For the first time since 2002, Family Guy will air on weeknights, beginning Wednesday, March 6 on FOX. Don’t worry, FOX’s Sunday lineup of cartoons will remain intact with The Simpsons, The Great North, Krapopolis, and Grimsburg. But, after this Sunday, Bob’s Burgers goes on hiatus, which is not cool.
This week’s What to Watch picks include Netflix’s new Millie Bobby Brown fantasy epic Damsel, the return of FOX hits The Cleaning Lady and Animal Control, the premiere of Chelsea Perretti comedy First Time Female Director, the Oscars, and USL Championship soccer action. Stream away!
What’s new on TV this week
State of the Union | Multiple Channels | News special
Coverage begins Thursday, March 7, 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET: President Joe Biden has plenty of wins to talk up in his 2024 State of the Union address, like a strong U.S. economy, record employment numbers, and [checks notes] zero felony indictments. But President Biden will also have to tackle some major negatives in his speech, including immigration, the Israeli-Palestinian and Ukrainian-Russian conflicts, the latest potential government shutdown, his collusion with Taylor Swift to rig the Super Bowl, and ice cream. The State of the Union will be carried live on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS, Telemundo, Univision, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and Fox Business.
USL Championship | CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN2 | Sports, soccer
Coverage begins Saturday, March 9, 1 p.m. PT/4 p.m. ET: The United Soccer League has doubled its roster since its 2011 launch, up from 12 teams initially to 24 in 2024. The USL Championship will kick off with nine matches on Saturday, March 9, beginning with New Mexico United vs. Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC and closing the day with Oakland Roots SC vs. Indy Eleven. The season extends onto November, with over 30 matches televised on CBS, CBS Sports Network, Paramount+, and ESPN platforms.
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What to watch on Netflix this week
The Gentlemen | Netflix | Drama
Series Premiere, Thursday, March 7: Remember director Guy Ritchie’s 2019 movie The Gentlemen? Matters not—his TV adaptation features a new set of characters and a different plot. This time around, a British aristocrat (Theo James) inherits his late father’s country estate, only to learn that it houses an illegal cannabis business owned by a seriously bad bloke (Ray Winstone). The Gentlemen also stars Giancarlo Esposito and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels alum Vinnie Jones. All eight episodes stream on March 7.
Damsel | Netflix | Drama, fantasy
Movie premiere, Friday, March 8: When Elodie (Millie Bobby Brown) agrees to marry a handsome prince, she learns too late that his royal family has a sinister honeymoon in store for her: sacrificing her to a dragon to satisfy an ancient debt. But, unlike the doomed princesses before her, Elodie is determined to escape the dragon’s lair and flip this fractured fairytale into a revenge story—she’s John Wick with a better blunt cut. Damsel also stars Angela Bassett, Robin Wright, and (here he is again) Ray Winstone.
What to watch on Hulu this week
Season 3 premiere, Tuesday, March 5: Cambodian-Filipino surgeon Thony (Elodie Yung) came to the U.S. to find treatment for her 5-year-old son’s rare bone marrow disease, but has to work as a crime-scene “cleaning lady” for the Las Vegas mob to afford it—the show’s a tense thriller and an indictment of the American healthcare system. If you’re new to The Cleaning Lady, do yourself a favor and check out the first two seasons on Max, which are driven entirely by Yung’s steely but empathetic performance.
Season 2 premiere, Wednesday, March 6: One of the best new comedies of 2023, Animal Control now also has the distinction of being the only live-action comedy left standing on FOX (which explains why the network’s pairing it up with Family Guy on Wednesdays). Animal Control put star Joel McHale back in his ensemble groove for the first time since Community, teaming him with a tight comic cast (including Vella Lovell, Ravi V. Patel, and Grace Palmer) and a weekly parade of chaos-agent critters. How about six seasons and a movie for this, too?
What to watch on Prime Video this week
Ricky Stanicky | Prime Video | Comedy
Movie premiere, Thursday, March 7: Three teen friends invented an imaginary character to take the fall for a prank gone wrong—over 20 years later as adults (Zac Effron, Andrew Santino, and Jermaine Fowler), they’re still shifting blame to the nonexistent “Ricky Stanicky.” When they’re finally caught in a lie, the trio is forced to produce Ricky, so they hire a washed-up and slightly unhinged actor (John Cena in full gonzo mode) to play him, with disastrous results. Ricky Stanicky was directed by Peter Farrelly, the man behind that 2017 show you just discovered, Loudermilk.
Cadillac Man | Prime Video | Comedy
Movie, now streaming: The late Robin Williams starred in over 100 TV shows and movies, but his 1990 dark comedy Cadillac Man (which just arrived on Prime Video this month) remains one of his most criminally underrated. Queens car salesman Joey (Williams) is juggling two mistresses, an outstanding mob loan, and a two-day deadline to sell 12 cars or lose his job. Larry (Tim Robbins), a gun-toting biker who takes the dealership hostage, only makes matters worse … but actually better. Watch Cadillac Man already.
More of what to watch on streaming this week
First Time Female Director | The Roku Channel | Comedy
Movie premiere, Friday, March 8: The title works on two levels: Sam (Chelsea Perretti), a playwright for a small Glendale theater, suddenly finds herself in the director role of her play; Perretti, who wrote First Time Female Director, is also debuting as a film director here. I know, right? First Time Female Director also features a stacked comedic cast, including Kate Berlant, Max Greenfield, Natasha Leggero, Tim Heidecker, Megan Mullally, Amy Poehler, and more. You don’t have to be a theater nerd to enjoy this … but it helps.
96th Academy Awards | ABC | Awards
Special, Sunday, March 10: Jimmy Kimmel hosts the 96th Academy Awards—or do we call it the Oscars? Make up your mind, Hollywood. Anyway: Oppenheimer is this year’s most-nominated movie, followed by Poor Things, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Barbie. Smaller entries The Holdovers, Anatomy of a Fall, American Fiction, Past Lives, and The Zone of Interest are expected to pick up several awards that aren’t Best Picture, and Carey Mulligan is almost certain to take home a trophy for Maestro. Sadly, Good Burger 2 was completely snubbed.
New movie releases available to rent/buy on VOD this week
- Argylle (March 5)
- Before I Change My Mind (March 5)
- T-Blockers (March 5)
- 5lbs of Pressure (March 8)
- American Dreamer (March 8)
- The Ballad of Davey Crockett (March 8)
- Frogman (March 8)
- The Piper (March 8)
- The Princess Warrior (March 8)
- Space: The Longest Goodbye (March 8)
