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, the friendliest show on TV returns to Netflix; Jill Soloway premieres her bold new series on Amazon; and Melissa McCarthy does America a solid and hosts this weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live. Bonus round: If you’re looking to play catch-up, Underground Season 2 is streaming on Hulu this Thursday, the same day Riverdale Season 1 lands on Netflix.
Friday: Master of None
The second season of Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang’s slice-of-life comedy is now streaming on Netflix, and I challenge you to make it through the weekend without finishing all ten episodes. As I wrote in my review, Master of None is deceptively low-key; it goes down so smooth, it’s easy to underestimate its brilliant mode of storytelling. Season 2 picks up in Italy, where Ansari’s Dev has been studying the fine art of pasta-making in the town of Modena, before moving the action back to New York City.
Friday: Anne with an E
Calling all Anne of Green Gables stans: Today the debut season of Anne with an E, the new Netflix series inspired by the beloved 1908 Lucy Maud Montgomery novel, drops on Netflix. Anne with an E is a Canadian production (in Canada, where it’s airing on the CBC, it’s called simply Anne) filmed partially in Prince Edward Island, Anne’s home province. Helmed by Breaking Bad writer Moira Walley-Beckett, the series is a slightly dark take on the classic tale of the ginger-haired orphan, delving into Anne’s backstory in more detail than previous adaptations.
Friday: I Love Dick
Calling all Jill Soloway stans: Today is also the day the Transparent creator/ patriarchy-toppler’s new series for Amazon debuts. I Love Dick is based on the 1997 Chris Kraus book of the same name, by now a cult classic. The series, co-created by playwright Sarah Gubbins, centers on a 39-year-old independent filmmaker named Chris (Kathryn Hahn) who accompanies her older husband to an artist’s colony Marfa, Texas (in the book, it’s Pasadena, California), where she meets and goes wild over his academic advisor, Dick (Kevin Bacon). The series is bold and imaginative, but also more challenging than Transparent. You’ve been warned.
Saturday: Saturday Night Live
Alright guys, here we go: Melissa McCarthy hosts this week’s episode of SNL (with musical guest Haim), one of the last of the season, and it couldn’t come at a more batshit-crazy time. Although the Trump administration has put deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on the defense following the president’s decision to fire FBI director James Comey on Tuesday, the promo for Saturday’s episode features McCarthy getting all dolled up as press secretary Sean Spicer. Whatever the writers have planned, they certainly have no shortage of material to work with this week.
Tuesday: Tracy Morgan: Staying Alive
On Tuesday, Netflix drops its 17,000th standup special this year, and it’s pretty, uh, special. Tracy Morgan: Staying Alive marks the 30 Rock star’s return to the comedy scene after a horrific, near-fatal traffic collision in 2014. In Staying Alive, Morgan — clad in a John Travolta-esque ’70s-style white suit — discusses the accident, his recovery, and learning to walk again alongside his baby daughter.