The latest
With summer here, now’s the time to catch up on what you missed this year. We’ve pulled both Variety critics’ picks into one list, with a quick take on each show and the platform it’s on.
Aramide Tinubu’s picks
• The ‘Burbs (Peacock). A horror-comedy inspired by the 1989 film. A couple (Keke Palmer and Jack Whitehall) move to the suburbs with their newborn, only to find creeping secrets next door. Dark, funny and bizarre.
• Half Man (HBO). The latest from “Baby Reindeer” creator Richard Gadd. A devastating three-decade study of masculinity, tracing two brothers bound not by blood but by circumstance. Violent and disturbing.
• The House of the Spirits (Prime Video). A dazzling adaptation of Isabel Allende’s 1982 novel. Three generations of Trueba women push back against tyrannical men, against the backdrop of a military coup.
• Imperfect Women (Apple TV). A psychological thriller in which three longtime friends are torn apart by lies and a murder. Stars Kerry Washington, Kate Mara and Elisabeth Moss.
• Jury Duty: Company Retreat (Prime Video). The second run of the hit hoax sitcom: one man has no idea everyone around him is an actor in a staged setup. Warm and endearing.
• Rivals (Hulu). A soapy dark comedy from Jilly Cooper’s novels, set in 1980s England. A ruthless feud between two TV executives, with twists, sex and corporate espionage.
• Star City (Apple TV). A spinoff of “For All Mankind,” a paranoid thriller inside the Soviet space program in an alt-history where the USSR reaches the moon first.
• The Testaments (Hulu). A follow-up to “The Handmaid’s Tale.” A 16-year-old raised in Gilead’s comfort sees her world upended by an outsider’s arrival. Ann Dowd returns.
• Young Sherlock (Prime Video). A fresh spin on the detective, directed by Guy Ritchie. A 19-year-old, troublemaking Sherlock cracks his first case alongside James Moriarty.
• Your Friends & Neighbors (Apple TV). Season 2 of the dramedy where a fired hedge-funder (Jon Hamm) robs his wealthy neighbors to keep up appearances — until a billionaire newcomer corners him.
Alison Herman’s picks
• The Audacity (AMC). A Silicon Valley satire: a therapist gets caught between tech egos with messiah complexes. From a “Succession” alum. Heady and sharp.
• DTF St. Louis (HBO). A mystery miniseries in Steven Conrad’s singular voice, centered on suburban affairs and the death of an ASL interpreter, filled in through flashbacks.
• The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins (NBC). A mockumentary sitcom led by Tracy Morgan as a disgraced football player trying to salvage his image. A “30 Rock” reunion.
• Industry (HBO). The London finance drama reinvents itself in Season 4. Investor Harper Stern runs her own fund and collides with a fraudulent fintech startup.
• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO). The second “Game of Thrones” spinoff, lighter and shorter. A would-be knight and a prince fleeing his royal family anchor the fun.
• Lord of the Flies (Netflix). A new take on William Golding’s classic, giving the tragedy of marooned schoolboys real weight through a striking young cast.
• Neighbors (HBO). A docuseries of real neighbors nearly coming to blows — a window into the American dream and characters stranger than fiction.
• The Pitt (HBO Max). Season 2 of the Emmy-sweeping medical drama. The slow-motion unraveling of an ER attending (Noah Wyle) worn down by an overburdened system.
• The Vampire Lestat (AMC). The evolution of “Interview With the Vampire.” A vampire processes centuries of trauma by hijacking a rock band. An unorthodox nocturnal romance.
• Widow’s Bay (Apple TV). A horror-comedy in a cursed New England town run by a well-meaning mayor (Matthew Rhys). Haunted houses, killer clowns and storms — you never know if the payoff is a scream or a laugh.
What to watch
The lists are unranked and cover only the first half of the year, so expect the field to widen by the end of 2026. Several titles — including “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” and “Industry” — are heading into new seasons that aim to raise the bar.
