Hey TV watchers! TV critic Michel Ghanem here. Every two weeks, I highlight the shows worth your TV time for Trust Me, I Watch Everything. Whether you prefer sticking to cable, catching the latest on streaming or digging up a hidden gem that slipped through the cracks, I try to curate something for everyone.
Staying indoors this week to avoid the heat? I’ve got a few ideas for what to watch. The Walking Dead is still chugging along with its Maggie and Negan spin-off, Dead City, airing on AMC. Over on streaming, Hulu’s Furious is a compelling serial killer detective story with lots to say about justice and violence. For something much lighter, Paris Is Always a Good Idea is Hallmark’s latest Lacey Chabert-starring romcom series. Finally, it’s been 10 years since The Girlfriend Experience first premiered on Starz — you can catch the excellent anthology drama on Tubi. Better late than never, right?
⏰ Tune in
My recommendation: The Walking Dead: Dead City
Why you should watch it: It has been nearly 16 years since The Walking Dead first premiered on AMC and created a sprawling extended universe. Today, there are far fewer spin-offs than there once were, and I think we can all agree we are far past the point of the universe’s peak.
Dead City, now on its third season, is one of two shows still hanging on. Although it won’t live up to your expectations of those early Rick Grimes years, this entry occasionally has fun zombie tricks up its sleeve. Besides, it takes place in Manhattan, so there is no shortage of environmental challenges for our characters to tackle — like traveling through a very overgrown Central Park.
The real draw of the series, however, is the unsteady relationship between Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as they continue to replay their unresolved dynamic. The second season ended with Maggie nearly killing Negan (again) to avenge her husband, Glenn (Steven Yeun), whose traumatic death-by-baseball-bat took place way back in The Walking Dead‘s seventh season.
What the series finally realizes is that this vengeful dynamic can’t go on forever. This time around, the cast promises that the third season will finally see them bury the hatchet and move forward together, giving the show a much-needed soft reboot with showrunner Seth Hoffman at the helm.
Dead City has been mostly dark and depressing up until this point, but it is finally embracing a bit of levity. With a bit of experimentation on tone and structure, there might still be some gas left in the tank for The Walking Dead after all.
How to watch: New episodes of The Walking Dead: Dead City air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC and stream simultaneously on AMC+.
📺 Stream it
My recommendation: Furious
Why you should watch it: There is no shortage of scripted series about serial killers and the detectives trying to find them. But it’s the nuanced way Elizabeth Meriwether can write characters that elevates her new series out of the usual fare. You’ll surely recognize Meriwether’s pedigree from having previously created New Girl, The Dropout and Dying for Sex — three iconic shows in their own right. Furious is her latest project, and it’s another fantastic entry.
Inspired but not directly based on the 1987 film Black Widow, Furious follows Alice Black (Emmy Rossum), an FBI agent who gets drawn in by a case involving a young woman murdering wealthy men. At work, she has a close ally in her colleague Dan Kelly (Scoot McNairy) and mentorship from Nora (Quincy Tyler Bernstine), an expert in cases related to underage sex abuse.
The other half of the story is focused on Catherine (Lola Petticrew), who seduces wealthy men, then injects them with poison that immobilizes and eventually kills them. Although Alice is working well below her skill set as a 911 operator, her interest is piqued as she begins tracking Catherine down. Like Killing Eve before it, their paths intertwine in unexpected ways that reveal they’re more similar and connected than meets the eye.
Furious has a lot to say about abuse, justice, sexuality and violence, and feels primed for the Epstein files era. Dying for Sex, Meriwether’s last show, was keenly observant of human sexuality, and there is a seed of that which continues here. If you’re exhausted by the serial killer genre, I understand; every other show seems to involve death and crime. But consider Furious to be in the upper tier: a complex and dark character study that’s worth watching.
How to watch: The first three episodes of Furious premiere July 27 on Hulu, with new episodes available weekly on Mondays.
My bonus recommendation: Ride or Die
Why you should watch it: What if your bestie of 25 years revealed herself to be an international assassin? That’s the tipping point at which Ride or Die begins its story.
Ted Lasso‘s Hannah Waddingham stars as Judith, aka Whiptail, a razor-sharp assassin working for a shady organization that takes out high-profile targets around the world. Things go awry when she starts taking more liberties with her missions — opting to murder with a butter knife in plain sight rather than from the safety of a sniper rifle, for example.
The organization begins planning to phase her into retirement (ageism, even in the world of assassins!) when her best friend, Debbie (Octavia Spencer), an American married to a British member of Parliament, is accidentally implicated.
The friends find themselves on the run across Europe as a few foes hunt them down — someone mysteriously tied to Whiptail’s past, and the assassination organization that is trying to tie up loose ends. The actual plot machinations aren’t the strongest or most original; it’s really the tender friendship between Judith and Debbie that takes center stage. Their friendship is built on a mountain of Judith’s lies, but Debbie is still forced to rely on her to stay alive.
Between the impressive stunt work and the quippy banter, Ride or Die ends up being quite the comedic romp, and eight 50-minute episodes fly by in a binge. It’s a good diversion while you wait for more Waddingham in Ted Lasso‘s upcoming new season.
How to watch: All eight episodes of Ride or Die are streaming on Prime Video.
But that’s not all …
Paris Is Always a Good Idea: If a light Hallmark romcom is more your flavor, consider this adaptation of Jenn McKinlay’s 2020 novel. Hallmark veteran Lacey Chabert stars as Chelsea, a nonprofit executive on a work trip in Paris who decides to travel across Europe to reconnect with old flames in this six-episode limited series. — Premieres July 30 on Hallmark+ with new episodes every Thursday
The Hawk: Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins (Will Ferrell) is a washed-up professional golfer, many years past his prime, chasing his dream of finally completing a Grand Slam. His main competition is his son Lance (Jimmy Tatro), a rising star. Ferrell’s comedy style isn’t for everyone, but this one is already reaching the top of Netflix’s charts. — All 10 episodes are streaming on Netflix
Lucky: From the creator of Your Friends & Neighbors comes another crime series, this time starring Anya Taylor-Joy as the titular Lucky. Based on Marissa Stapley’s 2021 novel, the show sees Lucky as a con artist on the run from the FBI after her boyfriend (Drew Starkey) runs off with the winnings of their multimillion-dollar heist. (Not so lucky after all!) The cast is rounded out by Annette Bening, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Timothy Olyphant. — New episodes stream Wednesdays on Apple TV
💎 Hidden gems
Riley Keough won raves for her performance in The Girlfriend Experience.
My recommendation: The Girlfriend Experience
Why you should watch it: Before Elvis’s granddaughter Riley Keough starred in Zola, which was recently added to Netflix, or the charming musical drama Daisy Jones & The Six, she appeared in the first season of Starz’s bold anthology series, The Girlfriend Experience, which premiered a decade ago
Created by Amy Seimetz and Lodge Kerrigan, the series is inspired by Steven Soderbergh’s 2009 film of the same name (he also serves as executive producer). Each season follows sex workers navigating a particular area of the field.
The first follows Christine Reade (Keough), a law school student who’s trying to balance her coursework with a new internship at a law firm. When she finds out her friend has started working as an escort to pay off some student bills, she gets curious about pursuing the side hustle herself. Christine joins an agency that provides wealthy men with “the girlfriend experience.” As she gets deeper into sex work, she becomes unable to keep these distinct parts of her life separate.
The Girlfriend Experience is beautifully shot and engaging throughout its entire run, but Keough’s season is definitely its best. She plays the role with a steely mystery, leaving you to project your own preconceived ideas of sex work and all of its dimensions onto her character.
The show often leaves you with more questions than answers: Is she enjoying these sexual encounters? Does she, at some point, feel she’s in too deep? As Matt Zoller Seitz wrote in his review for Vulture back in 2016, if you’re at a loss at how to interpret the many layers of the show, you’re watching it right.
How to watch: All three seasons of The Girlfriend Experience are streaming for free with ads on Tubi.
That’s the end of this week’s episode, but there’ll always be more TV to watch. I’ll be back on Aug. 10 with new recommendations.
Think there’s something missing that deserves my TV time? Let me know what else I should have on my radar in the comments below!
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