Spring & Summer TV Preview
While I'm still processing my disbelief that it's actually the month of May, I'm also trying to stay on top of the avalanche of new TV show releases slated for the upcoming weeks. Could I spend time wondering, why do I have to subscribe to five+ different streaming services to access anything?? Sure. But that's me being negative instead of celebrating all of this amazing content. Here are some upcoming new releases that are on my radar:
Younger
Streaming Service: Paramount+
Release Date & Schedule: The final season is being released on a weekly basis. You can binge the first seven episodes now, as they started dropping last month.
Get up to Speed: It's the final season (TEARS) of this smart, funny, charming, goofy show about a woman in her 40s who pretends to be 26 to get a job in publishing, and the show has moved so far beyond its initial premise that I sometimes forget that's how this all started. And that's a good thing! Instead, it's a buddy, hangout show about finding your way, at any age. Unfortunately, due to filming schedule shifts, we're missing our beloved Diana in these final 12 episodes, and I have to admit, things aren't *quite* the same without her. However, the final season, so far, is still as delightful as ever. Even if Charles is being the worst.
Rutherford Falls
Streaming Service: Peacock
Release Date & Schedule: The 10-episode first season was released in April, so if you want to play the free trial game with Peacock...
Get up to Speed: Created by Michael Schur (The Office, Parks and Recreation, The Good Place), Ed Helms and Sierra Teller Ornelas (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Happy Endings), Rutherford Falls is a Peacock original. The premise? Members of a small town are debating how to recognize its history. While that might sound like standard fodder for a Michael Schur show, Rutherford Falls is the first TV comedy to have a Native American showrunner and half of the writing staff is made up of Native American writers, meaning the focus on Rutherford Falls' Native American characters stem from the show's DNA, unlike other sitcoms, like Parks and Recreation. I haven't started watching yet but I've heard that there are a lot of jokes about Northwestern, and what's not to love about that?
Girls5eva
Streaming Service: Peacock
Release Date & Schedule: The eight-episode first season was released earlier this week.
Get up to Speed: The trailer for Girls5eva is bad. I don't know how else to put it. It doesn't look like a good show. But I've seen nothing but GLOWING reviews for this comedy series about a former singing group that tries to make a resurgence. The show's main characters are played by Sara Bareilles, Busy Philipps, Paula Pell and Renée Elise Goldsberry, which is somehow unexpected and perfect all at once!
The Underground Railroad
Streaming Service: Amazon Prime
Release Date & Schedule: All 10 episodes of this limited series will drop on May 14.
Get up to Speed: Directed by Barry Jenkins (of Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk fame), this limited series is based on a novel by Colson Whitehead. The story centers on Cora (played by Thuso Mbedu), who is traveling on the system to escape slavery in Georgia. In this fictional world, the Underground Railroad is a literal underground railroad.
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series
Streaming Service: Disney+
Release Date & Schedule: Season two premieres on May 14th, but be warned, it's a weekly release schedule.
Get up to Speed: A little over a year ago, binging High School Musical: The Musical: The Series felt like a secret delight that only some people were clued in on. Because of the ridiculous name and premise, you might expect a straightforward adaptation of the TV movie in TV series form. But this fictional, docu-style series was funny and warm and smart. Flash forward to now and it feels like season two is premiering in a different reality. Series star Olivia Rodrigo is almost a household name thanks to her songwriting skills and real-life Disney love triangle for the ages with castmate Joshua Bassett. Non-fictional drama aside, I can't wait for the season two premiere.
The Bold Type
Streaming Service: This is on real TV! Tune in on Freeform.
Release Date & Schedule: The final season premieres on May 26 and it's only SIX episodes long.
Get up to Speed: I'm struggling to handle both Younger and The Bold Type leaving TV at the same time, because watching these shows about 20-somethings figuring things out, while I am also a 20-something figuring things out, has been a true pleasure. The final season is only six episodes long, but I'm excited to soak up the final moments of Jane, Kat and Sutton's beautiful friendship.
Loki
Streaming Service: Disney+
Release Date & Schedule: June 11 in weekly installments.
Get up to Speed: After WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, who knows where Loki will land in the world of Marvel TV?? Tom Hiddleston has always been one of the most delightful parts of the MCU, so I'm hopeful that giving him his own series to run wild as the mischievous Loki will be a win. The set-up? A variation of Loki is stuck in the Time Variance Authority and he can either help them or be erased from the universe. Fingers crossed the pacing problems that plagued WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier are resolved here.
Schmigadoon
Streaming Service: Apple TV+
Release Date & Schedule: July TBD
Get up to Speed: If this wasn't airing on Apple TV+ and if Cecily Strong didn't insist on singing in EVERY SINGLE EPISODE of Saturday Night Live, I might be a full 10/10 excited for a series that was practically designed for my specific taste. Starring Keegan-Michael Key and Cecily Strong and featuring Broadway star after Broadway star (Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth, Aaron Tveit, Ariana DeBose, Jane Krakowski and many, many more), the show is a parody of Briagadoon (you got that from the title, right?). Our main couple comes across a magical town and can't leave until they find true love.
