If you’re looking for a new show to binge this weekend, and you subscribe to Hulu, continue reading for the best new shows the streaming service has to offer, including the second season of true-crime docuseries Death in the Dorms, quality reality mini-series Operation Arctic Cure, and more.
Death in the Dorms, Season 2
This true crime series roots around in the darkest corners of the college experience, where the dreams of hopeful young scholars end in tragic murders. Death in the Dorms‘ macabre crimes feel all the more tragic because the series does such a good job of profiling its victims through interviews with their friends and families.
Operation Arctic Cure
In Operation Arctic Cure, combat reporter Bob Woodruff takes war veterans to the frozen wilderness at the top of the world to “test whether awe-inspiring experiences can heal their trauma and stress.” So this is not typical reality television. Instead of manufactured conflict in a mansion, Arctic Cure presents breath-taking landscapes, survival drama, and a deeper level where chilling arctic landscapes, courage, and camaraderie battle the psychological demons of war.
The Bear (2022)
I’m sure you’ve heard of The Bear and its high-stress, high-energy depiction of operating a restaurant in Chicago, but if you’re like me, you enjoyed the first season then didn’t watch the second because you figured it would be a disappointment. But it’s not! It’s really great. It’s a little uneven compared to season one, but it’s still an arresting drama with a pace and feel that are entirely unique.
PEN15 (2019)
Unlike The Bear, PEN15 didn’t find a big enough audience to continue past a second season, even though it’s funnier and more inventive than almost anything else on TV. But you can still watch its two full seasons on Hulu. For this cringe-inducing tribute to the awkwardness of adolescence, PEN15‘s co-creators Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle play seventh graders, but the rest of the cast are 13-year-olds. It’s a funny sight gag, but also drives home the alienation of barely-teenage outcasts while highlighting the ridiculousness of their life-or-death dramas.
Last week’s picks
Life & Beth, Season 2
The second season of Amy Schumer’s Life & Beth premieres this week on Hulu. All 10 episodes are dropping at once, so you can binge this addictive show all weekend. Life & Beth starts where most rom-coms end: stars Schumer and Michael Cera play a young couple navigating an opposites-attract marriage. He’s a practical, no-nonsense farmer and she’s disorganized, self-defeating, but unfailingly honest. And it’s the honesty (and a lot of empathy) that elevate this show above most TV comedies.
My Strange Addiction, Season 5
This week, a full season of TLC’s My Strange Addiction slimes it way onto Hulu. If you’re unfamiliar, My Strange Addiction profiles people who can’t stop doing things like eating mattresses, attaching leeches to themselves, and drinking paint. So yeah, it’s pure spectacle TV—but if you can leave behind the ethical concerns raised by gawking at people obvious psychological problems, it’s as addictive as…drinking a big glass of paint. It’s the kind of show that makes you think, “I got my problems, but at least I’m not that bad.”
Such Brave Girls (2023)
This BBC-produced series takes no prisoners in detailing the messed up lives of a dysfunctional family made up of two grown sisters and their mum. If you’re in the market for the “we might insult each other, but when it comes down to it, we’re family” vibe of a typical American sit-com about adversity, look elsewhere: The characters in Such Brave Girls are vicious and relentless, and they genuinely don’t like each other. It’s not uplifting, but it’s so much funnier than the alternative.
A Murder at the End of the World (2023)
I can’t get enough of Nordic noir, and A Murder at the End of the World serves up an ice cold pitcher full. Hero Darby Hart is a true crime buff and hacker who gets invited to a party at a billionaire’s secret retreat in Iceland. As you might guess, someone swiftly dies, and Hart tries to solve the case. A Murder at the End of the World spices up its Agatha Christie-style story with slick visuals, excellent music, an of-the-moment star in The Crown‘s Emma Corrin, and a truly mind-bending mystery.
