Anya Taylor-Joy in Lucky.
Courtesy Apple TV
We’re about halfway into the summer TV season now, and while there are almost no truly dead weeks in the streaming era, the slowdown in premieres is noticeable. And, for those of us still catching up on The Bear and Widow’s Bay — hi, it’s me — it’s also welcome.
There are a handful of notable premieres this week, including Apple’s latest series Lucky, the final season of a CW show that will truly end an era and Will Ferrell’s latest sports comedy, this time in series form. The final matches of the World Cup and baseball’s All-Star Game also are up this week.
The end of last week was fairly quiet in terms of news, so let’s roll on to the calendar. All times are ET/PT unless noted.
Premieres
Monday
• Hot Ones: Extra Heat (Netflix): A spinoff of the YouTube wings-and-chat talk show will have host Sean Evans going on the road to chat with guests in a series of specials tied to Netflix live events. The premiere will come from the site of baseball’s Home Run Derby (see the Specials lineup below).
• Murder 101 (Prime Video): A documentary series about a high school class that helps solve a decades-old murder. Not to be confused with the Amazon MGM movie Crime 101 with Chris Hemsworth and Halle Berry.
• 8 p.m.: Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro (ABC): Coming off a hugely successful season last year, DWTS looks for its newest professional dancer/builds hype for the season coming in the fall.
• 8 p.m.: All American (The CW): The eighth and final season premieres. The show is the last scripted series that has ties to the network’s pre-Nexstar days, so this is truly the beginning of the end of an era.
Tuesday
• Quarterback (Netflix): Season three of the NFL docuseries will focus on two young QBs (Jayden Daniels and Cam Ward), one in the middle of his career (Baker Mayfield) and one nearing the end of the line (Joe Flacco).
• The Real Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount+)
Wednesday
• Lucky (Apple TV): Anya Taylor-Joy plays the title character in this limited series about a reformed con artist who gets pulled back into that world for a final job. It’s based on a best-selling novel by Marissa Stapley and also stars Annette Bening, Timothy Olyphant and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.
• Ride or Die (Prime Video): Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham and Octavia Spencer play two best friends who have to go on the run from the mob. Fortunately, one of the is also a trained assassin.
• The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On (Netflix)
• 9 p.m.: Nation’s Dumbest (Fox): It’s a game show, and that’s as far as I care to explore the premise.
Thursday
• The Hawk (Netflix): Will Ferrell plays Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins, an aging professional golfer looking for one last shot at glory. Molly Shannon, Luke Wilson, Jimmy Tatro, Fortune Feimster and Chris Parnell also star.
• 9 p.m.: Scott Peterson: The New Evidence (A&E)