September 05, 2024
Greg Gayne/PEACOCK
'Bel-Air' is among the crop of late-summer series premieres, having dropped its third season on Peacock last month.
The only real cure to the gloom brought on by the winding down of summer is to relax with a captivating, or mindless, TV show.
Whether you want to daydream about wearing ridiculous (yet somehow stylish) outfits in Paris or be awoken from your reveries by an intense karate battle, streamers' late-summer offerings have something for anyone seeking a healthy dose of escapism. Plus, a recent streaming trend is to premiere seasons in multiple parts, for some strange reason — so it's time to catch up on those summer series "part ones" before the next segment of the season drops in the coming months.
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Here are some of my current favorite series streaming on Peacock, Netflix and Hulu — including a couple with Philly connections. Some of them offer almost as much drama as Tuesday's "Bachelorette" live finale, while others provide the perfect background noise for scrolling your phone while sipping a PSL.
The gritty reimagining of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" returned last month to Peacock with its third season. It follows West Philadelphia teenager Will, played by actual West Philly resident and University of the Arts alum Jabari Banks, on a complicated journey from the streets of his hometown to his luxurious new home with his relatives, the Banks family, in the posh Los Angeles Bel-Air neighborhood.
This time around, Will is enjoying a summer off from school and his grueling basketball schedule as he grapples with the love triangle he finds himself in with Lisa (Simone Joy Jones) and Jackie (Jazlyn Martin). He picks up a job at an elite country club while also scheming up a business plan with his cousin, Carlton (Olly Sholotan), who is struggling to rebuild his reputation after a stint in rehab.
Meanwhile, Will's Uncle Phil (Adrian Holmes) and Aunt Viv (Cassandra Freeman) face relationship struggles brought on by pressure at home and work — where flirty distractions lurk — while Will's cousins Hilary (Coco Jones) and Ashley (Akira Akbar) deal with their own misadventures in love and friendship. Just like the two seasons before it, "Bel-Air" Season 3 serves up a heavy heaping of personal drama while also grappling with larger societal issues.
The spinoff that follows "Karate Kid" characters decades after the events of the film franchise from the '80s and '90s, is airing its final season on Netflix in three parts. The first part of Season 6 dropped in July, bringing along the series' signature laughs, action and shocking twists.
The final season kicks off with the students of Miyagi-Do — a dojo made up of the combined teams led by rivals-turned-frenemies Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) — training for the Sekai Taikai, a prestigious karate tournament.
Meanwhile, Johnny's villainous former sensei, John Kreese (Martin Kove), has escaped from prison and is getting together his own team to take them down. Mixed in with slapstick humor and fast-paced karate are some serious, heart-wrenching moments as the fighters and their senseis navigate love, loss and decisions about their futures. I've been shocked by "Cobra Kai" finale twists time and time again, and figured I was immune to it by now. But, the final moments of Season 6, Part 1, left me stunned and eager to see how it plays out in the next part.
Part 2 will premiere Nov. 15, and Part 3 is coming in 2025.
Make fun of "Emily in Paris" all you want for its corny lines, soap opera-like plot twists, unrealistic portrayals of the advertising profession and wild fashion choices. But I personally think that's all part of its rom-com charm! I mean, who doesn't wish that, like Emily Cooper (Lily Collins), their marketing job sent them overseas to a posh firm in Paris where they had an apartment in the city and a hot chef for a neighbor?
The first part of "Emily in Paris" Season 4 premiered last month on Netflix, and saw Emily weaving her way through personal and professional hurdles. She continues to find herself in various love triangles, including one with her chef-neighbor Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) and Camille (Camille Razat), his ex who claims to be pregnant with his child. Things further complicate when Camille and her girlfriend move into Gabriel's apartment with him, leaving him and Emily little alone time to explore their burgeoning relationship.
Of course, the real star of the season is the flashy and outlandish fashion that Emily and her peers wear to various club openings, galas, the French Open and even to the office. When watching "Emily in Paris" Season 4, you can't expect too much substance, or for Emily to have finally learned more than a few French words, but you can always expect to have a fun time and forget about the outside world for a half hour.
The gang is back for Season 4 on Hulu to solve yet another mysterious slaying at the luxurious Arconia apartment building in New York City. This season, the trio of neighbors who solve crime and record podcasts — Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez), Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) and Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin) — are whisked away to L.A., where a big studio is adapting their podcast of misadventures into a film.
The podcasters are being portrayed by big name celebrities (Eva Longoria, Zach Galifianakis and Eugene Levy) and the price tag is perfect for the financially inept pals. But their Hollywood dreams are short-lived when they find out that another murder was committed back at the Arconia — this time Charles' friend and stunt double Sazz (Jane Lynch) was killed.
Philly native Da'Vine Joy Randolph is back as the no-nonsense Detective Williams, while Bucks County native Richard Kind also joins the star-studded cast as a mysterious eyepatch-wearing Arconia resident.
There's nothing better than the rapport that Gomez, Short and Martin have established, and "Only Murders" is one of the few shows out right now that actually makes me LOL. Plus, I love that it premieres episodes weekly rather than a bunch at once — a welcome reprieve from the content overload of today's streaming atmosphere, and something to look forward to each week.
The first episode of Season 4 premiered last week, with new episodes dropping on Hulu every Tuesday.
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