I had heard great things about a show called We Are Lady Parts back in 2021 but I never bothered to check it out, as it was a Peacock original, and, until Poker Face came along in 2023, I didn’t really take Peacock seriously as a purveyor of decent original content.

Then I forgot all about it because We Are Lady Parts took three years to return for a second season, which finally premiered in May of 2024.

I can tell you one thing, now that I’ve seen this show: if I had seen it back when it premiered in 2021, I would have been LIVID if you had made me wait three years to see more of it.

We Are Lady Parts is A-MAZ-ING. I would ask where it’s been my whole life, but I know: buried on Peacock, the same place it’s been lost in your life, but hopefully now you will discover it as I did and you will be changed forever, as I am.

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After a run of clever comedies and thoughtful dramas, I found myself craving a mindless action series, preferably one about spies rather than cops. My mind instantly went to two series, but I ruled them out right away: The Americans, because it’s not current and I want to save it for when I have literally run out of things to recommend, and Slow Horses, because everyone I know watches it already. So, I was left searching for a good current action series to recommend. Then I realized I was already in the middle of one.

Two years ago, before I started this weekly column, I binged the first season of The Night Agent on Netflix. Yes, there are seemingly a ton of these action/spy/thriller series around, how on earth are you supposed to tell them apart? There’s Reacher, The Recruit, Patriot, Jack Ryan, The Terminal List, Citadel, I could go on and on. So which one is The Night Agent, you ask? No, this isn’t the show where Tom Hiddleston plays an ex-spy having to deal with Hugh Laurie playing an arms dealer…that’s The Night Manager (although that is also a good show, and it’s returning for a second season soon!).

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There is no shortage of new dramas this time of year, so it’s nice when new comedies pop up just when we need them the most. Hulu’s new series Deli Boys is a welcome respite from the seriousness of Emmy season, despite the fact that creator Abdullah Saeed’s show is set against the backdrop of the Philadelphia gangster underworld. Even with a setting as dark, foreboding and, yes, murder and crime-filled as this, Saeed’s fresh take on some familiar tropes makes for one fresh, funny, and thoroughly entertaining new show.

Deli Boys’ story arc will feel quite familiar: head of a mob family dies unexpectedly, leaving his two ill-prepared sons to take the helm. They must navigate the complicated world their father left behind, which includes rivals who want to take over their turf, family members who want to take over the family, with their own lack of experience and, frankly, incompetence, being their biggest obstacles to success. But they slowly figure it out, despite their worst intentions, eventually coming into their own.

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I’m the first to admit that I’m not a Shonda Rhimes person. That’s not to say I wouldn’t enjoy any of the shows that have come out in the past twenty years under the famous writer/producer/showrunner’s name, it’s just that I haven’t been necessarily drawn to any of them. But I’m clearly in the minority–at least for my gender. Among the shows Rhimes is credited with bringing to American audiences are Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder and Bridgerton, each one a huge hit, especially with women. Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and Scandal were so big, in fact, that Rhimes became the first woman to produce three separate TV dramas to each reach the magic 100- episode milestone, a true achievement, for anyone, not just a woman. Netflix lured Rhimes away from ABC and inked an exclusive multi-year deal with her, and the first series she gave Netflix was none other than Bridgerton, which became a massive hit for the streaming service. But, like her previous shows, Bridgerton still seemed to aim at the same audience (not me).

Well, Netflix is hoping that Rhimes’s second original scripted series, The Residence, will have a wider appeal and, so far, so good, because it’s the first show from “Shondaland” that I actually wanted to check out. And guess what? I love it.

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I’ve found that some of my most delightful discoveries have been the result of recommendations from friends. These are shows that I would never have given a second look to or even knew existed if it hadn’t been for the persistent—nay, annoying—nagging of friends and family members who would insist, “you HAVE to watch this show,” and wouldn’t give up until I did. And, most of the time, I am the one ending up offering up bountiful mea culpas to their wisdom.

Such is the case with the show Resident Alien, a show I had never even heard of until an email from my friend Bob, who ended a correspondence a year or so ago with “Have you seen Resident Alien? I think you’d like it.” When I responded that I hadn’t even heard of it, he reiterated how great it was and that I should give it a try. Knowing how many shows I already had on my list, I humored him by telling him I’d look into it. But I knew I wouldn’t.

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A year ago, Netflix dropped the series Baby Reindeer, a disturbing yet captivating story of obsession that everybody was talking about. It seemed to really hit a nerve, as its twisted mix of loneliness, narcissism, abuse, self-degradation, compassion and stalking seemed to resonate with a lot of people—and it was really well-made, proven by its haul of awards. It was the one show that you had to watch, in order to be in on the conversation.

Well, Netflix has struck again a year later, with another new series that has everyone talking, is just as relevant in today’s world, but this one is even more disturbing, is even better—and has a unique twist that makes it truly unforgettable.

The series is called Adolescence and even though there is a special filmmaking technique that makes it stand out, what truly makes it unforgettable is the story, in all its terrifying, harrowing and heartbreaking reality. While it may not be a specific true story, it does reflect the society we all live in, and that is horrifying enough.

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Little known fact: spies don’t exist only in America and England. You wouldn’t really know that from watching English-language movies and TV for the past fifty years, but it’s true. The fantastic series The Americans (stay tuned for a future Binge Watch entry) was one show that reminded us of this fact, and I just stumbled across another: The Eastern Gate, a new series on MAX.

The Eastern Gate (Przesmyk) is 6-episode Polish mini-series about the precarious geopolitical relationship between Poland, Russia and Belarus, mainly focused on a little-known swath of land called the Suwalki Gap (known as the Eastern Gate). The Suwalki Gap is a small piece of land situated on the border between Lithuania and Poland which is the only land route connecting the Baltic states to the rest of NATO and the European Union. Don’t worry, you can dive as deeply into the eastern European politics of geography as you’d like, or you can just sit back and watch the action. Personally, I was fascinated by the fact that I was learning about this vital strategic region that I knew nothing about, but then even I got carried away by all the cool spy stuff.

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For all of Steven Soderbergh’s status as an elite director in Hollywood, it’s interesting to look back at his filmography and note that, ever since he broke out with Sex, Lies and Videotape in 1989 and established himself as an A-lister in 2000 with Traffic and Erin Brockovich, the only Soderbergh films that people have talked about since have been the pair of Magic Mike films and the Ocean’s trilogy.

But what makes Steven Soderbergh one of the most interesting directors in Hollywood is that he doesn’t seem to mind if nobody is talking about him. He is a filmmaker who is seemingly driven by his own creativity and not by commercial incentive. Soderbergh, for example, was the first elite director to shoot an entire film on an iPhone, which was the horror film Unsane in 2018. [Interesting note: the first major director to shoot a film on an iPhone was Sean Baker, who made the low-budget indie Tangerine in 2015. Yes, this is the same Sean Baker who just won four Oscars, including Best Picture, for Anora.]

Soderbergh has also experimented with every genre and platform, even co-producing the COVID Oscars in 2021, proving that he’s up for any challenge, and not afraid of possible negative consequences. His status in Hollywood remains undiminished however, and he can still choose his own projects, which is a luxury not afforded many in this town.

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I had forgotten that ER was on for fifteen years. From 1994 to 2009, the NBC drama aired 331 episodes, winning 23 Emmys and a legion of fans along the way to becoming one of the most popular and revered television dramas of all time. I myself was a huge fan of the show and still find it incredibly re-watchable as it lives on in syndication. It continues to find new fans as it is easily available not only on streaming (Max or Hulu), but on regular cable every day.

Don’t worry, this week’s Binge Alert isn’t ER–although it certainly isn’t a bad choice, especially if you’ve never seen it. No, this week’s binge recommendation is a show called The Pitt, which is available to stream on MAX. If you’re wondering, however, why I’m talking about ER in a review of The Pitt, well, it’s impossible not to.

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I am so over superheroes. I’m done with universes and origin stories and mythologies and I’m most definitely done with movies that require a viewing of all previous fourteen movies to even comprehend the first ten minutes of the fifteenth. Done.

Superhero movies, with all of their complicated and intertwining stories and timelines, multi-dimensional, galaxy-jumping characters and eye-popping special effects, are partly to blame for the near-total disappearance of the small, intimate movies that don’t rely on CGI or portal-jumping pandemonium to hold your attention. Remember stories about real people, real problems and real relationships in THIS world?

Well, there may not be a way to put the superhero genie back into the bottle, and there may never be a way to make small, personal stories box office gold again, but showrunner and writer Emma Moran did find a way to mine the best of both worlds for her series Extraordinary (2023-2024), available on Disney+ and Hulu, and it’s a perfect formula.

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