What are you going to be watching this week? We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+.
The biggies
Telemarketers (on Neon from September 12)
For all of its failings and grotesqueries, it must be said that the late-empire-era United States of America offers a very generous smorgasbord for anyone hungry for a few easy satirical targets. And with credited exec producers including the likes of the Safdie Brothers (Uncut Gems, Good Time) and Danny McBride (The Righteous Gemstones, Eastbound and Down), Telemarketers is a documentary series which makes a strong case for directors Sam Lipman-Stern and Adam Bhala Lough joining that canon of late-capitalism chroniclers. Following the story of two donation-seeking phone operators who start to question whether their sales script is telling the whole truth, it’s a story that’s sometimes darkly funny, sometimes just extremely dark. / Matthew McAuley
Moko The World (on TVNZ+ from September 11)
Follow TVNZ storyteller Tāmati Rimene-Sproat and acclaimed tohunga tā moko Henare Brooking on a haerenga to celebrate and learn more about Māori tattoos. This six-episode series sees the pair travel around Te-Ika-a-Māui and across the ditch to kōrero with both tā moko artists and recipients. But the presenters also share intimate explorations of their own moko, with Rimene-Sproat even getting his arm moko extended on camera. The show uses fun and humour to break down barriers regarding Māori tattoos in an attempt to highlight how the art form is thriving. / Tommy De Silva
The Other Black Girl (on Disney+ from September 13)
I am so amped for this one, you guys. Zakiya Dalila Harris’ novel, about the only Black editorial assistant at a company, until another Black woman is hired, was one of the best books I read last year, and I can imagine it translating to the screen effortlessly. Newcomers Sinclair Daniel and Ashleigh Murray play the two leads, in a story that’s a little bit Get Out and a little bit Devil Wears Prada. I can’t emphasise enough how much you need to put this on your watchlist./ Sam Brooks
The notables
The Morning Show (season three on AppleTV+ from September 13)
The Morning Show is, unironically, one of the best dramas on TV. The show has thankfully moved on from its pretty thorny depiction of the MeToo movement, to being a much more fun, and appealing, show about the dramas of a morning news programme trying to thrive in an environment that has no need for it. Also, the cast is stacked: Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Billy Crudup, Julianna Margulies, and they’re joined this season by Jon Hamm and Nicole Beharie!/ SB
Ahikāroa (on TVNZ+ from September 11)
This award-winning bilingual drama follows the hectic lives of urban rangatahi Māori who were raised within kura kaupapa. Some characters are deeply steeped in mātauranga and tikanga, and others are still learning the ropes. Ahikāroa dives into many of the trials and tribulations that rangatahi experience, from politics and spirituality to partying and relationships. Through authentic, honest writing, the show is unafraid to tell stories that portray the graphic and sometimes dark realities of actual life. Season Five promises more of the same, with mākutu, murder and mayhem unravelling in 18 exciting episodes. / TdS
Animal Control (on TVNZ+ from September 13)
As the name implies, Animal Control is a show about animal control workers in Seattle who find, shockingly, that the humans around them are more complicated than the animals. Thankfully, this isn’t a gritty drama but a sitcom! It stars Joel McHale (Community), Vella Lovell (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) and our very own Grace Palmer (Good Grief). Sometimes what you need is a good old standard workplace comedy, by dog, that’s what this show provides. / SB
The films
The Matrix Resurrections (on Netflix from September 16)
It’s sad that the follow-up to the Matrix trilogy came and went, because it’s a weirdly audacious film that ends up being a strange meditation on the nature of sequels and reboots. Resurrections picks up 60 years after that trilogy, and Neo is a video game developer who has trouble telling the difference between fantasy and reality, meanwhile a new version of Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) tries to free him from a new version of The Matrix. I loved it, other people didn’t, so your mileage may vary./ SB
Little Women (1994) (on TVNZ+ from September 13)
Yes, Greta Gerwig made an amazing version of this in 2019 that absolutely drained my eyes of all their fluid, but there have actually been multiple adaptations of this tremendous novel over the years. The 1994 one, starring Winona Ryder as Jo March, Kirsten Dunst as Amy March and Claire Danes as poor sweet Beth March, more than holds its own. Gillian Armstrong’s take on this is a little bit more languid than Gerwig’s, but no less valuable. / SB
The first three John Wicks (on Prime Video from September 11)
John Wick is the best action franchise in the world right now, give or take a Mission Impossible. Reeves has never been better as a hitman on a path of vengeance, and then dealing with the (bloody) consequences of embarking on it, and each movie escalates without ever being weighed down with bloat (like a certain furious and fast series). Honestly, the best way you could spend a September weekend is catching up with John. / SB
Netflix
September 12
Glow Up: Season 5
Michelle Wolf: It’s Great to Be Here
September 13
Class Act
Freestyle
September 14
Tuesday’s Widows
Ehrengard: The Art of Seduction
Once Upon a Crime
El Conde
Love at First Sight
September 15
Miseducation
Surviving Summer: Season 2
The Club: Season 2
Inside the World’s Toughest Prisons: Season 7
September 16
The Matrix Resurrections
Neon
September 11
Get Hard
September 12
Telemarketers
September 13
Night Court
Nancy Drew
September 14
Forrest Gump
September 15
Swashbuckle: Season 7
Living
September 16
Dennis the Menace
September 17
The Piano
TVNZ+
September 11
Moko the World
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
Ahikāroa: Season 5
September 13
Animal Control
Riding in Cars with Boys
Philadelphia
Awakenings
Enough
The End of the Affair
Little Women (1994)
September 16
Queen of Oz
ThreeNow
September 13
The Newsreader: Season 2
September 14
Fix My Frankenhouse
September 15
The Trouble with Kanye
Celebrity Gogglebox: Season 4
September 17
Say Yes to the Dress with Tan France
Disney+
September 13
FX’s Welcome to Wrexham: Season 2
The Other Black Girl
Animals Up Close with Bertie Gregory: Season 1
Marvel Studios’ Assembled: The Making of the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Betrayal: The Perfect Husband
Han River Police
Phoenix: EDEN17
The Butterman
September 15
Lang Lang Plays Disney
Prime Video
September 11
John Wick
John Wick: Chapter Two
John Wick: Chapter Three
September 14
The Kidnapping Days
September 15
A Million Miles Away
Killer Coaster
Apple TV+
September 13
The Morning Show: Season 3
Acorn
N/A
Shudder
September 11
Next of Kin (1982)
Re-Animator
September 13
The Ones You Didn’t Burn
September 15
Elevator Game