Tense police dramas, black-and-white period pieces, sinister nannies and deadly battle royales between hundreds of samurai in 19th century Japan. These and many other stories await in this weekend’s friendly neighborhood streaming guide. If you’re looking for something new to watch, I’ve got you covered.
We’re just about halfway through November and every week is chock-full of great new TV shows and movies including one exciting theatrical release and one of the year’s best films finally landing on VOD. If only there were more hours in the day!
As always, I’ve scoured high and low across the myriad streaming apps we all subscribe to and I’ve come up with quite the list, including shows airing weekly on Apple TV, Hulu, Prime Video and Paramount+ (to name a few). Obviously, Netflix is the outlier and always releases its shows in bingeable drops, though not always all the episodes at once. If you have any recommendations you’d like me to check out, I’m always happy to hear them. Send me any tips you have on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.
Be sure to check out last weekend’s streaming guide right here. Now let’s dive right in!
See also: The Top 20 Movies Coming To Netflix In November
New TV Shows To Watch This Weekend
Blue Lights — Season 3 (BritBox)
The best police drama on TV returns to BritBox this week for its third season. Blue Lights is about a group of police officers in Belfast navigating both criminal investigations and personal conflicts. It’s a really fascinating glimpse into the city of Belfast in a time of relative peace. The echoes of the Troubles still linger, however, and Season 3 dives headlong into drug trafficking, human trafficking and the kinds of trauma that this work can inflict upon the men and women in blue. It’s genuinely fantastic and every season has maintained the high level of quality set by the first.
The Beast In Me (Netflix)
Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys star in this limited mystery-thriller series about a struggling best-selling author and her new neighbor, a real estate mogul who is suspected of killing his wife. Interestingly, Jonathan Banks of Better Call Saul fame also stars, and the show was created by Gabe Rotter who worked on The X-Files. That’s interesting because in the second half of this list I have the new show Pluribus, which stars Better Call Saul alumni, Rhea Seehorn, and was created by The X-Files writer and producer, Vince Gilligan. In any case, this looks quite compelling but I haven’t had time to start it yet. I need five more hours a day and at least two more hours of sleep!
Last Samurai Standing (Netflix)
This is at the top of my list for shows to watch this weekend because it looks incredible. Sometimes all you want is a great story about people fighting to the death with swords. Last Samurai Standing is a battle royale series set in the late 1800s in Japan’s Meiji era. 291 samurai join a fight to the death at a Temple in Kyoto, and the choreography looks absolutely stunning. Fans of Squid Game should probably give this one a look.
Malice (Prime Video)
Hey, speaking of The X-Files, David Duchovny stars in Prime Video’s new thriller, Malice, about a rich couple and their new male nanny, Adam (Jack Whitehall) who appears to have a very dark side and whose intentions are anything but pure. It looks pretty suspenseful, though it seems like we’re getting a lot of shows about bad stuff happening to rich people on vacation lately. All six episodes are out now on Prime Video.
Palm Royale — Season 2 (Apple TV)
Kristen Wiig’s Apple TV show returns for its second season this week. This is also about rich people and about Wiig’s character, Maxine, who wants nothing more than to be counted among them. The series has a fantastic cast, including Carol Burnett, Leslie Bibb and Laura Dern, among others. I didn’t watch Season 1, but I do love period dramas and this one has some really killer costumes.
Landman — Season 2 (Paramount+)
Billy Bob Thornton’s Landman also returns for a second season, with the premiere debuting this Sunday. I admit, I’m a little burnt out on Taylor Sheridan shows, but Thornton is such a talented actor and he’s joined by a great supporting cast. I did give up on Season 1, however, partly because I was just too busy with other shows and partly because I just couldn’t get invested and found the focus on the daughter a little weird (and icky at times). I do plan on going back to it, though, as many readers tell me it’s great.
New Movies To Watch This Weekend
Being Eddie (Netflix)
Fans of comedian and actor, Eddie Murphy, will want to check out this new celebrity documentary on Netflix. You’ll learn a lot about Murphy and how much of an impact he’s had on Hollywood. Also, you might find yourself wanting to rewatch Shrek.
Playdate (Prime Video)
This is at the top of my “dumb popcorn movies when I’m feeling like turning my brain off” pile. Kevin James of Paul Blart: Mall Cop fame joins Alan Ritchson (Reacher) and Alan Tudyk (Resident Alien) in this screwball comedy about a man on the run and the people who get dragged into his wake. Ritchson looks like he’s having a blast here, which is a nice change from his turn as Jack Reacher.
Nouvelle Vague (Netflix)
Richard Linklater’s ode to French cinema, Nouvelle Vague looks like much more of an arthouse film than his last (rather terrible) Netflix movie, Hit Man. I’m a Linklater fan and if you are, and you have any interest in French New Wave films, give this one a shot. It’s getting great reviews, and I personally just love to see modern films shot in black and white.
Eddington (HBO Max)
Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal square off in this politically charged film about a small New Mexico town divided over the COVID-19 pandemic protocols. This is an Ari Aster A24 film so . . . just be prepared for a little weirdness.
One Battle After Another (VOD)
At last, Paul Thomas Anderson’s crime thriller, One Battle After Another, is available on streaming, though you’ll need to pay to watch as it’s only out on Video On Demand. I missed this in theaters and I’m tempted to fork over the cash to watch at home, but I still have so many other movies to watch that I don’t have to pay for yet. It’s a real conundrum. In any case, this one stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a washed-up revolutionary out on a mission to find his daughter, who goes missing at the same time his old nemesis surfaces.
The Running Man (In Theaters)
It’s been decades since I last watched the old Arnold Schwarzenegger adaptation of Stephen King’s book, and I remember enjoying it a lot. This version, from Baby Driver director Edgar Wright, probably won’t earn cult classic status, but it looks like a lot of fun (even if reviews are pretty mixed at this point). If nothing else, it looks like a lot of fun action and sometimes that’s all you really need. Glen Powell (of Hit Man fame) stars.
Bonus: Dispatch (PS5 / PC)
Not a show or a movie, Dispatch is actually a video game but it’s part of the “interactive movie” genre that makes it more accessible to people who don’t normally play video games or consider themselves gamers. This is a wholly original, episodic superhero story and it’s absolutely brilliant. The final two episodes came out this week, though I haven’t had time to play them yet. The sixth made me cry. The story, which changes based on the choices you make, is simply brilliant and it stars Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul (look at all these connections to Vince Gilligan in this list!) along with the entire cast of Critical Role. I cannot recommend this highly enough.
Everything Streaming Weekly
There are quite a few exciting shows airing each week on top of all the new stuff, including some zany comedies, some wild conspiracy thrillers and plenty more.
Pluribus (Apple TV)
Vince Gilligan, the TV mastermind behind shows like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul returns with the quirky new sci-fi serie, Pluribus, which is also set in New Mexico.g Rhea Seehorn, who played Kim in Better Call Saul, who plays Carol Sturka — the most miserable person in the world. After the third episode, it’s becoming more and more apparent that she truly deserves this title. I’m very curious to see where this is all headed, though I admit it’s taken a bit of time to warm up to as it wasn’t at all what I expected. Still, Episode 3 basically won me over and I think we’re in for a real treat. New episodes drop Fridays, though as with all Apple TV shows that usually means the night before.
Down Cemetery Road — (Apple TV)
The new Apple TV mystery-thriller is based on Mick Herron’s Zoe Boehm series of novels. Herron, of course, wrote the Slow Horses books. The show follows Sarah Trafford (Ruth Wilson) as she investigates the disappearance of a young girl after an explosion levels a nearby house in Oxford, UK. She enlists the help of a private investigator, Joe Silverman (Adam Godley) and things go from bad to worse. Emma Thompson plays Zoe Boehm, Silverman’s somewhat ruthless wife, also a private investigator, and she and Sarah embark on an oddball investigation into what appears to be a muddled government conspiracy. I like it quite a lot, though it is certainly not on the same level as Slow Horses. New episodes come out on Tuesdays.
IT: Welcome To Derry (HBO Max)
IT: Welcome to Derry certainly has potential to be a great new prequel series set in Stephen King’s horror universe, but I am struggling with aspects of the show. While it can be quite scary at times, it also has some genuinely goofy looking CGI including a cemetery ghost scene in the most recent episode that was laughably bad. I still recommend this show because I’ve mostly enjoyed the story and characters, but it betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of what actually instills terror in viewers on the part of its creators. Less is more sometimes. New episodes drop on Sunday.
The Chair Company (HBO Max)
Tim Robinson’s The Chair Company won’t be for everyone. It’s just so bizarre and the humor can be so random. Personally, I think it’s the best and most intriguing TV show on streaming at the moment. The story follows Ron Trosper, a mid-level executive at a mall company, who finds himself investigating a possibly nefarious chair company called Tecca after an embarrassing workplace incident. I think it’s headed toward a really fascinating character study of this middle-aged man and his need to make sense of his meaningless life rather than any kind of major twist or revelation about Tecca. The sixth episode of The Chair Company comes out on Sunday.
Robin Hood (MGM+)
I’m a huge fan of the Robin Hood legend and I’m a huge fan of Sean Bean, but the weird historical inaccuracies in MGM’s new Robin Hood show really bugged me and I haven’t watched beyond the first couple episodes. Someday, somehow, someone will make a truly great Robin Hood. I still like Kevin Costner’s Prince Of Thieves, warts and all, and the old Disney animated film is very good. But it could be so much better!
King & Conqueror (Prime Video)
King & Conqueror takes place over a century before the events of Robin Hood when William I (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) invades England and defeats Harold Godwinson (James Norton) in battle. This looks right up my alley but the overwhelming consensus from critics and audiences is that it’s not very good, so I’m a little worried to start. New episodes land on Prime Video on Saturday.
Maigret (PBS / Masterpiece)
Maigret follows Parisian Chief Inspector Jules Maigret (Benjamin Wainwright) as he investigates crimes in Paris, France. The show, based on the popular Maigret detective novels by Georges Simenon, airs on PBS/Masterpiece Sunday evenings.
Tulsa King — Season 3 (Paramount+)
Sylvester Stallone stars in this Taylor Sheridan production about a mobster sent to Tulsa, Oklahoma where he begins to form his own crew. Samuel L. Jackson joined the cast in Season 3 and is set to star in a spinoff, NOLA King, which is slated to premiere in 2026. New episodes of Tulsa King drop Sundays.
And that’s all folks! Let me know what you’re watching and if I missed anything you think I should add to this guide. If there’s anything upcoming on your radar, let me know about that as well! You tell me: What else did I miss? What should I put on this list or add to my backlog? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
