The 5 Best Apple TV+ Shows to Watch for Free This Weekend

Apple is kicking off the new year with a gift for everyone: a free weekend of Apple TV+. The entire catalog of original shows and movies will be available to stream without a subscription from Saturday, January 4th to Sunday, January 5th. Here’s what you should watch.

Since the free period only lasts for 48 hours, I chose a handful of shows that can easily be finished on a weekend. Also, all but one of the shows on this list have concluded, so you don’t have to worry about getting hooked on a show that’s on a service you may not want to keep.

1 Severance

Severance is about a group of office workers who have undergone a medical procedure that separates their work memories from their personal memories. The show follows the workers as they begin to question the true nature of their work and the company they work for. Severance is a fascinating show, and if you get hooked (like I did), you’ll be happy to know season two is dropping later this month.

2 Black Bird

Black Bird is a true crime miniseries based on the true story of James Keene, a high school football star from Chicago who was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Keene is offered a deal to fully commute his sentence with a clean record if he can get a suspected serial killer to confess to his crimes.

3 Manhunt

Manhunt is a historical drama miniseries that dives into the aftermath of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Unlike many shows about Lincoln’s assassination, this series explores the impact of the event on the nation, particularly on Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, rather than focusing on John Wilkes Booth.

4 Schmigadoon!

Schmigadoon! is a musical comedy with two seasons of six episodes. Season one is about a couple who discovers a magical town where everyone acts like they’re in a 1940s musical. The couple must find true love in order to leave the town. The story continues in season two, which changes the setting to musicals from the 60s and 70s.

5 Sunny

Sunny is a dark comedy about a woman who is trying to get her life back on track after her husband and son go missing. She is given a “domestic robot” from her husband’s company to help her, but she ends up working with the robot to figure out what happened to her husband and son.

This is barely the tip of the iceberg for Apple TV+, but it’s an easy starting point if you just want to binge-watch for a couple of days. Should you decide to pay the $9.99 per month after the weekend, you should check out For All Mankind (40 episodes), The Morning Show (30 episodes), Shrinking (22 episodes), and Ted Lasso (34 episodes).