What’s new on TV and streaming this week (April 14-20)

It's spring. Hopefully, most of us want to go outside and touch grass. But if you don’t, there’s always something new on TV and the streaming platforms. So, what’s fresh this week?

Black Mirror Season 7 premiered last week, but honestly, the series is so good that one wants to savor it and enjoy the experience as slowly as possible.

At the same time, no one would blame you if you devoured the six episodes one after another in one sitting – and now need something else to watch. Thankfully, there’s a lot of fresh goodies out there – as per usual.

The Last of Us Season 2 (Max)

Just like the video game, the show, depicting a wild and sad post-apocalyptic world, has been a hit so far – and the second season has just premiered on Max, kicking off a seven-episode journey through the apocalypse.

In the series, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) continue wandering around a world in which people have been turned into rapid zombie-like creatures. The gap between the first and the second season spans several years, and we’ll have to see if the world is even more dangerous.

Government Cheese Season 1 (Apple TV+)

It’s the latest Apple TV+ comedy show featuring David Oyelowo. Four episodes will debut on April 16th, and then a weekly release schedule awaits.

Oyelowo stars as Hampton Chambers, an ex-convict but also a dreamer who simply has to keep on rolling despite spending time in prison and amassing solid debts.

Upon his release from prison, Chambers finds out that his family isn’t that happy to see him but still decides to look for ways to survive and thrive. It’s all a bit chaotic but the acting is good, and the year it all takes place in – 1969 – is indeed a very interesting era for a Black family in the US.

The Stolen Girl (Hulu/Disney Plus)

The Stolen Girl, a British five-part thriller, tells the story of a woman whose child is kidnapped during a sleepover with a friend. In a sort of a classic, the woman and her husband face increasing scrutiny over their long-buried secrets of the past.

The cast is great. There’s Holliday Grainger, best known for her role in the Strike series, there’s Denisse Gough who stars in the Star Wars spin-off series Andor, and there’s Ambika Mod who shot to fame as Emma from One Day.

Ransom Canyon Season 1 (Netflix)

Netflix likes to copy because it wants to keep up. Admittedly, most of the content on the streaming giant has become quite flat so, just like it copied Max’s The Pitt with Pulse, it is now releasing Ransom Canyon, an answer to Paramount’s Yellowstone.

Our hopes aren’t high because, of course, it’s hard to be as great as Yellowstone. Then again, even if the critics ridicule the show, the mass audience will definitely love this “romance-fuelled family drama” and the rugged expanse of Texas Hill Country. There are horses, too.

The Rehearsal Season 2 (Max)

On Sunday, don’t turn off HBO right after you watch The Righteous Gemstones – fantastic is an understatement. That’s when the second season of The Rehearsal, a brilliant oddball TV docu-comedy, is premiering.

In this bizarre and hilarious show, Nathan Fielder helps ordinary people prepare for life’s biggest moments by “rehearsing” them in carefully crafted simulations of his own design.

What’s even more interesting is that in the second season, Fielder decides to use his obsession with commercial airline crashes to fix the problem – obviously, through his unhinged simulations.

Season two has been in the works for a few years, so it’s just a coincidence and definitely not a direct response to the notable air crashes in Washington and Toronto. Perfect timing, though.