“Sweet Tooth”
“Sweet Tooth” is fascinating, if only for its director. Jim Mickle (“Cold In July,” “We Are What We Are”) started in grizzly B-movies, thrillers, and horror but has evolved over the years. “Sweet Tooth” is something different, an adaptation of a DC Comics/Vertigo comic book that’s strange, weird, but also full of family-friendly, storybook adventure. The lead character—part deer, part boy — leaves his home in the forest to find the outside world ravaged by a cataclysmic event. He joins a ragtag family of humans and animal-children hybrids like himself, searching for answers about this new world and the mystery behind his hybrid origins. The cast includes Christian Convery (“Beautiful Boy”), Nonso Anozie (“The Laundromat”), Adeel Akhtar, and Will Forte, with James Brolin as the voice of the narrator.
Premiere Date: June 4 on Netflix.
“Loki”
Marvel’s run of streaming dominance sees no signs of slowing down, with the impending release of “Loki” set to follow the white-hot one-two punch of “WandaVision” and “The Falcon And The Winter Soldier.” As Thor’s troublemaking fraternal counterpart, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), has always been one of the MCU’s more memorable side players, and this new series, which picks up after the events of “Endgame,” looks like a potentially more drolly comic diversion in the greater Marvel pantheon. Season 1 sees the devious God of Mischief himself working with a mysterious organization known as the Time Variance Authority, personified via a character named Mobius M. Mobius, played by the supremely chill Owen Wilson. Marvel devotees aren’t going to miss this one – why should you?
Premiere Date: June 9 on Disney+.
“Love, Victor” (Season 2)
We had no idea that Greg Berlanti’s lovely LGBTQ romance “Love, Simon” would go on to spawn two seasons of a TV program, but alas, here we are, with the second bundle of “Love, Victor” episodes. Michael Cimino stars as Victor, who is still navigating the complexities of queer love, tenuous adolescent friendships, and formative new experiences in his junior year at Creekwood High, where he’s no longer concealing his true identity from his classmates. Brian Tanen has promised “more adult stories” for this new season, and we’re hoping that Hulu gives the co-showrunner and his team the requisite freedom to tell this story the way it deserves to be told.
Premiere Date: June 11 on Hulu.
“Physical”
In 2020, “Desperate Housewives” producer Annie Weisman inked an overall deal with Apple TV+ to create content solely for their streaming service. The latest series to result from that deal is “Physical,” a dramedy that Deadline describes as a continuation of “Weisman’s penchant for darkly funny stories about the often surprising inner lives of women.” At the center of “Physical” is Rose Byrne playing a seemingly reserved housewife who charts a strange path towards self-actualization through the then-ascendant world of aerobics and fitness. The show also promises a time capsule to the ’80s SoCal beach-fitness craze and should provide Byrne, a more-than-capable performer, with an ideal platform for her abundant talents.
Premiere Date: June 18 on Apple TV+
“Rick and Morty” (Season 5)
“Rick and Morty” is one of those animated adult comedies that’s always trying to be smarter than the proverbial room while simultaneously speaking to a certain perma-stoned Adult Swim demographic. It’s a daffy, cynical, often quite funny absurdist adventure where allusions to Schrodinger’s Cat coexist alongside Werner Herzog cameos, swipes at “Cloud Atlas,” and good old-fashioned fart jokes. “Rick and Morty’s” fifth season will hit Adult Swim in June, which means fans can expect abundant Morty-stammering, intergalactic adventures, and humor that bridges the gap between the surreal and the scatological.
Premiere Date: June 20 on Adult Swim.
JULY
“The White Lotus”
One of our favorite Mike White works at The Playlist is “Enlightened,” the writer/director’s wildly underrated HBO dramedy that showcased a soul-baring performance from Laura Dern as a woman attempting to bounce back from the brink of emotional collapse. The “Chuck and Buck” scribe will be returning to HBO for his latest, “The White Lotus,” a six-episode satirical series that focuses on the “guests and staff at an exclusive tropical resort” (THR) in Hawaii. Even more exciting is that the series will be a showcase for star Molly Shannon, who has done tremendous work with White in the past (she’s the star of his underrated 2007 film “Year of the Dog,” and enjoyed a supporting role in the second season of “Enlightened”). Supporting cast members include Jennifer Coolidge, Connie Britton, Murray Bartlett, and Jake Lacy.
Premiere Date: July 11 on HBO Max.
“Schmigadoon!”
From the writers of the “Despicable Me” franchise, Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, and executive producer Lorne Michaels, comes a musical comedy series starring Keegan-Michael Key and SNL’s Cecily Strong. The gist? These friends (Key and Strong) stumble upon the town of Schmigadoon, where everyone acts like they’re living in the 1940s and no one’s allowed to leave until they’ve found true love. Broadway legends like Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth, and more will appear on a show that prides itself on parodying famous musicals.
Premiere Date: July 16 on Apple TV+.
“Turner & Hooch”
We all remember the classic 1989 movie starring Tom Hanks and lovably/ugly and drooly French Mastiff, Beasly, right? Yes, well, in case you’ve forgotten, “Turner & Hooch” is being reimagined as a series for adaptation over on Disney+. In this iteration, Josh Peck (“The Wackness”) stars as a U.S. Marshall who gets partnered with another Dogue de Bordeaux, who looks uncannily just like Beasly (and amusingly, he’s playing the son of Tom Hank’s character in the original, with the same job and same dog, quelle coincidence!). Matt Nix, the creator behind the addictive USA Network series “Burn Notice,” is the driving creative force.
Premiere Date: July 16 on Disney+.
“Ted Lasso” (Season 2)
Bring back the kindness! Whether it was the pandemic age, needing something less cynical and more empathetic, Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” was one of the biggest, most-talked-about TV hits of last year. Somewhat cynically, the show is based on series of Sudeikis-fronted promos for NBC Sports that aired in 2013, but this feel-good show ain’t no cash grab. Sudeikis plays a small-time college football coach from Kansas hired to coach a professional soccer team in England, despite having no experience coaching soccer. Hannah Waddingham, Brendan Hunt, Jeremy Swift, Juno Temple, Goldstein, Phil Dunster, and Nick Mohammed co-star. It’s already renewed for Season 3 too.
Premiere Date: July 23 on Apple TV+.
“The Mysterious Benedict Society”
This eight-part YA series based on the books of the same name center on the story of four gifted orphans who are mysteriously contacted and sent to investigate what’s really going on at a strange boarding school called The Institute. Tony Hale, Kristen Schaal, MaameYaa Boafo, Ryan Hurst, Gia Sandhu, Mystic Inscho, Emmy DeOliveira, and Seth Carr star while the exec producers—which probably give you a better idea of the tone—include James Bobin (“The Muppets“) and screenwriter partners Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (“Æon Flux,” “Clash of the Titans“).
Premiere Date: June 25 on Disney+.
“The Pursuit Of Love“
Freedom, friendship, sex, and love. Impatiently waiting for life to begin, two cousins are thrust into a decadent, whirlwind adventure. That’s the logline for “The Pursuit Of Love,” a new BBC mini-series starring Lily James, Andrew Scott, Emily Beecham, Dominic West, Dolly Wells, John Heffernan, and more. Directed and adapted by actor turned filmmaker Emily Mortimer, “The Pursuit Of Love” has already aired in the U.K., but comes to the U.S. on Amazon Prime later this summer. The series is romance drama miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Nancy Mitford and follows two friends (James and Beecham) as they navigate their lives and friendship while they both desire separate things in life.
Premiere Date: July 30 on Amazon Prime.
AUGUST
“Heels”
If anything, “Heels” is worth watching for one of its writers, Michael Waldron of “Rick and Morty,” who has blown up recently. He’s the head writer on “Loki,” and Kevin Feige has tapped him to write his undisclosed “Star Wars” film. Mike O’Malley (“Survivor’s Remorse”) serves as showrunner on a show described as a tale “about the men and women who chase their dreams in the world of small-town pro wrestling.” Set within a close-knit Georgia community, “Heels” follows a family-owned wrestling promotion as brothers and rivals Jack and Ace Spade (played by Jack Amell and Alexander Ludwig) war over their late father’s legacy.
Premiere Date: August 15 on Starz.