We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+.
Educators (TVNZ+, November 1)
Jackie van Beek as Robyn in Educators (Photo: TVNZ)
Rejoice as “New Zealand’s darkest and funniest comedy” and its hopelessly clueless teachers are back for another term of wildly-inappropriate but hilarious hijinks. The unscripted comedy, helmed by Jesse Griffin, follows a cast of local comedians (Jackie van Beek, Jonny Brugh, Kura Forrester, Yvette Parsons and more) as they attempt (and fail) to educate their petty pupils. Joining the core cast is guest star and Hollywood heavyweight Taika Waititi, who riotously attempts to hijack his brother Ra’s (Cohen Holloway) woeful woodworking lesson. Continuing to “skewer New Zealand’s school system, brilliantly and brutally,” Educators is a comedic class act.
The Chase New Zealand (TVNZ+, November 3)
Paul Henry (centre) with The Supernerd and The Governess (Photo: TVNZ)
The Chase has become a national obsession in Aotearoa, with its iconic theme music ringing out across the motu daily, so it’s high time Kiwis had the opportunity to put their trivia knowledge to the ultimate test. Over four high-wire episodes, 16 brave brainiacs must face-off against and outsmart The Governess (Anne Hegerty) and The Supernerd (Issa Schultz) if they want to take home an eye-watering sum of cash. With the addition of a handful of obscure Kiwiana-themed questions, The Chase New Zealand is sure to make you shriek with delight and dismay.
Pluribus (Apple TV, November 7)
Vince Gilligan, the creator of the era-defining Breaking Bad and its spinoff prequel Better Call Saul, doesn’t want to be “a one-trick pony“. The secretive sci-fi drama Pluribus, his first major project since farewelling Walter White and Saul Goodman, is his most ambitious undertaking yet. Set in New Mexico and starring Rhea Seehorn as a best-selling historical romance author, Gilligan imagines an alternate reality where an unexplained virus has made all of humanity content and optimistic. Seemingly the only one immune to this perturbing pathogen, it’s up to Seehorn, the most miserable person on earth, to save the world from happiness. Don’t miss this “singular vision of a tedious utopia“.
The Life of Chuck (AroVision, November 5)
Best known for the hair-raising The Haunting of Hill House, director Mike Flanagan does an about turn with the fantasy drama The Life of Chuck. Depicting the formative moments in the life of accountant Charles “Chuck” Krantz (Tom Hiddleston), the adaptation of Stephen King’s novella of the same name, wears its heart on its sleeve, earnestly encouraging you to embrace “the inevitability of death and the wonder of what comes before.” Taking home the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival People’s Choice Award, The Life of Chuck might just make you “shed a life-affirming tear or two.”
Earth Oven (Neon, November 5)
Famed for his roles in Once Were Warriors and Star Wars, Aotearoa acting icon Temuera Morrison hits the road as the host of Earth Oven, a globe-trotting, gastronomic docuseries. From Mexico and Jordan to Chile and Hawaii, the ever-peckish Morrison is visiting indigenous communities around the world to learn, experience, and taste how earth ovens have shaped cultures and cuisines. The actor may not be a world-renowned chef, but it’s his unfiltered, down-to-earth charm that gives this docuseries its “special sauce.” With shades of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, and Ugly Delicious, Earth Oven is bound to make your stomach rumble.
Pick of the Flicks: Frankenstein (Netflix, November 7)
Helmed by the Oscar-winning Guillermo del Toro, and starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth, it’s taken a lifetime for the director of Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water to reanimate Mary Shelley’s classic novel. Del Toro’s dream project opens with a chilling prologue: onboard a ship entombed in an Arctic ice field is Victor Frankenstein (Isaac), whose raging creature, the unrecognisable Elordi, has pursued him to the ends of the earth seeking revenge. Described as a “breathtaking coup” and a “monstrously beautiful melodrama,” Del Toro’s Frankenstein is a bloodcurdling wonder.
The rest
Netflix
Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches (November 3)
Squid Game: The Challenge S2 (November 4)
Leanne Morgan: Unspeakable Things (November 4)
Just Alice (November 5)
Heweliusz (November 5)
Death by Lightning (November 6)
The Vince Staples Show S2 (November 6)
The Bad Guys: Breaking In (November 6)
As You Stood By (November 7)
Groom & Two Brides (November 7)
Mango (November 7)
Frankenstein (November 7)
Baramulla (November 7)
TVNZ+
Educators S4 (November 1)
The Chase New Zealand (November 3)
St. Denis Medical (November 4)
All Her Fault (November 7)
Notorious: Happy Face Killer & The Cleveland Stranger (November 9)
Malpractice S2 (November 9)
The Hack (November 9)
ThreeNow
Becoming Elizabeth (November 9)
Neon
The Ballad of Davy Crockett (November 3)
I Love LA (November 3)
Teen Titans Go! S9 (November 3)
Winter Spring Summer or Fall (November 4)
A Body in the Basement (November 4)
The A-Team (November 5)
Earth Oven (November 5)
Edge of Darkness (November 6)
A Score To Settle (November 7)
Coyote Ugly (November 8)
Professor T S4 (November 9)
Perfect Days (November 9)
Gold Rush: White Water S7 (November 7)
Baylen Out Loud S2 (November 7)
Shrill S1–S3 (November 7)
Prime Video
Bad Boys (November 4)
A Christmas to Remember (November 5)
Chateau Christmas (November 5)
Tyler Perry’s Finding Joy (November 5)
Bad Boys II (November 6)
Young Rock S3 (November 6)
Maxton Hall – The World Between Us S2 (November 7)
Disney+
All’s Fair (November 4)
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (November 5)
The Manipulated (November 5)
Witches: Truth Behind the Trials (November 5)
Seventeen: Our Chapter (November 7)
The Worst Trip Around The World (November 7)
Apple TV
Pluribus (November 7)
Shudder/AMC+/Acorn/HIDIVE
Braxton Family Values S1–S4 (AMC+, November 3)
The Walking Dead: Dead City S2 (AMC+, November 4)
Hero Without a Class: Who Even Needs Skills?! (HIDIVE, November 5)
Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story (Shudder, AMC+, November 7)
DocPlay
Marlon Williams: Two Worlds – Ngā Ao E Rua (November 6)
Life in One Chord (November 6)
The Gullspång Miracle (November 6)
MĀORI+
Top of the South (November 3)
AroVision
Kangaroo (November 4)
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (November 4)
The Life of Chuck (November 5)
The Smashing Machine (November 5)
Beast of War (November 5)
East of Wall (November 5)
Escape (November 5)
aespa: MY First Page (November 5)