The best new streaming shows this week: Elite, Troppo, and more

We’re back with a new list of shows that you can binge on this weekend. We’ve got a remake of an old classic starring Lisa Kudrow in it this week!

The best new streaming shows this week

Feel free to click on any links that pique your interest.

• Release date: July 23, 2024
• Genre: Drama, Sport
• Rating: TV-14
• Director: April Blair
• Cast: Daniel Ezra, Bre-Z, Greta Onieogou, Samantha Logan, Michael Evans Behling, Cody Christian, Karimah Westbrook

Following a significant time jump, Spencer James finds himself on the cusp of NFL stardom after a stellar college football season. Along with the pressures of potential draft picks and Heisman Trophy buzz, he must also confront the changes in his relationship with Olivia, who’s been studying abroad. Meanwhile, Jordan grapples with jealousy over Spencer’s success while planning his wedding to Layla.

The friend group, still residing at the Malibu beach house, faces new challenges including parenthood for Asher and Jaymee. As the characters prepare for life after college, they’ll need to balance their ambitions, relationships, and the evolving dynamics of their tight-knit “vortex”.

• Release date: July 26, 2024
• Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
• Rating: TV-MA
• Director: Carlos Montero, Darío Madrona
• Cast: Omar Ayuso, Itzan Escamilla, Mina El Hammani, Miguel Bernardeau, Arón Piper, Valentina Zenere, André Lamoglia

Las Encinas welcomes a new academic year fraught with danger and intrigue. The arrival of siblings Emilia and Héctor Krawietz, who are heading the alumni association, sets off a chain of events that affects every student. As usual, a shocking murder rocks the school community.

Old rivalries reignite and new alliances form as the students navigate love, betrayal, and the high-stakes world of Spain’s most elite private school. There are some familiar faces and compelling new characters, with this season showing you the lengths some will go to protect their secrets.

• Release date: July 23, 2024
• Genre: Game Show, Reality
• Rating: N.A.
• Director: Laurieann Gibson
• Cast: Kate Upton

Hosted by Kate Upton, this fashion competition series challenges designers to create tour outfits for music stars. Each week, a different celebrity guest judge tasks the contestants with designing a show-stopping look for their next tour. With mentors Marina Toybina and Laurieann Gibson offering guidance, the designers must balance creativity, functionality, and the artist’s unique style.

The competition kicks off with a high-stakes elimination challenge, designing for dancers, before moving on to outfitting JoJo Siwa. As the season progresses, tensions rise and alliances form, with designers voting to eliminate their peers. With $100,000 on the line, who will have what it takes to dress the biggest names in music?

• Release date: July 24, 2024
• Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
• Rating: TV-PG
• Director: Jemaine Clement, Iain Morris, Taika Waititi
• Cast: Lisa Kudrow, Kal-El Tuck, Tadhg Murphy, Roger Jean Nsengiyumva, Rune Temte, Charlyne Yi, Rachel House

In this reimagining of Terry Gilliam’s classic film, 11-year-old history enthusiast Kevin discovers his bedroom is a portal to different eras. He joins a group of time-traveling thieves led by the sarcastic Penelope, who has stolen a map from the Supreme Being. As they hop through time, visiting places like Stonehenge under construction and the Trojan Horse, they’re pursued by the nefarious Pure Evil.

Kevin must use his historical knowledge to navigate dangerous situations while Pure Evil plots to steal the map and wreak havoc across time. Filled with witty humor and fantastical adventures, this series blends historical facts with imaginative storytelling for viewers of all ages.

• Release date: July 24, 2024
• Genre: Documentary, Sport
• Rating: TV-14
• Director: Mark Monroe
• Cast: Pete Rose, Al Michaels, Marty Brennaman, Lesley Visser, Pete Rose Jr., Jon Miller, Mike Schmidt

This four-part documentary series delves into the complex legacy of baseball legend Pete Rose. Known as “Charlie Hustle” for his relentless playing style, Rose is very successful. He’s also known for his controversial fall from grace.

The series explores Rose’s journey from being a beloved player to his permanent ineligibility from baseball due to gambling. Through extensive interviews, including with Rose, the documentary examines the events leading to his ban, his years of denial, and the ongoing debate about his potential Hall of Fame induction.

• Release date: July 5, 2024
• Genre: Crime, Thriller
• Rating: TV-14
• Director: Yolanda Ramke
• Cast: Thomas Jane, Nicole Chamoun, Sun Park, David Lyons, Yerin Ha, Ling Cooper Tang, Kate Beahan

Returning to the steamy landscape of Far North Queensland, ex-cop Ted Conkaffey and private investigator Amanda Pharrell find themselves in the middle of a new mystery. It’s a dangerous environment, and the duo must confront not only the case at hand but also their own personal demons.

With Ted still grappling with his past and Amanda’s unconventional methods raising eyebrows, their partnership is put to the test. Expect more crocodile encounters, local eccentrics, and the unique blend of suspense and dark humor that made the first season a hit.

What was new and worth watching over the last month

Missed our other lists? Here’s a quick recap. Also, check out our list of streaming movies if you’re in the mood for something longer this weekend.

• Release date: July 19, 2024
• Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
• Rating: TV-MA
• Director: Lee Eung-bok
• Cast: Song Kang, Go Min-si, Lee Jin-wook, Lee Si-young, Park Gyu-young, Lee Do-hyun, Kim Nam-hee

This is it, the final season. Seoul remains a nightmarish landscape where the battle between humans and monsters continues to rage. Hyun-su grapples with his dual nature as half-human and half-monster, his internal struggle physically manifested in his one powerful, unwieldy wing.

The series introduces the concept of “neohumans,” a development that could potentially shift the balance of the ongoing war. On the monster side, those who have transformed are out for blood and possibly revenge, presenting new and terrifying challenges for the human survivors. The series promises to explore more monster designs, from creatures with ventriloquist dummy-like faces to beings with tentacles instead of facial features.

• Release date: July 19, 2024
• Genre: Documentary, Game Show, Reality
• Rating: TV-MA
• Director: Laura Gibson, Charlie Bennett
• Cast: Desiree Burch, Cam Holmes, Emily Faye Miller, Chase DeMoor, Carly Lawrence, Melinda Melrose, Marvin Anthony

For the first time in the series’s history, the participants are fully aware of what they’ve signed up for — don’t have sex, win a cash prize. The stakes are higher than ever, with the prize money increasing to $250,000. The most exciting addition to the cast is “Bad Lana,” a mischievous counterpart to the show’s AI host, Lana. While Lana typically enforces the no-contact rules, Bad Lana introduces periods where everything from kissing to sex is permitted without incurring fines.

This twist adds a new layer of temptation and strategy to the game. The two naughtiest contestants are sent to “banishment quarters,” where they’re made to perform mundane tasks like counting paperclips and can pay to spy on their crushes through a TV monitor. Despite these new elements, the core of the show remains intact. Expect complicated love quads, couple-swapping, and the usual ways to obtain sexual gratification without reducing the prize fund.

• Release date: July 15, 2024
• Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
• Rating: TV-MA
• Director: Josh Gordon, Will Speck
• Cast: Fred Tatasciore, Jason Sudeikis, George Takei, Olivia Munn, Ally Maki, Nobi Nakanishi

The second season of this adult animated series based on the Marvel Comics character continues the story of a Japanese snow monkey turned assassin. The season opens with a significant plot point: ghost assassin Bryce has been granted 48 hours in his physical body and has a crucial mission to complete within this limited timeframe.

Meanwhile, the titular Hit-Monkey finds himself at a crossroads. He meets new friends who help him question his future and whether he wants to continue his life as a killer. This internal conflict forms a significant part of the season’s emotional core, with Tatasciore’s nuanced vocal performance conveying Monkey’s complex emotions through grunts and body language.

• Release date: July 18, 2024
• Genre: Documentary, Crime
• Rating: TV-MA
• Director: Brad Bernstein
• Cast: Anthony Martino, Samantha Holland, Terrence Mombrun

True crime fans, unite. This series explores how the victim’s digital footprints, like social media posts, private messages, and online activity, provide crucial evidence that led to their killers’ capture. It also explores more traditional forms of evidence left behind by victims, such as diaries and letters. They’re literally solving their own crimes from beyond the grave.

The series combines interviews with family members, friends, and law enforcement officials with reenactments and real footage from victims’ social media accounts. You get a comprehensive look at each case, from the initial disappearance or discovery of the crime to the eventual resolution and its impact on the community.

• Release date: July 18, 2024
• Genre: Action, Drama
• Rating: TV-MA
• Director: Robert Rodat
• Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hughes, Sara Martins, Jojo Macari, Gabriella Pession, Dimitri Leonidas, Moe Hashim

This one’s for the history buffs. Set against the backdrop of the Roman Empire at its height, the series explores the lives of various characters across the social spectrum, from the highest echelons of power to the lowliest slaves. The story revolves around the construction of the Colosseum, commissioned by Emperor Vespasian.

As the massive amphitheater takes shape, political intrigue unfolds among the Roman elite. Vespasian’s two sons, Titus and Domitian, vie for their father’s favor and the right to succeed him as Emperor. Titus, the warrior, is seen as better equipped to deal with external threats, while Domitian, the political animal, is considered more adept at handling internal strife. At the heart of the series are the gladiatorial games themselves.

• Release date: July 19, 2024
• Genre: Drama
• Rating: TV-MA
• Director: Alma Har’el
• Cast: Natalie Portman, Moses Ingram, Y’lan Noel, Brett Gelman, Byron Bowers, Noah Jupe, Josiah Cross

The show stars Natalie Portman in her first major television role as Maddie Schwartz, a housewife and mother who reinvents herself as an investigative journalist. The story begins with Maddie’s decision to leave her comfortable but unfulfilling domestic life. Inspired by the disappearance of a local girl, Tessie Fine, Maddie becomes involved in the investigation, awakening her long-dormant ambitions and setting her on a new path.

As Maddie pursues her newfound calling, she becomes fixated on another case: the mysterious death of Cleo Sherwood (Moses Ingram), a young Black woman whose body is found in a city park lake. The official narrative dismisses Cleo’s death, but Maddie is convinced there’s more to the story and is determined to uncover the truth.

• Release date: July 9, 2024
• Genre: Reality, Romance
• Rating: TV-MA
• Director: Keisuke Hishida
• Cast: Ell, Yuuki Luna, Seth Fuentes

In a groundbreaking move for Japanese television, Netflix presents the country’s first gay dating reality series. Nine young men, each stylish and hoping to make a sincere connection, gather at a picturesque beachfront villa for four weeks. Quiet glances and budding feelings take root as they navigate the uncharted waters of same-sex courtship in the public eye for the first time.

With organic conversations about life, love, and coming out, these unforced romances unfold against the dreamlike backdrop of the Japanese countryside. Part travelogue and part social experiment, The Boyfriend provides a tender, unfiltered look at queer men searching for partnership and acceptance in a culture where their stories have rarely been told. Heartwarming, groundbreaking, and brimming with hope, it’s a touching portrait of love quietly fighting for a place in the spotlight.

• Release date: July 12, 2024
• Genre: Animation, Comedy
• Rating: TV-14
• Director: Matthew Inman, Shane Kosakowski
• Cast: Tom Ellis, Ally Maki, Mark Proksch, Sasheer Zamata, Suzy Nakamura, Kenny Yates

God and Satan find themselves stripped of their powers and trapped on Earth in the bodies of feuding house cats. A little ironic that God is voiced by Tom Ellis who played Lucifer….on, well, Lucifer. Coincidence? Adopted by an endearingly oddball family, these not-so-divine felines lead their hapless humans through an increasingly bizarre parade of misadventures.

Vampire pug takeovers, time-traveling sharks, condemned cetacean souls reincarnated as theme park overlords — no plot point is too weird or random for this whirlwind of comic fantasy. With dizzying non-sequiturs, genre parodies, and groan-worthy gags whizzing by at a breakneck pace, Exploding Kittens takes the anything-goes absurdity of animation to delirious new heights. Supremely silly, slyly smart, and purr-fectly profane, it’s the cat’s meow for fans of over-the-top humor.

• Release date: July 11, 2024
• Genre: Documentary, Crime
• Rating: TV-14
• Director: Abby Fuller
• Cast: Ann Burgess

This gripping three-part docuseries chronicles the pioneering career of Dr. Ann Burgess, the brilliant and unassuming godmother of criminal profiling. A longtime consultant for the FBI, Burgess helped revolutionize law enforcement’s approach to tracking violent offenders and understanding their victims. With empathy, insight, and an uncanny ability to analyze the darkest corners of the psyche, she brought critical advances to bear on such notorious cases as the Ski Mask Rapist and the Menendez brothers.

Now, through intimate interviews and evocative reenactments, Mastermind puts you inside the investigation right alongside this unlikely hero. The series is a must-watch for true crime aficionados. In a genre so often focused solely on the perpetrators, it’s a powerful reminder of the woman who spoke for the survivors.

• Release date: July 10, 2024
• Genre: Drama
• Rating: TV-MA
• Director: Katie Robbins
• Cast: Rashida Jones, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Joanna Sotomura, Judy Ongg

In the near-future metropolis of Kyoto, recently widowed Suzie grapples with the mysterious disappearance of her tech mogul husband and young son. Consumed by grief and desperate for answers, she reluctantly accepts the gift of Sunny — an uncannily advanced homebot encoded with secrets about Suzie’s marriage and programmed for far more than domestic duties.

The inquisitive robot draws Suzie down a rabbit hole of corporate espionage and personal revelations. Sunny uses sleek sci-fi world-building to explore the very human question of how well we can ever truly know those closest to us. Thoughtful, suspenseful, and anchored by Rashida Jone’s finely-tuned lead performance, it’s a quietly engrossing meditation on memory, technology, and the messiness of modern love.

• Release date: Jul 11, 2024
• Genre: Animation, Comedy
• Rating: TV-MA
• Director: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
• Cast: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Michael Cera, David Krumholtz, Edward Norton, Will Forte, Sam Richardson

Having gained sentience and started an all-out war with their human oppressors, a group of foul-mouthed food items attempt to establish an edible utopia free from the tyranny of consumption. But as Frank the sausage and his fresh-produce pals quickly discover, building a perfect union isn’t easy — especially when you’re constantly worried about expiration dates.

With an appetite for crude laughs, groan-inducing puns, and sneaky social commentary as its big-screen predecessor, Sausage Party: Foodtopia serves up a gleefully immature satire of societal structures. It’s a salty, irreverent, borderline experimental feast that will leave open-minded comedy fans happily diving into the dumpster for more.

• Release date: July 8, 2024
• Genre: Animation, Comedy
• Rating: N.A.
• Director: Shū Honma
• Cast: Ikumi Hasegawa, Fairouz Ai, Yuina Itō, Hina Yomiya, Hitomi Ueda, Ai Kayano, Chika Anzai

In a bid for viral fame, disgraced NewTuber Masaki recruits an aspiring star with a secret: Live, her enthusiastic new partner in content creation, is actually a vampire. With Live’s supernatural abilities and Masaki’s burning ambition, the two aim to skyrocket into social media superstardom. The only catch?

Once their channel reaches a million subscribers, Live gets to drink Masaki’s blood. A high-concept twist on both the girl-meets-girl and found family formulas, Mayonaka Punch so far promises a fresh, fantastical spin on millennial hustling and the quest for online relevancy. Balancing influencer culture with a core relationship radiating real warmth, Mayonaka Punch is primed to take a bite out of viewer’s hearts. Whether it sinks its teeth fully into comedy, drama, or an addictive blend of both, it’s a series to keep on your “must-watch” list.