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
Juice (on TVNZ+ from October 21)
This surreal comedy comes from Mawaan Rizwan, and is loosely based on the comedian’s life. He plays Jamma, who’s navigating his work life and his relationships with his family (played by his real-life mother and brother) and his boyfriend (a delightful Russell Tovey). It’s more than just another show about a stand-up by a stand-up, with practical effects and trippy visuals setting it aside from the pack. / Sam Brooks
Raised by Refugees (season two on Neon and SkyGo from October 19)
This heartwarming and funny-as-all-hell comedy loosely based on stand-up Pax Assadi’s childhood returns for a second season on Neon. Kenus Binu returns as a young Paxi, while Assadi plays his well-meaning and embarrassing dad. It’s a picture perfect snapshot of the early 00s in suburban Auckland, mixing multicultural humour with classic fish-out-of-water jokes. / SB
Big Mouth (season 7 on Netflix from October 20)
If you’re not into Big Mouth already, the seventh season probably won’t change your mind. But just in case: this gross-out animated comedy about the all-too-relatable experiences of growing up, if you happened to grow up with manifestations of your fears, desires and innermost thoughts over your shoulder. This season is stacked with guest stars, including Megan Thee Stallion, Lupita Nyong’o, Padma Lakshmi, Zazie Beetz and Lin-Manuel Miranda, who even writes a song!/ SB
The notables
Rick and Morty (season seven on Netflix from October 16)
Man, remember Rick and Morty? Remember the whole Szechuan sauce debacle? Were we ever so young. Anyway, the series returns for its first season since Justin Roiland’s cancellation this week, and while there’s no doubt the show is past its heyday, with historically some of the most intolerable fans on the internet, the duo definitely has some gas left in the tank. Hey, if Family Guy can run for more than twenty seasons, there’s nothing to say Rick and Morty can’t sail into the double digits too. / SB
WTF is Crypto? (docuseries on TVNZ+ from October 19)
WTF is Crypto is a show hosted by Brooke Howard-Smith, a veteran TV personality (last seen on The Traitors NZ) who is not an uninterested party when it comes to crypto: he was intimately involved in the creation of Fluf NFTs, bunny themed blockchain tokens that tried to be the Bored Ape Yacht Club and never quite made it, losing enormous amounts of value as the crypto market fluctuated last year and people started to wonder why they were spending real money on digital pictures. It feels like there have been people explaining cryptocurrency to me since at least 2013 (I actually kind of get it now, thanks!) but it’s not clear to me why TVNZ is launching an explainer show now – if they want a zeitgeisty digital topic, why not dive deep into AI from a New Zealand perspective? Anyway, here is an account of an NFT party hosted by Howard-Smith at the peak of the Fluf hype cycle. / Shanti Mathias
Bosch: Legacy (season two on Prime Video from October 20)
It’s the kind of show name that deserves to be yelled (BOSCH, everybody), but this American cop drama is back for a second season. Based on the books by Michael Connelly, (bish) Bosch (bash) follows former detective, now private investigator Harry Bosch as he tries to hunt down the bad man who kidnapped his daughter. There’s a lot of kicking down doors and clenched jaws, and if you’re a fan of a troubled cop who’s determined to go rogue and beat the system, Bosch will deliver over and over again. / Tara Ward
The films
The Pigeon Tunnel (film on AppleTV+ from October 20)
There’s a lot less bird content in this documentary than the title suggests, but if you like a) John le Carre b) spies c) cool stories, The Pigeon Tunnel won’t disappoint. Made by Academy Award-winning documentarian Errol Morris, this film delves into the life of former British spy David Cornwell – or as he’s better known to most of us, writer John le Carre. This was le Carre’s final interview before his death in 2020, and he gives an open and compelling account of his astonishing life, determined to test the boundaries between truth and fiction until the very end. / TW
… and a bunch of awesome New Zealand cinema (on TVNZ+ from October 19)
Praise be to the free streaming service that is TVNZ+, bringing us a bunch of mostly pretty hard to find NZ cinema! In alphabetical order, from October 19 you can watch (albeit with ads): 50 Ways of Being Fabulous, In my Father’s Den (Tom Wambsgans is in that one!), Matariki, Out of the Blue, Sleeping Dogs, Smash Palace and UTU Redux. Go forth!/ SB
Netflix
October 16
Oggy Oggy: Season 3
Rick and Morty: Season 7
October 17
I Woke Up A Vampire
Heather McMahan
The Devil on Trial
October 18
Dark Water
October 19
Bodies
Crashing Eid
Neon
Crypto Boy
October 20
Big Mouth: Season 7
Creature
Elite: Season 7
Surviving Paradise
Disco Inferno
Flashback
Kandasamys: The Baby
Vjeran Tomic: The Spider-Man of Paris
Neon
October 16
Shining Vale: Season 2
Escape the Victory
October 17
Designing Dreams: Season 2
Daddy’s Home
Daddy’s Home 2
October 19
Raised by Refugees: Season 2
Found
What’s Love Got to Do With It
Death Race
October 20
American Assassin
October 21
Goon
Goon: Last of the Enforcers
October 22
Gold
TVNZ+
October 17
WTF is Crypto?
The Killer Affair
A Black and White Killing
October 18
Ripper Street: Season 1-5
October 19
Tokyo Vice
50 Ways of Saying Fabulous
In My Father’s Den
Matariki
Out of the Blue
Sleeping Dogs
Smash Palace
UTU Redux
October 20
Stag
Eureka: Season 1-5
October 21
Juice
October 22
Survivors
ThreeNow
October 16
Casual: Seasons 1-4
Disney+
October 18
Living for the Dead
Primal Survivor: Extreme African Safari
Puppy Dog Pals: Season 5
October 20
Werewolf by Night in Colour
Prime Video
October 17
Storm Boy (2019)
October 20
Upload: Season 3
The Other Zoey
Silver Dollar Road
Bosch: Legacy: Season 2
Sayen: La Ruta Seca
Apple TV+
October 20
The Pigeon Tunnel
AMC+
October 11
Cooper’s Bar
October 12
True Crime Story: Citizen Detective
Acorn
October 16
The Chase
Lockdown Tower
Shudder
October 20
Night of the Hunted