Show summary Hide summary
- Documentaries worth your screen time
- Romance, coming-of-age and small-scale dramas
- Reality, competitions and guilty pleasures
- Horror, body horror and big scares
- Crime procedurals and tense TV
- Comedies and outrageous fare
- Reboots and family favorites
- Quick-reference cast and streaming guide
- Top streaming picks to consider now
If you need a new show or movie for the weekend, streaming services are overflowing with options. From documentary deep dives to outrageous stunts and buzzy revivals, this roundup highlights the most talked-about releases across Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Paramount+, Peacock, Shudder and PBS. Read on for quick takes, cast notes, and where to stream each pick.
Documentaries worth your screen time
Nova: Knowledge Keepers — Indigenous science in focus
PBS’s latest Nova documentary explores engineering and scientific traditions shaped by Indigenous communities across North America. It highlights survival strategies in the Arctic, desert architecture, basketry and sustainable farming. The film reframes ancient practices as sophisticated knowledge systems.
90s R&B: 3 artists who prove you have great taste
U.K. terror plot: what we know and why the Gulf remains in limbo
- Where to watch: PBS app
Go Deep: The DeSean Jackson Story — A personal playbook
A family-made portrait traces DeSean Jackson’s rise from youth football to NFL stardom. Director Mandon Lovett assembles decades of home footage for a raw and intimate look at the athlete’s career and his current work coaching.
- Starring: DeSean Jackson
- Where to watch: Prime Video
Romance, coming-of-age and small-scale dramas
Don’t Be Shy — College plans collide with love
This Hindi coming-of-age comedy, produced by Alia Bhatt, charts a college student whose neat future unravels after romantic entanglements. Expect messy feelings and cultural specificity in equal measure.
- Starring: Aarushi Bajaj, Ansh Duggal, Bianca Arora
- Premieres: Prime Video, Sept. 25
The Love Hypothesis — Science lab meets fake dating
The film adaptation of Ali Hazelwood’s novel keeps the rom-com chemistry central. A PhD candidate pretends to date a stern professor, and the fake relationship gets complicated in sweet, predictable ways.
- Starring: Lili Reinhart, Tom Bateman
- Premieres: Prime Video, Sept. 23
Brothers — Celebrity selves and comic identity
Apple TV+ pairs Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as fictionalized versions of themselves who imagine they could be kin. The series toys with fame, family myths, and very adult satire.
- Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Holland Taylor
- Where to watch: Apple TV+
Tuner — A heist with a musical ear
A piano tuner with an uncanny ear turns that skill into criminal craft in this tight thriller. It blends heist mechanics with character-driven stakes and an unexpectedly warm center.
- Starring: Leo Woodall, Havana Rose Liu, Jean Reno
- Where to watch: Paramount+
Reality, competitions and guilty pleasures
The Great British Baking Show: Collection 14 — New bakers, familiar warmth
Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond return to lighten the tent with jokes while Nigella Lawson and Paul Hollywood handle the tough talk. If you love cozy competition and intricate bakes, this season is for you.
- Judges & Hosts: Paul Hollywood, Nigella Lawson, Noel Fielding, Alison Hammond
- Premieres: Netflix, Sept. 25
Wonka’s The Golden Ticket — A contest steeped in controversy
Netflix’s reality competition riffs on Willy Wonka tropes. The show also sparked debate after using AI to recreate a deceased actor’s voice, which raised ethical questions about tech and likenesses.
- Where to watch: Netflix (premiered Sept. 23)
- Note: AI-generated voice controversy
Team Moms: Baseball — Prep-school parents on display
Paramount+ follows the families at a high-profile prep academy, where parental ambition clashes with teenage athletics. Expect arguments, alliances and reality-show spectacle.
- Where to watch: Paramount+
Horror, body horror and big scares
Bloody Tennis — Sport meets cult nightmare
Shudder’s offbeat horror sends a tennis prodigy to a sinister European academy. The trailer promises gruesome initiation rites and surreal dread. It’s camp and cruelty in equal measure.
- Starring: Sandra Guldberg Kampp, Elina Löwensohn, Tracy Gotoas
- Premieres: Shudder, Sept. 25
Backrooms — From viral shorts to a feature labyrinth
Adapted from an internet horror meme, this film builds eerie, never-ending rooms and a soundscape that unnerves. The jump to feature length mostly works, though the third act softens the mystery.
- Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass
- Where to watch: HBO Max, Sept. 25
American Horror Story: Season 13 — A reunion of nightmares
The anthology series pulls past characters and fan-favorite actors into a single, sprawling installment. It’s a meta mash of previous seasons, designed to reward long-time viewers with callbacks and shocks.
- Ensemble cast includes: Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Jessica Lange, Angela Bassett
- Premieres: FX and Hulu, Sept. 24 at 9 p.m. ET
Crime procedurals and tense TV
Line of Fire — A family of federal agents under threat
NBC’s new procedural centers on a clan working across federal law enforcement. When an assassin targets them, loyalties and secrets come under scrutiny in a watchable, soapy thriller.
- Starring: Peter Krause, Hope Davis, Kat Cunning
- Where to watch: Peacock
Comedies and outrageous fare
Idiots — Road-trip chaos and sharp laughs
What started as a Sundance favorite now streams for rental. Two coworkers escort a troubled teen to rehab and spiral into a wild road movie full of dark humor and surprise cameos.
- Starring: Dave Franco, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Kiernan Shipka, Peter Dinklage
- Where to watch: Rent or buy on Prime Video
Jackass: Best and Last — One more round of stunts
The Jackass crew returns with pranks and physical comedy that swing from nostalgic to painful. They bill this as a finale, and it lands hard in equal parts laughter and cringe.
- Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius and the gang
- Where to watch: Paramount+
Reboots and family favorites
A Different World — Hillman returns for a new generation
Netflix reimagines the classic HBCU sitcom for streaming. The new series follows fresh Hillman students while honoring the legacy characters and the show’s social roots.
- Original cast appearances: Jasmine Guy, Kadeem Hardison, Jada Pinkett
- Where to watch: Netflix
Toy Story 5 — Pixar’s new chapter on Disney+
Woody and Buzz return, but Jessie steps into a leading role this time. A new digital toy threatens the rules of play, and the franchise wrestles with technology and friendship.
- Voice cast includes: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Greta Lee
- Where to watch: Disney+
Quick-reference cast and streaming guide
- Prime Video: Don’t Be Shy, Go Deep, The Love Hypothesis (premieres)
- Netflix: The Great British Baking Show, Wonka’s The Golden Ticket, A Different World
- HBO Max: Backrooms
- Apple TV+: Brothers
- Paramount+: Bloody Tennis, Tuner, Jackass: Best and Last
- Paramount+ (also): The Great British Baking Show in some regions
- Peacock: Line of Fire
- Shudder: Bloody Tennis
- PBS app: Nova: Knowledge Keepers
Top streaming picks to consider now
- Best for premium dramas: HBO Max
- Best for family titles: Disney+
- Best for originals: Hulu
- Best budget option for live sports: Peacock
