Happy Friday, friends! It's snowing here in Boston. Yes, on April 16. While I wish we were getting closer to shedding our winter gear for good, this is ideal binge-watching weather.
There's lot coming up to look forward to:
- Tuesday, May 4 - Real Housewives of New York City returns to Bravo and the trailer looks bananas! I continue to miss Bethenny Frankel as part of the cast, but the Ramona-coaster keeps things interesting.
- Tuesday, May 4 - This is also the day that Netflix released the second season of Selena. If you didn't watch the first batch, do that now so you're ready to go. It's great, trust me!
- Thursday, May 6 - Million Dollar Listing New York City returns to our screens. Despite being bi-coastal now, Fredrik Eklund is still considered part of this cast, alongside Ryan Serhant, Steve Gold and a new female broker!
- Wednesday, May 26 - The Bold Type comes back to Freeform (formerly ABC Family). It's about three best friends who work at a magazine, based on Cosmopolitan. It's smart, funny and socially conscious.
- Friday, June 18 - Have you watched the Spanish high school drama Elite on Netflix? It's like Gossip Girl meets Pretty Little Liars, set in Spain. Season four is coming in mid-June, so catch up now ahead of the premiere.
Before I get into my top picks for this week, I want to share something you should absolutely not watch. Last Friday, after a hard work week, I was so excited to queue up Thunder Force, the new movie co-starring Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer. I love both of them and the trailer looked fun. The movie turned out to be awful (not funny, not clever, not even sentimental!) and one hour in, I seriously considered turning it off. I wound up watching until the end, but ooof. I cannot get those two hours back.
Ok, now onto this week's recommendations!
1. Younger (Hulu) - Yesterday, the first four episodes dropped for the seventh and final season of Younger. I have loved this show from the very beginning and it never got the audience it deserved because it aired on TV Land.
When we rejoin the Empirical family, the gang is still at Diana and Enzo's wedding. Charles has just proposed to Liza and she's tongue tied. I don't want to say anything more, but you should get to watching!
These first few episodes have everything fans have come to adore about the show - strong female friendships, panic-inducing work situations, love triangles and fierce fashion.
I'm so glad it's back, but I also don't want it to end!
2. This is a Robbery (Netflix) - This four-part documentary about the art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston is getting a lot of buzz. A few years ago, WBUR and The Boston Globe produced a podcast about the robbery called Last Seen. If you listened to all of that, nothing in this series will be new to you.
That said, the way this is produced and edited is fabulous. They interview journalists, cops, attorneys, museum employees and suspects. They also created renderings of the building and each time a moment in the timeline is discussed, they show you what part of the building it happened in.
This event took place in March 1990 and none of the stolen items have been recovered. At the close of the fourth and final episode, they show each missing work up close for several seconds. It feels like the series is one final plea to the public to return these treasures.
3. The Stand In (Netflix) - In non-pandemic times, I would never have watched this movie, but here we are. The Stand In stars Drew Barrymore as Candy, a slapstick comedy actress who loathes the state of her career and wants to hide from the world. Her on-set stand in, Paula (who she also plays), is more than happy to step in, pretending to be her at all press appearances.
As you can imagine, eventually the two worlds collide and Candy has decide if she'll come clean about being a recluse.
The love interest in this movie is played by Michael Zegen (Joel from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel). It was nice to see him in a new and different part.
While this movie won't be winning any awards, it's easy viewing. I'm a big Drew Barrymore fan, so enjoyed watching her on screen again.
4. Zero Chill (Netflix) - This series came out on Netflix a few weeks ago, but I only just discovered it. It's about a set of twins, Mac and Kayla, who have left their home in Canada and are adjusting to their new life in England. Mac has been recruited to a competitive hockey team and Kayla is a pairs figure skater without a partner.
If you're asking yourself, "Wasn't there a skating show on Netflix recently?" Yes, yes there was. It was called Spinning Out. It was much darker.
This show is pretty wholesome. It's not as amazing as The Mighty Ducks movies, but if you're a hockey fan, it will definitely scratch that itch. There are 10 episodes, each 30 minutes.
There you have it! This week's streaming suggestions. I'll be back next Friday with a fresh round.
*Images courtesy of Unsplash, Entertainment Weekly, The Daily Beast, Entertainment Weekly and Netflix.
