Spring might well be in the air and the days are getting longer, but that doesn’t mean some binge-worthy TV shows aren’t on the way in April. So for when the famed showers arrive and lock you inside, here’s Newstalk’s pick of the best new releases this coming month.
The Get Down, Season One, Part Two, streaming from April 7th
After a somewhat auspicious start, Baz Luhrmann’s epic Bronx-set musical series about the debuts of hip-hop in New York in the 1970s will see its debut season’s final six episodes add a lot of colour and action to our screens. As one of the most expensive TV shows ever made, The Get Down’s first six episodes divided critics and viewers alike, though Luhrmann’s lurid style and pacy direction makes for a very watchable show, even if only to gawk at the trainwreck. Worth a punt.
Better Call Saul, Season Three, streaming from April 11th
The Breaking Bad spin-off hasn’t managed to fully shake off the enduring popularity of its progenitor, but the Bob Odenkirk-led drama has managed to cultivate a fiercely loyal and devoted cult audience. The show will look to expand that fanbase with the promise of the prequel plot allowing Gus Fring, arguably the most iconic villain in modern TV drama history, a chance to reappear in Albuquerque’s drug trade. That makes it a big month of Giancarlo Esposito, the award-winning actor who also has a major role in The Get Down.
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return, Season One, streaming from April 14th
A prime example of how Netflix is willing to take risks on even the most obscure shows, this spoof comedy series began life as a public access TV show in Minneapolis in 1988. For the uninitiated, Netflix is already streaming a number of the classic episodes, but the new version of the show involves American comedian and podcaster Jonah Ray playing a man forced to watch terrible movies and comment on them with his robot pals. The trio sits as silhouettes against a movie screen, riffing on everything they see, with prolific nerd-culture icons Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt appearing in supporting roles.
RuPaul’s Drag Race, Season Nine, streaming now, week by week
The popular reality TV competition show, the knowingly mocks the format in endlessly entertaining fashion, returns for a ninth season, having jumped ship from Logo TV to VH1. The move is good news for Irish fans, with Netflix now streaming each new episode in HD the morning after its broadcast on US television. With RuPaul Charles having won the Emmy for ‘Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Programme’ in 2016, the show, whose high production values belie the pluck of its debut in 2009, is finally getting the wider recognition it’s deserved for years.
Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On, Season One, streaming from April 21st
Produced by actress and writer Rashida Jones, the team behind the feature documentary series Hot Girls Wanted returns for a new six-part anthology series, examining the murky world of sex and technology. The provocative series will lift the lid on cam performers, naked psychiatrists, the behind-the-scenes work on a porn shoot, as well as the consumers who’ve become hooked on the industry.
Casting JonBenét, Streaming from April 28th
More than two decades after the Boulder, Colorado six-year-old beauty queen was brutally murdered, the enduring mystery of who killed her and what her parents, now deceased and long implicated in her death, did or didn’t do. That all comes together in a strange but intriguing documentary which follows actors from the community auditioning for the roles of JonBenét Ramsey, her father John, her mother Patsy, and her brother Burke for a re-enactment of the case. Promising no answers, but plenty more questions, the ‘hybrid documentary’ will make for unsettling, but fascinating, viewing.
Dear White People, Season One, streaming from April 28th
Another spin-off, this time from a 2014 feature film of the same name, this satirical drama has already seen its trailer debut co-opted by members of the Alt-Right pushing for their followers to delete their Netflix accounts. The show follows a group of African-American students tackling institutional and casual racism on the campus of an elite university.
