What To Watch This Weekend: Stream Our Top 7 TV and Movie Picks (March 31–April 6)

New on TV this week

This week’s What To Watch picks include Kevin Bacon as an undead demon hunter in The Bondsman, a new anime series from the creator of Cowboy Bebop, a sexy tearjerker (Hulu’s Dying for Sex), Shudder’s “Halfway to Halloween” celebration (featuring a mystery slasher double-feature) and more. Let’s hit the couch!

Pulse | Netflix | Medical drama

Series premiere, Thursday, April 3: Netflix says the trailer for its first English-language medical drama set in hot, sexy Miami will get your heart pumping. Hmmm … (dons stethoscope). It has a sappy song worthy of Grey’s Anatomy, a forbidden kiss between colleagues, “you just saved this patient’s life” moment … (scribbles in chart) Oh, we also have dicey treatment dilemmas, a major natural disaster, a Noah Wyle analog takin’ off his shirt … Yes, Pulse will doubtless throw fans of derivative medical dramas into tachycardia. Starring Willa Fitzgerald, Colin Woodell, Justina Machado, Nestor Carbonell, Jack Bannon, Jessie T. Usher, Daniela Nieves, and more star in this series from Emmy winner Carlton Cuse (Lost) and writer Zoe Robyn (The Equalizer). All 10 episodes hit Netflix today.

The Bondsman | Amazon Prime Video | Drama, comedy, horror

Series premiere, Thursday, April 3: In this half-hour dark comedy series, Kevin Bacon plays Hub Halloran, a bounty hunter resurrected by Satan to track down escaped demons and return them to Hell. In executing his duties, Halloran gains perspective about his own past life and decides to live a better life, find love, and become a country music star. Sounds like the creators put a bunch of similar shows and movies—Reaper, Spawn, R.I.P.D., Constantine, Brimstone, et al.—into a cocktail shaker, adding shots of redemption and twang. Also starring: Beth Grant (No Country for Old Men), Jolene Purdy (The White Lotus), Jennifer Nettles (The Righteous Gemstones), and Damon Herriman (Justified). All eight episodes premiere today.

Devil May Cry | Netflix | Anime

Series premiere, Thursday, April 3: In this anime adaptation of the hit Capcom video game of the same name, Dante (Johnny Yong Bosch) is an orphaned demon hunter/mercenary with the fate of the human and demon worlds on his shoulders. Bosch is new to the role of Dante, originally performed by Reuben Langdon, but not the game series, where Bosch portrayed hero Nero in Devil May Cry 4 and 5. Series creator Adi Shankar (Castlevania, Dredd, The Grey) is a fan of the Devil May Cry games, so his adaptation could be faithful and satisfying—unless he gives in to his Bootleg Universe impulses.

Dying for Sex | Hulu | Drama

Series premiere, Friday, April 4: This show, based on Molly Kochan and Nikki Boyer’s Wondery podcast of the same name, says it’s never too late to have a sexual awakening—even if you’ve been diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. Michelle Williams (Drive) portrays Kochan, on whose life the show is based, and Jenny Slate (Parks and Recreation) plays Boyer, her best friend. The story follows Kochan’s post-diagnosis decision to leave her husband (Jay Duplass, The Puffy Chair) and fully explore her sexual desires before she passes. All eight episodes stream on Hulu today; keep some tissues handy.

The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs | Shudder | Horror

Mystery slasher double-feature, Friday, April 4, 9 p.m. ET: April is when the horror streaming service Shudder celebrates “Halfway to Halloween” with 26 new scary movies, including a Lucio Fulci six-pack (here’s the trailer for The Beyond) and four new Shudder originals: 825 Forest Road, Dead Mail (see trailer at left), Shadow of God, and Fréwaka. As for what’s playing tonight, I recommend you tune into The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs for a mystery double-feature. The movies haven’t been announced, but we know from Joe Bob’s X account that he’s showin’ “an old slasher and a new slasher while arguing about every slasher in between. We will also reveal the 24 essential elements of the perfect slasher.” The double-feature is the first of four Friday-night The Last Drive-In live watch parties this month.

Lazarus | Adult Swim, Max | Anime

Series premiere, Saturday, April 5, Midnight ET: Legendary creator Shinichirō Watanabe (the man behind anime classic Cowboy Bebop) returns with a new series. It’s 2052, and the world has been freed from pain by a miracle drug whose creator, Dr. Skinner, has reappeared after a three-year absence. Skinner reveals the drug, Hapna, is booby-trapped; everyone who took it—basically all of humanity—will die in 30 days. To save the world, Lazarus, a team of secret agents, must track down Skinner and a vaccine. John Wick director Chad Stahelski designed the action sequences, and (just like Cowboy Bebop) the soundtrack features jazzy bangers from Kamasi Washington, Bonobo, and Floating Points.