The Best New Shows on TV and Streaming This Week

A fresh week is here, bringing with it new TV series and the returns of favorite shows on both television and streaming platforms.

Need a new show to watch alone, with your partner, or with friends? Or are you curious if any of your current favorites are returning with new seasons or specials? We can help!

Look, I love a good movie, but sometimes you really want to live with a story, you know? That’s where TV shows and streaming series come in – they take more time, but the payoff is usually huge. This week, there’s a ton of new stuff dropping, whether you’re looking for your next big binge-watch or just something to have on while you’re cleaning the house. I’m always on the hunt for something new to watch, and it looks like there are plenty of options!

New TV Shows, New Seasons & New Streaming Series Out This Week

This week offers a new crime thriller with Nicole Kidman, and a fascinating documentary series about the Murdoch family. And be sure to tune in to the Oscars this Sunday, March 15th.

Grab your remotes or fire up your streaming devices – these new TV shows are now available! Plus, you can find last week’s new releases right here too.

Scarpetta

In the new crime thriller series Scarpetta, Nicole Kidman stars as a forensic pathologist hunting a serial killer, with the story unfolding across multiple time periods.

You can stream all eight episodes of the new series Scarpetta on Amazon Prime Video starting March 11th.

Dynasty: The Murdochs

Dynasty: The Murdochs is a documentary that reveals the story of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the intense competition between his children to inherit his vast business empire. It features never-before-seen footage, documents, and interviews.

I’m so excited to share that you can watch Dynasty: The Murdochs on Netflix starting March 13th! All four parts of this fascinating docu-series will be available to stream then, and it’s exclusive to Netflix, so that’s where you’ll need to go to see it.

The Madison

Set in the world of Yellowstone and featuring Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell, The Madison tells the story of a wealthy family who relocate from New York City to Montana’s Madison River Valley after experiencing a devastating loss.

You can watch the first three episodes of the new series, The Madison, starting March 14th, only on Paramount+.

Age of Attraction

In the new dating show Age of Attraction, hosted by Nick Viall and Natalie Joy, forty single people aged 22 to 60 will try to form genuine romantic connections without knowing each other’s ages.

You can watch the new reality dating show, Age of Attraction, only on Netflix, beginning March 11th.

98th Academy Awards

This year, Conan O’Brien will host the 98th Academy Awards. The films receiving the most nominations include Sinners, One Battle After Another, and Marty Supreme.

You can watch the 2026 Oscars live on ABC and Hulu on March 15th at 7 PM Eastern Time. This is the 98th Academy Awards ceremony.

10 TV Shows People Love That Are Actually Bad

The West Wing

Aaron Sorkin’s show, The West Wing, became famous for its fast-paced dialogue and an optimistic, almost naive, view of politics. But looking at it now, especially with everything going on in the world, it doesn’t quite live up to its former reputation, no matter how engaging the conversations are. While it’s nice to see a president and his team motivated by a genuine desire to help people, the show feels very unrealistic.

It consistently portrays the main characters as ‘the good guys’ winning arguments against anyone who disagrees with them, simply by being more logical and articulate. Their opponents are left speechless – it’s essentially how many people think they come across in online arguments.

Heroes

As a big fan of sci-fi, I was really excited about Heroes when it first came out, but it quickly became frustrating. The showrunners seemed determined to take it in a direction nobody wanted! The first season was so promising, introducing this amazing group of characters, but then they kept changing things up, losing sight of what made it special. We just wanted to see those original characters develop and explore their powers, but the show kept chasing different ideas. And honestly, like a lot of sci-fi shows from that time, Heroes relied way too much on style over substance. It felt like they were trying to save money by having everyone wear cool clothes and stand around talking in empty spaces instead of actually building a compelling world.

How I Met Your Mother

The series finale of How I Met Your Mother is truly disappointing – the kind that makes you rethink whether the entire show was worth watching. And honestly, it had problems all along. HIMYM initially stood out by cleverly playing with the typical sitcom format, using flashbacks, flash-forwards, and an unreliable narrator to keep viewers guessing. But after several seasons, those tricks became tiresome, and the characters – intentionally flawed and irritating – became so unlikeable that it was hard to care about their stories. The show’s central mystery – who Ted Mosby ends up marrying and having children with – is ultimately its biggest weakness. The Mother is barely a presence throughout the series, and after finally being introduced in Season 8, she’s unexpectedly killed off at the end of Season 9, leaving many viewers wondering what the point of it all was.

South Park

It seems like there’s always someone criticizing South Park. You can acknowledge the show’s unique, deliberately simple style, its knack for satire, and its surprisingly quick production process, but it still has its flaws. The show’s purposefully provocative and often offensive humor creates a defensive reaction – a kind of immature “are you offended?” response – and a sense that nothing is off-limits. We’re not claiming South Park is solely responsible for the difficulty of having productive conversations today, but it definitely contributes to the problem.

The Big Bang Theory

It’s simple to dismiss a comedy as unfunny, but The Big Bang Theory was particularly frustrating. The show was supposedly about a group of nerdy friends—plus one conventionally attractive woman—and their everyday lives. However, the humor relied heavily on tired, predictable jokes. The premise was basically that nerdy guys struggle to talk to attractive women, and that nerds enjoy typical hobbies like comics, Dungeons & Dragons, and superhero merchandise. It felt incredibly simplistic and condescending. As a nerd myself, I’d be offended that such a popular show portrayed that group as childish. And, unfortunately, it led to the creation of Young Sheldon. I guess that’s just how it goes.

The Handmaid’s Tale

Many viewers who stuck with all five seasons of The Handmaid’s Tale consistently criticized the repetitive storylines. The show often took one step forward and two steps back, with characters repeatedly escaping and being recaptured, ultimately making their efforts feel pointless. Beyond the disturbing depictions of torture and death – primarily inflicted on women – the limited number of plot ideas diminished the show’s suspense. Some viewers felt the series would have been better served by a decisive ending in the first season, rather than dragging out the conflict.

Stranger Things

Let’s be honest, despite Stranger Things‘ huge impact – it basically reinvented a type of show, inspired tons of copycats, fueled countless Halloween outfits, and even brought Kate Bush back into the spotlight – the show isn’t as strong as it used to be. What began as a charming series tapping into nostalgia for ’80s classics has become overly complicated and bloated. The constant references and attempts to recreate that retro feeling have grown old, the storyline is now unnecessarily complex, and the monsters just aren’t frightening or particularly inventive. I’d much rather watch the originals – The Goonies, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, Evil Dead – than these pale imitations.

Ozark

I have to admit, I was really curious about Ozark on Netflix. The premise sounded interesting, but honestly? It didn’t quite live up to the buzz. It’s not bad, exactly, but it felt… surprisingly dull. I know Jason Bateman was heavily involved – directing a lot of episodes and starring – and I expected more personality, more wit. So many great crime dramas have that clever spark, but Ozark‘s dialogue just felt flat and humorless. I’m honestly a little baffled it lasted four seasons! It just didn’t grab me the way other shows in the genre do.

Ted Lasso

Ted Lasso arrived at the perfect moment, tapping into a desire for feel-good TV and a growing American interest in English soccer. This combination launched the show to surprising Emmy success and allowed Jason Sudeikis to play a charmingly naive character with a good heart. However, the show’s relentlessly positive messages about kindness started to feel repetitive after a while.

Viewers began to lose interest when the show moved away from its original premise – an optimistic American coach turning around a struggling soccer team with his personality – and tried to give Ted a dark past. The show didn’t need that kind of drama; it was meant to be a lighthearted story about a relentlessly positive and quotable coach, not a gritty origin story.

Yellowstone

It’s no surprise Yellowstone is a hit. The show blends the romanticized vision of the American West with classic, action-packed storytelling, all set against a complex world of ranching families and their rivalries. The dialogue is a unique mix – sometimes philosophical like the detective Rust Cohle from True Detective, and other times dramatic like you’d find in a daytime soap opera. Essentially, Yellowstone is a soap opera with the high production values and quality of a prestige TV drama, and it’s anchored by a compelling performance from a veteran actor.

However, if you’re looking for truly raw and realistic ranching drama, the prequel series 1883, starring Tim McGraw, is actually the stronger show.

2026-03-10 04:27