Here’s what you need to know about TV this week:

  • Star Trek: Picard is pretty solid drama - If you’re not into Trek at all, your mileage might vary. But, I think it is still very watchable for people who aren’t fluent in Trek. You can watch this and totally understand what is going on. And the show is a little bit more ‘peak TV’ than you might expect from Trek.
  • October Faction on Netflix seems interesting enough. I’m excited to see character actor JC Mackenzie take a lead role in this show. I’ve always really liked that guy (ever since Murder One).
  • The Dead Lands is based on the 2014 New Zealand zombie(ish) film of the same name. Genre fans will want to give it a look.
  • There’s something that feels very right about the world when Curb Your Enthusiasm is back. It’s almost as if it gives us permission to once again revel in focusing only on the minutiae of our own lives.

returning:

Curb Your Enthusiasm (s10), Project Blue Book (s2), The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (s2), Station 19 (s3), The Bold Type (s4)

October Faction - Netflix (US)

Stars: Maxim Roy, Tamara Taylor, J.C. MacKenzie

Retired monster hunters Fred and Deloris Allen return to their hometown in upstate New York with their teenage children after the death of a family member, but quickly discover that concealing their secret identities from their kids and new neighbors is a difficult job.

Watch:
Netflix

Star Trek: Picard - CBS All Access (US)

Stars: Patrick Stewart, Santiago Cabrera, Alison Pill

Retired admiral Jean-Luc Picard -- still deeply affected by the loss of Lieutenant Commander Data and the destruction of Romulus -- steps into the next chapter of his life.

Watch:
CBS All Access (US) | Amazon Prime Video (The rest of the world)

Rise of Empires: Ottoman - Netflix (Turkey)

Stars: Cem Yigit Uzümoglu, Damla Sönmez, Alp Türker Ilkman

Ottoman sultan Mehmed II wages an epic campaign to take the Byzantine capital of Constantinople, shaping the course of history for centuries.

Watch:
Netflix

Avenue 5 - HBO (US)

Stars: Hugh Laurie, Josh Gad, Zach Woods

Space captain Ryan Clark of the Avenue 5 tries to get along with others in the space tourism industry.

Watch:
HBO (US) | Foxtel (Australia)

911: Lone Star - Fox (US)

Stars: Ronen Rubinstein, Rob Lowe, Liv Tyler

A New York firefighter relocates to Austin, Texas with his son, where he works to save people's lives while trying to solve his own personal problems.

Watch:
Fox (US)

Outmatched - Fox (US)

Stars: Jason Biggs, Ashley Boettcher, Tisha Campbell-Martin, Maggie Lawson

A working-class couple raise their genius kids in South Jersey.

Watch:
Fox (US)

The Dead Lands - Shudder (US)

Stars: Te Kohe Tuhaka, Kali Kopae, Briar Rose

Waka, a cuddled Maori warrior returned from the Afterlife, and Mehe, a determined young woman, embark on a quest to find who 'broke the world' and how to close the breach between the living and the dead.

Watch:
Shudder (US) | TVNZ (New Zealand)