What are you going to be watching in October? The Spinoff rounds up everything that’s coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Lightbox, Neon, Amazon Prime and TVNZ on Demand.
Click here to read our listings for September.
The Biggies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-33JCGEGzwU
Watchmen (NEON, Season 1 weekly, from October 21)
Modern Love (Amazon Prime, Season 1, from October 18)
Another month, another likely-to-be critically acclaimed series ripped from the headlines. Last month, we had Unbelievable (my pick for the show of the year). This month, we’ve got Modern Love, an anthology series taken from the New York Times column of the same name. Each episode takes a different story from the column, exploring love in all its forms – sexual, romantic, familial, platonic, and based on this cast list, being in love with people who look like famous people. The cast includes Anne Hathaway, Hot Priest Andrew Scott, Tina Fey, Dev Patel, recent Emmy winner Julia Garner, Brandon Victor Dixon and a whole range of others. / Sam Brooks
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK (TVNZ OnDemand, Season 1 weekly, from October 4)
I’ve got two words to say to you about Drag Race UK: Baga Chipz. Perhaps the greatest drag name of all time, I know absolutely nothing about Baga Chipz, but she has already taught me so much about what we can expect from Drag Race UK. The tea is going to served with milk and sugar, the queens are going to arrive flanked by many corgis and you bet there will be many more puns made about British cuisine. Bangers and mash? Toad in the hole? Spotted dick? I can’t hardly wait. / Alex Casey
Big Mouth (Netflix, Season 3, from October 4)
Big Mouth has always been a strange show to recommend. “It’s about puberty and adolescent friendships. It’s really raw and quite brutal, but it’s allowed to be because it’s animated. Oh yeah, it’s animated.” After two seasons, creators Nick Kroll (Kroll Show) and Andrew Goldberg managed to out-absurd the walking-penis hormone monster of season one by introducing two pubic hairs, voiced by Craig Robinson and Jack McBrayer respectively. If the IMDb credit “Kristen Wiig – Jessi’s Vagina” piques your interest, Big Mouth is the show for you. / Madeleine Chapman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrIiPcv4_iY
Batwoman (TVNZ OnDemand, Season 1 weekly, from October 7)
The Notables
Mr Robot (Lightbox, Season 4 weekly, from October 7)
Nobody’s favourite Freddie Mercury Rami Malek is back in the fourth (and final) season of the show that made him a star. Despite a slow waning of interest after a hugely buzzed about and award-winning first season, Mr. Robot has received consistently great reviews, especially for its lead performer, general approach to inclusivity and (relatively) experimental filmmaking. Will its final season close up with a bang or a whimper, though? Watch and see! / SB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w54yW2Ur50
Living with Yourself (Netflix, Season 1, from October 18)
Paul Rudd? On my television? Outside of the final seasons of Friends, when he was a de facto member of the main six but not really? Colour me interested. Colour me not just interested, but hooked after this premise: “The story of a man, who after undergoing a mysterious treatment that promises him the allure of a better life, later discovers that he has been replaced by a doppelganger.” This comes from the mind of Timothy Greenberg, an ex-Daily Show writer, and it feels like it’ll be the sleeper Netflix hit of the month, so keep up with the conversation and keep your eyes on this one. / SB
Nancy Drew (NEON, Season 1 weekly, from October 10)
Riverdale (Netflix, Season 4 weekly, from October 10)
Hot Archie is back. If you watch this show, you’ll already know when it’s coming and have your TikTok alarms set, you crazy teen. If you don’t watch this show, continue on with your life because you’re not starting now. / SB
Catherine the Great (NEON, mini-series, from October 9)
HBO’s been knocking it out of the park lately with their historical miniseries, and Catherine the Great looks to be its next big winner. This is a sweeping, sumptuous drama about one of the most iconic female leaders of all time, and if you’re a Dame Helen Mirren fan, this will be all your dreams come true. Catherine the Great is played by Helen the Even Greaterer, supported by a cracking cast including Gina McKee, Rory Kinnear, Richard Roxbrough and Jason Clarke. This drama has HBO leaning hard into Russian history, with heaps of gory war scenes, bedroom hijinks and Dame Helen bloody Mirren in a tricorn, coolly leading her army into battle. Absolute power, indeed. / TW
9-1-1 (Lightbox, Season 2, from October 3)
Turn on your ambulance sirens because Jennifer Love Hewitt, once the princess of US network television, is back. The former star of Party of Five, The Ghost Whisperer and The Client List replaces Connie Britton, who moved onto waters less procedural-y and more Netflix-y, but this emergency-services procedural retains its other core lead, international treasure Angela Bassett. Our own Emily Writes has attested to the show’s watchability, and I can only assume that Love Hewitt will be a worthy carrier of Britton’s mantle. / SB
Movies
Booksmart (Lightbox, from October 16)
As someone who has a frankly humiliating and deeply uncool nostalgia for high school and FRIENDSHIP, I lost count of the times I burst into tears during Booksmart. Following two freaks who realise they never had a high school blowout on the eve of their graduation, it’s basically Superbad but with girls and a lot more heart. Aka everything I could ever want in a movie. / AC
Shrek (Netflix, from October 10)
I thought love was only true in fairy tales. Meant for someone else but not for me. Love was out to get me. That’s the way it seemed. Disappointment haunted all of my dreams. Then I saw her face, now I’m a believer. Not a trace, of doubt in my mind. I’m in love, and I’m a believer – I couldn’t leave her if I tried. I thought love was more or less a giving thing. The more I gave the less I got, oh yeah. What’s the use in trying? All you get is pain. When I wanted sunshine I got rain. Then I saw her face, now I’m a believer. Not a trace, of doubt in my mind. I’m in love, I’m a believer. I couldn’t leave her if I tried. / AC via Smash Mouth
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (Netflix, from October 11)
Now that we’ve got both a spinoff TV show in Better Call Saul and a sequel movie in El Camino, there is only one more avenue for Vince Gilligan to go down in the Breaking Bad universe. That’s right, folks, I’m talking Young Heisenberg and I don’t care who knows it. Imagine his cute little fedora! Tiny haz mat suit! Luvvit. Serious pitches aside, El Camino is a Netflix EVENT following Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), gnarled in the future, as he goes on the run for doing something that, and I’m going out on a limb here, is probably to do with drugs. / AC
The Laundromat (Netflix, from October 16)
Breaking: Meryl Streep deigns to appear in a Netflix film, or at least a film that was later bought by Netflix! This Steven Soderbergh joint focuses on the leaking of the Panama Papers in 2016, and has been compared to The Big Short, though I assume this one features less Margot Robbie in a bath, but maybe the same amount of over-explaining the intricacies of financial fuckery. It’s had decent reviews out of a few festivals, but honestly, any Streep film that you can stream directly to your couch is worth your time. (Also dropping on Netflix this month is Sophie’s Choice, the movie that is annoyingly hard to find, gave Meryl Streep her second Oscar, and is truly unrecommendable outside of that fact.) / SB
The Rest
What follows is a list of what is coming up on every streaming service this month.
Netflix
October 1
Carmen Sandiego: Season Two
The Big Bang Theory: Season Twelve
First Kill
Once Upon a Time in Venice
Where Hands Touch
Fed Up
The Green Hornet
Wild Wild West
Boo! A Madea Halloween
Arsenal
October 2
Ready to Mingle
Living Undocumented
October 3
Seis Manos
October 4
El Dragon: Return of a Warrior
Big Mouth: Season Three
Raising Dion: Season One
In The Tall Grass
Rotten: Season Two
Creeped Out: Season Two
Super Monsters: Season One
Super Monsters: Vida’s First Halloween
October 5
Legend Quest: Masters of Myth
October 7
Match! Tennis Juniors
October 8
Deon Cole: Cole Hearted
The Spooky Tale of Captain Underpants Hack-a-Ween
October 9
Rhythm + Flow
October 10
Riverdale: Season Four
Ultramarine Magnell
October 11
Haunted: Season Two
Insatiable: Season Two
Plan Couer: Season Two
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
Wolkenbruchs wunderliche Reise in die Arme einer Schickse
La influencia
Fractured
The Forest of Love
YooHoo to the Rescue: Season 2
Shrek
Jaws
Gladiator
Pitch Perfect 3
Back to the Future Part III
Billy Elliot
Bring It On: Fight to the Finish
Elizabeth
Mercury Rising
Life
The Purge
The Nutty Professor
Sophie’s Choice
Lost in Translation
The Tale of Despereaux
Jaws: The Revenge
October 12
Banlieusards
October 13
Sicario
October 14
Martin Matte: La Vie, La Mort…Eh La La..!
October 15
Green Lantern
October 16
Park Na-Rae: Glamour Warning
Ghosts of Sugar Land
Dolphin Tale 2
Arrow: Season Seven
October 17
THE UNLISTED
October 18
Toon: Seasons 1-2
MeatEater: Season Eight
Avlu
Baby: Season Two
Interior Design Masters
La casa de las flores: Season Two
Living with Yourself
Eli
Seventeen
Upstarts
The Laundromat
Tell Me Who I Am
Unnatural Selection
Mighty Little Bheem: Diwali
Spirit Riding Free: Pony Tales Collection 2
Inferno
October 22
Jenny Slate: Stage Fright
October 23
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Dancing with the Birds
October 24
Daybreak
Grego Rossello: Disculpe las molestias
Burnt
October 25
Brotherhood
Nailed It! France (C’est du gâteau!)
Nailed It! Spain (Niquelao!)
Prank Encounters
Brigada Costa del Sol
The Kominsky Method: Season Two
October 28
Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them
A 3 Minute Hug
Little Miss Sumo
October 29
Arsenio Hall
October 30
Flavourful Origins: Yuunan Cuisine
October 31
Nowhere Man
Kengan Ashura: Part II
NEON
October 3
Murder for Hire: Season One Part One
October 4
Supermansion: Season One and Two
October 6
1%
October 7
Jett
Supergirl: Season Five
October 8
Infinity Train
OK Great Let’s Be Heroes
October 9
Catherine the Great
The Flash: Season Six
October 10
Nancy Drew
October 11
Supernatural: Season Fifteen
October 12
Charmed: Season Two
Forever My Girl
October 14
Glass
October 15
Training Day
October 16
Vida: Season Two
October 17
The Miracle Season
October 19
Name of the Rose
Looking for Alaska
October 20
Scream 4
October 21
Watchmen
October 22
Greta
October 24
The Hangover
October 25
Lamb of God
October 26
Troy
October 27
Wild Hogs
The Mule
October 28
Mrs Fletcher
Silicon Valley: Season Six
October 29
Salvation: Season Two
All That We Destroy
The Body
Culture Shock
Down
Flesh & Blood
I’m Just Fucking With You
New Year, New You
Pooka!
Pure
School Spirit
They Come Knocking
Treehouse
October 31
Scary Movie 5
Lightbox
October 1
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle: Season One
Top Chef Jnr: Season One
October 2
The Tomorrow Man
The Haunting of Sharon Tate
A Score to Settle
Spy Cat
After
October 3
9-1-1: Season Two
October 9
The Parting Glass
Ode to Joy
Anna
Annabelle Comes Home
October 11
Will and Grace: Season Two
October 15
Casual: Season Four
October 16
Yesterday
Spider-Man: Far From Home
Booksmart
The Catcher Was a Spy
Teen Titans Go Vs. Teen Titans
October 18
Sons of Anarchy
October 23
The White Crow
October 30
David Crosby: Remember My Name
The Public
TVNZ on Demand
October 1
Bluey
From The Vault: Rugby: Part Two
October 4
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK
Temptation Island: Season Two
October 7
Batwoman
October 8
All American: Season Two
October 11
Legacies: Season Two
October 17
The Basement
October 22
The Movies
Amazon Prime
October 4
Goliath
October 10
Jestination Unknown
October 17
One Mic Stand
October 18
Modern Love
The Purge: Season Two