Always Be Watching: Always Be Streaming

Nicolas Cage is a spider-guy, Tina Fey delivers all four seasons, and is this guy the future of late night?

Dan Barrett — Sat, 30 May 2026 01:05:40 GMT

Apologies to paid ABW subscribers for the lateness of this week’s Always Be Streaming newsletter – life just got in the way.

A bunch of thoughts on the new and returning shows of the week.

I wrote about Spider Noir already in the newsletter on Monday. For the TL;DR version: Nicolas Cage is perfect in the series, but the show stumbles a little bit with a plot that isn’t especially interesting. A shame, because so much else about the show is incredible. Especially the cinematography that looks gorgeous in both the black & white (my preference) and colour versions.

A show like The Four Seasons is generally right in my wheelhouse, but the first season of it left me pretty cold. The second season has a lot more confidence about it and played a bit better, but broadly I think my issue is the cast. I really like Tina Fey (obviously… I’m not a monster) and I’m delighted by Claude Calvani, but I have never been on the Colman Domingo bandwagon, I have a fiery disinterest in Will Forte, and I’ve always been a bit annoyed by Kerri Kenney-Silver (one of many reasons I never took to Reno 911 back in the day). The show does everything it can to stop me watching, but watch it I have.

We have two biographical soccer drama shows on this week, with the BBC’s Dear England and Netflix’s Brazil 70: The Third Star. Both are timed to generate some viewership as excitement builds for The World Cup, starting June 11.
Am I alone in struggling to find the enthusiasm in pressing play on For All Mankind spin-off Star City?

Usually in the Always Be Streaming newsletter I focus more on scripted TV shows and movies (it becomes too much for me to also cover all of the unscripted shows), but I did want to highlight this YouTube show that debuted this week

Good Night with Ben Gleib is one of the efforts springing up right now to bring a late night variety chat show to YouTube. This one has Gleib, a comedian who has been around for around 20 years, building up a substantial enough IMDB profile, is hosting a show from his house.

I have only watched a few minutes of it, but it has strong community television / public access vibes to it. Not that I have an issue with that – I’m very into authentic-feeling shows like this.

Is Ben Gleib the future of late night? Doubtful. But he seems amiable enough and I’ll watch a few episodes of this, I reckon. Is Kevin Smith a guest that has me enthused to watch? Heavens no. Is the 1 hour, 48 minute runtime of the first video a hugely off-putting proposition? It’s a bad vibe, Gleib.

Here’s episode one:

Returning TV

The Chi (s08), Rick & Morty (s09), A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder (s02), The Four Seasons (s02), Deli Boys (s02), Criminal Minds (s19), Murder Mindfully (s02)

New TV

Spider Noir — Prime Video

Who’s in it: Nicolas Cage, Lamorne Morris, Li Jun Li

What’s it about? Ben Reilly, a seasoned, down on his luck private investigator in the 1930s New York, is forced to grapple with his past life, following a deeply personal tragedy, as the city’s one and only superhero.

Brazil 70: The Third Star — Netflix

Who’s in it: Lucas Agrícola and Rodrigo Santoro

What’s it about? In 1970, the Brazilian national team took the field with big dreams and an even bigger challenge: to become the first three-time world champions.

Dear England — BBC One [UK] | Binge [AUS]

Who’s in it: Joseph Fiennes and Jodie Whittaker

What’s it about? Biographical drama following the reign of Gareth Southgate as England National Football Team Manager

Viral Hit — Netflix

Who’s in it: Ouji Suzuka

What’s it about? A high school student at the bottom of the school hierarchy takes on the world's injustice in a unique way: streaming his own fights!

Star City — Apple TV

Who’s in it: Rhys Ifans, Anna Maxwell Martin, Agnes O'Casey, Alice Englert

What’s it about? A troubled young man becomes a divine agent through a pact with a deity; his job is to protect the mortal realm from dark forces with a little help.

New Movies

Miss You, Love You — HBO Max

Who’s in it: Allison Janney, Andrew Rannells, Bonnie Hunt, Suzy Nakamura, Oscar Nunez, and Lisa Schurga.

What’s it about? A grieving widow is forced to plan her husband's funeral with her estranged son's assistant

That’s the newsletter for this week.

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We say goodbye to The Late Show and hello to Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed

Dan Barrett — Sat, 23 May 2026 00:56:46 GMT

Yesterday afternoon I live streamed the final episode of The Late Show. It was a terrible hour (plus) of television that managed to capture everything that has frustrated me about the show through its run.

While I like Stephen Colbert a lot and certainly wanted to like his tenure hosting The Late Show more than I ever actually did, the show never felt li…

Somehow Good Omens came back. The Punisher and Dutton Ranch deliver more rewarding returns.

Dan Barrett — Fri, 15 May 2026 11:20:29 GMT

It’s a pretty big week for familiar-feeling TV with returning shows, spin-offs, and sequels dominating options this week.

Good Omens, a well-received cult show starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen, has dragged itself to see the release of what I guess one could call the third and final season. The third season comprising of a single episode to wrap e…

Two unexpected TV delights. But first... I need to talk about Entourage for some reason

Dan Barrett — Fri, 08 May 2026 06:37:21 GMT

This was supposed to be a dud week. And look, it kinda is for the most part. I went into the week with a plan to catch up on some shows and to get started on some screener episodes for upcoming shows.

But, like with all of the best intentions, I did the TV watching equivalent of just dicking around and watched a whole bunch of Entourage. I fell into rewa…

Widow's Bay has been streaming for around 48 hours. I'm already awarding it Emmys.

Dan Barrett — Fri, 01 May 2026 05:19:46 GMT

Earlier this week I was rapturous over new Apple TV show Widow’s Bay. I may have been so bold as to suggest it is your new favourite show. That’s obviously hyperbole, but it will be true for a lot of viewers.

It would be redundant talking up the show again, so if you missed it, take a read of this:

Instead, I’d like to talk about Widow’s Bay’s Emmys chanc…

Good TV is where ambition meets your expectations

Dan Barrett — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 23:19:35 GMT

The enjoyment we have for a TV show is based on finding that meeting point between the scale of ambition for a show and our perception on where that scale needs to be.

The new Stranger Things spin-off Tales From ‘85 has a really broad mix of critical response. Alison Herman at Variety, for example was disappointed in the show. Her criticism exemplified t…

We say goodbye to The Pitt, but hello to Margo's Got Money Problems

Dan Barrett — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 06:08:51 GMT

With the Emmy awards eligibility window closing on May 31, we are this week seeing the last gasp of award-friendly shows released for the next few months. Consider Margo’s Got Money Problems, a show that is 100% going to be a leading contender across all of the limited series categories. It debuted with three episodes this week and will end its eight-ep…

Jon Hamm steals my attention, but The Drama makes a strong case to hold it

Dan Barrett — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 21:24:04 GMT

One of last year’s biggest disappointments is back this week, in the form of Apple TV’s Your Friends & Neighbors. It’s not that the show isn’t broadly good… I liked it quite a bit. But it did that exceptionally lame TV move of having a series wrap up its first season and then have the lead make an out-of-character decision that lacks logic for no real r…

Get 'DTF' with some pretty f**king good TV options this week

Dan Barrett — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 20:24:12 GMT

Yesterday afternoon I wanted to play around with going live on Substack. I hadn’t used the function before. It’s incredibly barebones – I’d like to be able to do things like play video clips during the stream and add graphics. Or in the very least, connect it to Riverside and run live production tools through that.

I put together a poorly-prepared, ramsh…

Scrubs (2026) makes a great case for TV critic-assisted euthanasia

Dan Barrett — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 05:09:14 GMT

There’s some beloved big name shows back this week. Paradise is back for season 2. The second part of season 4 of Bridgerton is back too. And there’s also season 2 of Apple TV’s Godzilla spin-off show Monarch.

As far as new shows are concerned, this week is pretty dire.

The first episode of new Dick Wolf drama CIA is titled ‘Directed Energy,’ but the rea…

Netflix just debuted the most earthy, funniest comedy of the year (probably)

Dan Barrett — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 22:31:07 GMT

There’s a lot to be across this weekend, but not all of it is especially high profile. Here’s what you need to know…

My big advisory this week is to press play on the terrific Netflix comedy How To Get To Heaven From Belfast. The show is from Lisa McGee who wrote one of TV’s best comedies of the past decade, Derry Girls.

Like with Derry Girls, McGee is b…

If you watch The Muppet Show, they'll make more

Dan Barrett — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 09:47:14 GMT

As I type this, I’m watching the Women’s Ski Jump at the Milano Winter Olympics. I’m not really much of a sports guy, but I do find myself watching a lot of the Winter Olympics every four years.

While the Winter Olympics are not quite as big a draw as the standard Olympics, it does feel like there is some reluctance to schedule too much against the game…

My ongoing struggle to recommend Shrinking

Dan Barrett — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 06:54:05 GMT

I enjoy watching Shrinking and I’m certainly very happy to see both that there are new episodes of the show and that it has been renewed for a fourth season…

But…

I never feel comfortable recommending it or even speaking too openly about my enjoyment of the show. At times it is a really dopey hang-out comedy. That part of the show I’m happy to recommend. …

The new show from DailyWire+ looks every bit as unwatchable as you'd expect

Dan Barrett — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 04:14:28 GMT

Straight up if you want to know what you should check out this weekend, it is the new Prime Video heist drama Steal. It’s Sophie Turner from Game of Thrones as a woman working on the trade desk for an investment country that manages pension funds. What happens when a group of armed thieves turn up to take everyone hostage, demanding they transfer four b…

Matt Damon & Ben Affleck remind you why they're movie stars

Dan Barrett — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 05:11:01 GMT

The Rip is a hugely entertaining movie that will make for a great Friday or Saturday night’s viewing with a beer (or five) on the couch.

It’s Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as two cops who are working as part of a squad in LA which likely has one or more cops who are on the take. Internal Affairs is sniffing around (complicated as one of the officers is Aff…

Yeah, The Pitt is back. But maybe you need to take your Best Medicine too.

Dan Barrett — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 09:28:42 GMT

There is little to no danger that you will be left short of something to watch this week with so many returning series.

The big new show of the week is new Fox series Best Medicine, which is the US remake of the UK show Doc Martin. My interest in this being lead actor Josh Charles who has so far starred in two of my all-time favourite shows (being Sports…

The show you SHOULD be watching on an otherwise kinda meh week.

Dan Barrett — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 06:19:29 GMT

The big TV event of the week was unquestionably the Stranger Things finale. With the first batch of episodes of the final season delivering Netflix its best English-language TV debut ever, one would expect that viewership on the final episode will be massive.

Chances are, you’ve already watched the finale and you’re going to be needing some other viewin…

New eps of Stranger Things aren't the most interesting pre-NYE TV programming this week

Dan Barrett — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 20:18:49 GMT

Lets be real: The only thing actually on TV this week is the return of the second batch of Stranger Things episodes for season five. It is three episodes (5-7) and lead right into the final episode which debuts on New Years Eve (in the US, New Years Day for us here in Australia).

Speaking of New Years Eve, there is a tradition held by a number of Europe…

Emily in Paris and Fallout return despite an otherwise tumbleweed-y week

Dan Barrett — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 06:55:24 GMT

Oh boy. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… in that I think every streamer recognises that people are busy this week with interrupted schedules in that pre-Christmas busyness period of travel, shopping, parties, and leaving the faucet on while engaging in small scale house robberies.

As such, it’s a pretty odd mishmash of programming this week w…

Knives out for Wake Up Dead Man

Dan Barrett — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 22:56:16 GMT

The real mystery to be solved in Rian Johnson’s third Knives Out movie is why this thing needs a 145 minute runtime.

The plot mechanics of the film are solid, but at 145 minutes, it really needs characters fleshed out better than what we have in the film. Outside of Josh O’Connors priest character, we don’t really get much perspective from the majority o…