now lives on at the Big Red N. They’ve recorded their comeback album, so Girls5eva (Sara Bareilles, Busy Philipps, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Paula Pell) are now staging their first tour in two decades. What will women of a certain age do to get noticed in a young singer’s game? Hold onto your control tops.
Irish Wish | Netflix | Comedy, romance
Movie premiere, Friday, March 15: The Lohanaissance continues with Irish Wish, an Ireland-set Lindsay Lohan rom-com just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. When the man who got away becomes engaged to her best friend, Maddie (Lohan) sucks it up to be a bridesmaid at their destination wedding in Ireland. No sooner than you can say Freaky Friday, Maddie makes a wish and wakes up as the bride-to-be herself. But is this guy really her true love? We’ve seen enough of these flicks to know it won’t be that easy.
What to watch on Max this week
The Girls on the Bus | Max | Drama
Series premiere, Thursday, March 14: Is this the best political year to revisit the Hilary Clinton campaign? Nope, which is why The Girls on the Bus swaps out HRC from Amy Chozick’s source novel Chasing Hilary for a fictional presidential hopeful. The Girls on the Bus are four journalists (Melissa Benoist, Carla Gugino, Natasha Behnam, and Christina Elmore) traveling the country on the campaign trail, which makes you wonder if they’ll cross paths with the Girls5eva tour … or is that just me?
Miniseries premiere, Sunday, March 17: The four-part docuseries Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV is about to slime your childhood. In the ’90s and early ’00s, showrunner Dan Schneider built a kiddie empire at Nickelodeon and launched many a child star, including cast members of iCarly, Victorious, All That, Sam & Cat, and Double Dare, several of whom are interviewed for the doc. Quiet on the Set uncovers the abusive and wildly inappropriate dynamics behind the scenes; prepare yourselves.
What to watch on Hulu this week
Season 7 premiere, Thursday, March 14: Follow along: 9-1-1 began as a FOX series in 2018, where it aired until 2022 when FOX canceled it. ABC picked the show up in 2023, and it will move it from Mondays to Thursdays. Meanwhile, spinoff 9-1-1: Lone Star will remain on FOX, but you can still stream both the next day after they air on Hulu. Other than all that, it’s business as usual at 9-1-1, which will continue to throw the most over-the-top-of-the-top first-responder rescues at your face—thanks, ABC.
Season 7 premiere, Thursday, March 14: Where Ryan Murphy’s 9-1-1 is long on bombastic action but lighter on interpersonal drama, its new Thursday night partner Station 19 is a Shonda Rhimes joint—meaning, it’s more of a workplace soap opera like Grey’s Anatomy. Grey’s is premiering its 20th season tonight, but season 7 will be the last for Station 19 on ABC, though there’s growing fan support for Netflix to rescue the Seattle firefighter-EMT drama. Until then, enjoy the show’s final 10 episodes.
More of what to watch on streaming this week
Boat Story | Freevee, Prime Video | Drama, thriller
Series premiere, Tuesday, March 12: Strangers Janet (Daisy Haggard) and Samuel (Paterson Joseph) happen upon a shipwrecked boat on the beach—so far, this is a mid Boat Story. There’s more: The boat is full of cocaine, so Janet and Samuel agree to sell it all and split the money. Soon, the police, masked gangsters, and a hitman known as The Tailor are hunting them down. Even better: When it premiered in the U.K. in 2023, critics called Boat Story a dark-humored mashup of Tarantino and the Coen Brothers.
True Crime Story: Smugshot | SundanceTV, AMC+ | Documentary
Series premiere, Thursday, March 14: While you weren’t looking, SundanceTV began supplementing its schedule of classic movies with Law & Order and Blue Bloods reruns and a criminal docuseries under the obvious banner of True Crime Story. The latest iteration, True Crime Story: Smugshot, looks at the cases of overly entitled lawbreakers who think they’re above it all. These include a PTA revenge plot, a political corruption scandal, a fishing tournament cheat, a teen afflicted with “affluenza,” and … a lost penis.
New movie releases available to rent/buy on VOD this week
- Silver Haze (March 12)
- Inshallah a Boy (March 12)
- One-Percent Warrior (March 12)
- Quintessentially Irish (March 12)
- The Shamrock Spitfire (March 12)
- The Woods Are Real (March 12)
- The Animal Kingdom (March 15)
- Hendrie (March 15)
- Prey (March 15)
- Skinwalkers: American Werewolves 2 (March 15)
- State of Consciousness (March 15)
- Stopmotion (March 15)
- The Throwback (March 15)
