There are scores of TV shows out there, with dozens of new episodes each week, not to mention everything you can find on Hulu Plus, Netflix streaming, and HBO Go. How’s a viewer to keep up? To help you sort through all that television has to offer, Flavorwire is compiling five best bets for the coming week. This week, I highly suggest you binge the new Netflix sitcom One Day at a Time, and there’s some other stuff happening as well.
Now: One Day at a Time
I’ve already gushed at length about this Netflix remake of the CBS sitcom One Day at a Time, which ran from 1975-1984 and was developed by Sitcom King Norman Lear. Lear’s credited as an executive producer on the remake, which stars Six Feet Under‘s Justina Machado as Penelope, a Cuban-American army veteran and single mother of two teenagers, working as a nurse and raising her kids with the help of her mother, Lydia, played by the divine Rita Moreno. It’s funny and warm and fabulous; watch all thirteen episodes on Netflix, streaming as of today.
Tuesday: Taboo
I’m a little tapped out on moody, violent revenge thrillers, but perhaps Taboo will be more to your liking. (I live only to serve you, dearest reader.) Set in 19th-century Britain, Taboo stars the wonderful Tom Hardy as James Delaney, the heir to the East India Company who’s recently returned home from Africa to claim what’s rightfully his — although he’s long been presumed dead. Hardy himself had a hand in creating Taboo, along with his father, Chips (!), and Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight. The eight-episode limited series premieres Tuesday at 10 p.m.
Thursday: Taking the Stage: African American Music and Stories that Changed America
ABC is celebrating the recent opening of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. with a two-hour, star-studded special. Held at Washington’s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the event will feature filmed footage of some of the museum’s most iconic objects, set to music, dance, and dramatic readings, as well as performances/appearances by dancers from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Angela Bassett, Dave Chappelle, Mary J. Blige, Janelle Monae, Tom Hanks, Usher, Christina Aguilera, Chloe x Halle, Common, Rashida Jones, Doug E. Fresh, Octavia Spencer, Oprah Winfrey, and more. The special airs at 9 p.m. this Thursday.
Thursday: Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am
They’re women — and they do comedy! Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am is a new half-hour sketch series from NBC’s comedy-only streaming platform, Seeso, created by and starring the trio of Skit Box, an Australian all-female comedy group led by Sarah Bishop, Greta Lee Jackson, and Adele Vuko. The sketches have a distinctly feminist bent — the series opens with a bit about three female superheroes thwarted by their sexy yet impractical outfits. The first season’s six episodes are available to stream on Thursday.
Thursday: Fancy Boy
Fancy Boy, another Seeso original sketch series, features the comedy stylings of the same-named sketch troupe from Melbourne, Australia. It’s got a bizarre, slightly surreal quality that feels not a little British, and each episode meanders from one bit to the next, like Mr. Show. There are also fart jokes a-plenty. All six half-hour episodes are streaming as of Thursday.