The Best TV Series to Stream This Week

If you’re looking for a new show to watch this week, the vast landscape of streaming networks will provide plenty of them. The two of the most interesting new shows on streaming this week originated outside the United States: German dark comedy Where’s Wanda? and creepy Japanese anime series Uzumaki. I don’t know what this says, if anything, about the state of the U.S. entertainment industry, but I do know that you should give these shows a watch.

Where’s Wanda?

This dark comedy series was imported from Germany. Where’s Wanda? tells the story of Dedo and Carlotta Klatt, whose 17 year-old daughter disappears mysteriously. The local police are no help, so Dedo and Carlotta launch their own investigation by hiding high tech listening devices in their neighbor’s homes. The couple’s suburban surveillance reveals a hidden world where none of the neighbors are what they appear to be.

Where to stream: Apple TV+

The Legend of Vox Machina, season 3

The first and second seasons of animated series The Legend of Vox Machina earned perfect Rotten Tomatoes scores for their epic adventures and hilarious comedy, and season 3 aims to bring fans more of the same. Based on a D&D campaign from YouTube series Critical Role, this rowdy adventure show is the perfect treat for fans of comedy, adventure, and role-playing games, and I’m pretty sure that covers everyone.

Where to stream: Prime

Uzumaki

This animated horror series is based on the 1998 manga by Junji Ito. It tells the story of a town that is haunted by spirals. People being menaced by a shape didn’t fully work in the 2000 live-action movie, where it comes off as a bit silly, but when you animate Ito’s story with stark, evocative black and white drawings and present it over four episodes, it’s not funny at all. Instead, Uzumaki is odd and haunting in a way that’s hard to describe, but will have you wondering about all the spirals that surround you all the time.

Where to stream: Max

Social Studies

This docuseries follows diverse groups of teenagers from different high schools in Los Angeles, digging into a school year of their lives. The subjects have opened their phones as well as their lives, and Social Studies takes a look at the digital habits that are shaping the first generation of online natives as they grapple with beauty standards, sexuality, the future, and more.

Where to stream: Hulu

Unsolved Mysteries, Volume 5

We’re on the fifth mini-season of Netflix’s revamped version of this series about real-life conundrums, and the mysteries show no signs of stopping. This set of four episodes leans heavier on UFOs and the paranormal than previous volumes of Unsolved Mysteries—there’s a Roswell episode, a cattle mutilation episode, and a psychic episode—so if you’re into mysteries that are crimes instead of mysteries that are bullshit, this might not be the season for you.

Where to stream: Netflix

Last week’s picks

Nobody Wants This

In this Netflix comedy series, Kristen Bell and Adam Brody star as Joanne and Noah, a pair of opposites: He’s a traditional rabbi used to playing it safe; she’s a brutally honest, in-your-face agnostic. Will these two fall in love despite the differences in their backgrounds and worldviews? I’d put my money on “yes,” because that’s what Nobody Wants This is about. 

Where to stream: Netflix

Penelope 

This young-adult series was created by Mark Duplass and Mel Eslyn, and earned raves when the pilot aired at Sundance. It tells the story of Penelope, played by Megan Stott, an alienated 16-year-old whose yearning for the wilderness leads her to leave everything behind and trek into the unexplored wilderness to make a different kind of life for herself. 

Where to stream: Netflix

Brilliant Minds

In Brilliant Minds, Zachary Quinto plays Dr. Oliver Wolf, a talented neurologist who suffers from face blindness. Not being able to tell one person from another may seem like a drawback for a medical professional, but it gives Wolf unique insight into his patients’ problems. He’ll need all the help he can get at Bronx hospital, where he’ll face some of the most puzzling psychological cases.

Where to stream: Peacock

Grotesquerie

Horror fans: Hulu sees you. Grotesquerie could be the full-tilt horror show you’ve been waiting for. When a series of gruesome crimes rocks a small town, local detective Lois Tryon starts to suspect that she’s the real target. With no leads to go on, Tryon turns to Sister Megan, a nun with a special insight into the supernatural, and the unlikely pair are led into a maelstrom of evil where they uncover sinister secrets.

Where to stream: Hulu