[imagesource: IMDb]

Nobody is saying you have to watch any of the series below.

It never hurts to have options, though.

I finished Euphoria, I finished Ozark, I made it through Stranger Things, the new English Premier League season hasn’t yet kicked off – I’m in a ‘throw some more options at me’ stage.

The Guardian has obliged with a list of what they say are the seven best shows you can stream this week.

They don’t all stream on services we can actually subscribe to here in South Africa but by now you know how to get around that.

Maybe it’s a VPN, maybe somebody at work hands you a flash drive, this is not my concern.

Instead, we start with the first of the three series we will feature, The Thing About Pam:

A very odd, chaotic adaptation of an NBC Dateline true-crime documentary, in which the simple thrust of good storytelling gets lost amid the conceptual sprawl.

Set in Troy, Missouri, it tells the story of Pam Hupp, who was convicted of murdering her co-worker Betsy Faria and framing Faria’s husband, Russ, for the crime. It’s an astonishing story but very little about this rendering rings true – Pam (Renée Zellweger) is too overtly charmless to manipulate the police and her neighbours, while the slightly smirky tone feels at odds with the tragedy of the case.

That’s not exactly a glowing review but we shall watch the trailer regardless:

The series airs on Paramount+ from tomorrow (July 21).

Trying first aired in 2020 and is now into its third season. Along the way, it has evolved:

What started off as an admirably unsentimental comedy about a couple struggling to have children has now turned into a charming comedy about a couple dealing with the early stages of raising an adoptive family.

It’s none the worse for that, thanks to the chemistry between Esther Smith’s Nikki and Jason (Rafe Spall) – who do an excellent job of transmitting the insecurity and hard-earned joy of their situation.

I’ll assume you haven’t watched either of the first two seasons so let’s rewind to season one:

The third season starts airing on Apple TV+ from Friday (July 22).

Alright, what else do we have? I Love That for You is actually The Guardian’s top pick of the week and starts airing on Paramount+ from tomorrow (July 21):

Joanna Gold is a leukaemia survivor. She’s brittle, lonely, living with her parents and working in a supermarket. Her difficult childhood was soothed by the escapist dreams of shopping channels – so when a related opportunity knocks, she grabs it tightly.

There’s real cringe to this comedy: Vanessa Bayer as Joanna is incredibly likable in her accident-prone neediness. And the knowledge that Bayer is a real-life childhood cancer survivor gives the show poignancy – Joanna lost her younger years and, with it, any normal sense of identity development. As a result, she’s an adult still trying out multiple personas for size and not quite fitting any of them. Funny, and cute too.

Final trailer, roll tape:

The series will also stream on Showtime.

If none of the above strikes a chord, the BBC has done a ‘best of’ list, as has The Washington Post and Vanity Fair.

Start with Euphoria and go from there.

[source:guardian]