If there’s one weekend this summer you need to spend all your time at home, it’s this one.
Major streamers like Netflix, Prime Video and more have just dropped some of the season’s can’t-miss shows, which is why Watch With Us had to cancel our wedding yet again to make time to watch all of them.
Dramatic weddings? That sounds like Sweet Magnolias to us, and the rumors are true – the hit Netflix series is back for season 5.
There’s also a slew of new shows that will make you beg for more seasons, like Prime Video’s hit YA adaptation Every Year After and HBO Max’s queer coming-of-age tale, Proud.
‘Sweet Magnolias’ Season 5 – Netflix
Brook Elliott, Heather Headley, JoAnna Garcia Swisher in Sweet Magnolias season 5 Netflix
The Magnolias are back, and this season, they’re ditching the Deep South for the Big Apple. Well, kinda – bride-to-be Helen (Heather Headley) needs a fancy wedding dress, and only Fifth Avenue can satisfy her cravings for haute couture bridal gowns. Meanwhile, Maddie’s (JoAnna Garcia Swisher) dream job at a Manhattan publisher turns into a nightmare, and she is soon booking a return trip home.
Prime Video is investing in love with a wide variety of steamy rom-coms, star-studded TV shows coming this year— and a fan event to celebrate the upcoming YA titles. The streaming service announced on Thursday, April 30, that Prime Video was branching out with Obsessed Fest, which is described as “an inaugural summer tentpole event […]
Relax, fans – Sweet Magnolias is still largely set in Serenity, that cozy, too-good-to-be-real small town that makes Stars Hollow seem like San Francisco. Helen’s upcoming nuptials provide some of the drama, as does Dana Sue’s (Brooke Elliott) increasingly troubled marriage to hubby Ronnie (Brandon Quinn). Yet no matter what life serves them, the Magnolia ladies can rely on each other to weather any storm – and disappointing men – that cross their paths.
‘Every Year After’ Season 1 – Prime Video
Sadie Soverall as Percy Fraser and Matt Cornett as Sam Florek. Cate Cameron/Prime
It’s a new month, which means there’s another Prime Video adaptation of a massively popular YA novel to bingewatch. After last month’s hit hockey romance Off Campus, the streamer dropped the puck-less Canadian love story Every Year After, based on Carley Fortune’s bestselling novel, Every Summer After. It’s just as addictive as Off Campus, except it’s a little more serious than its YA peer.
Barry’s Bay is a picture-perfect small town, so why has Percy (Sadie Soverall) been away for almost a decade? Something drove her away, and it has to do with childhood crush Sam (Matt Cornett). When her mother, Sue (Elisha Cuthbert), dies, Percy has no choice but to go back to her hometown and face some demons from her past. Will she see Sam again? Does she even want to?
‘Proud’ Season 1 – HBO Max
Live fast, party hard – if Filip (Ignacy Liss), the main character in the new Polish-language series Proud, had a motto, that would be it. He’s young, he’s good-looking and all the guys he encounters either want to be him or hook up with him. But Filip’s hedonistic lifestyle grinds to a halt when his sister dies, leaving him to take care of her infant child. Filip’s never taken care of anyone before, not even himself, so he has his work cut out for him as a de facto dad with no stable income and a lifetime of making bad choices.
Can Filip be responsible? That’s the main question Proud asks, and it answers it by giving an honest portrait of an immature boy who slowly – slowly – matures into a man. It’s not an easy, straightforward path, though, and Filip realizes he has to rely on others for help. Proud consists of eight episodes at approximately 32 minutes each, and it’s just the right length to watch one of summer’s most surprising – and rewarding – dramas.
‘My Adventures With Superman’ Season 3 – HBO Max
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s … an overused pun connecting a certain all-American comic book character to season 3 of an animated TV show. Yes, My Adventures with Superman is back on HBO Max with a new batch of episodes starting on June 14.
This scene brings back Supes (voiced by Jack Quaid), Lois Lane (Alice Lee) and Jimmy Olsen (Ishmel Sahid) as they hang with new friends like Superboy (Darren Criss) and battle new villains like Cyborg Superman. One of the main plots this time around is The Reign of the Supermen, an adaptation of a very famous ‘90s storyline which sees several successors to Superman’s role as Metropolis’ primary defender.
‘The Listeners’ Season 1 – Starz
Claire’s (Rebecca Hall) life is pretty ordinary until she hears a distant humming noise that completely disrupts her routine. No one else close to her can hear it – not her husband, daughter or her fellow teachers – except for Kyle (Ollie West), a student in her class who is also mystified about the noise. Both wonder where it comes from and why they can only hear it, but as they investigate the source of their disturbance, their initial curiosity gives way to an all-consuming obsession.
With its slow, steady pacing and emphasis on liminal space to conjure a strange, vaguely menacing mood, The Listeners is like an A24 movie stretched across four episodes. That might dissuade people from watching it, but those who enjoyed the recent horror hit Backrooms and the 1995 Julianne Moore film Safe should like this series. As the noise-plagued protagonist, Hall once again shows she’s one of the most underrated actors working today. She’s fantastic, especially in the scenes when her character is slowly losing her grip on her sanity.
