The streaming universe is a wild and woolly place. With more platforms and providers producing more content than at any other point in entertainment history, it’s all too easy to experience “streaming paralysis” —the moment when you realize you’ve just spent the last 20 minutes mindlessly scrolling menus rather than picking a show.
It’s time for the experts to step in. Our Letters & Science faculty members share their favorite shows, along with their critiques and insights, making your choice that much simpler the next time you pick up a remote.
“Reservation Dogs” on FX/Hulu
Lori Kido Lopez, Professor of Communication Arts
It has been so exciting to finally see how creative TV shows can be when people of color are given a chance to tell their own stories. “Reservation Dogs” is a 30-minute FX on Hulu show from Indigenous co-creators Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, with an all-Indigenous team of writers and series regulars. It’s both wryly funny and heartbreakingly sad, following four Native American teens on a reservation in Oklahoma who scheme, dream, and wander aimlessly around town. You could easily binge the eight episodes in a hurry, but it’s also nice to slow down and reflect on what each episode has to offer—how each teen is given space to figure out what life on the rez really means to them, how hilarious side characters like Uncle Brownie turn the “wise elder” trope on its head, how the processes of dealing with grief, abandonment and dispossession are woven throughout. It’s a show I’ll be re-watching, so everyone should join me, and we can chat about it together!
“We're Here” on HBO
Sami Schalk, Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies
“We’re Here” is a therapeutic balm, a remarkably authentic, heart-warming queer show that makes me cry every single episode. “Ru Paul’s Drag Race” icons Bob the Drag Queen, Shangel, and Eureka O’ Hara go into small towns across America and, working alongside local volunteer “drag daughters,” put on spectacular drag shows. In each episode, we witness the incredible impact of positive, loving, queer community and mentorship on queer and trans people (and our allies) in small towns. Participants represent a range of gender, sexuality, race, disability and age identities and some are closeted, newly out, or simply afraid to be unapologetically out in their hometowns where isolation, exclusion and violence are real threats. The show does not hide from the realities of homophobia, transphobia or racism, while leaving viewers with hope and resolve for a better future. I am consistently struck by the care with which the show represents the family members of queer and trans people who are working to address their own learned hatred and to understand and accept their LBGTQ+ loved ones. As a queer Black woman raised in a small town in Kentucky, the show speaks to me deeply.
“The Expanse” on Amazon Prime
Jake Vander Zanden, Director of the Center for Limnology and Professor of Integrative Biology
My science fiction fandom dates to watching “Star Trek” re-runs as a kid. “The Expanse,” based on science fiction novels by James S.A. Corey, presents a contrastingly desolate future for humanity. Set a couple hundred years in the future, humans have fully colonized the solar system. The two nations of Earth and Mars are adversaries on the verge of war. The one thing these two nations have in common is oppression of the inhabitants of the outer solar system, known as Belters.
A ragtag band of characters comprised of Earthers, Martians and Belters somehow acquire a ship and manage to find themselves at the center of everything happening in the solar system. This series is remarkable in its attention to scientific realism. There is no warp speed—travel and communication within the solar system are painfully inconvenient. I was deeply drawn into the powerful political storylines that speak directly to issues in our current world. Like the very best science fiction, the series captures the deep and complex humanity of the main characters.
Best of all, the sixth and final season is set to be released in a few weeks.
“Schmigadoon!” on AppleTV
Mike Titelbaum, Professor of Philosophy
As the title suggests, “Schmigadoon!” is silly fun. A couple on the rocks takes a wrong turn on a backpacking trip and gets trapped in a musical. Or really, a mashup and sendup of all the classic musicals you've ever seen (The Music Man, The Sound of Music, other things with "music" in their titles). Do folks with nothing in common belt love songs to each other five minutes after meeting? Yes. Do townspeople break into elaborately choreographed song-and-dance numbers that last much longer than they should? Yes. Do the leads (Keegan-Michael Key and Cecily Strong) encounter cameos from Kristin Chenoweth, Fred Armisen, Alan Cumming, Jane Krakowski and Martin Short as a scene-stealing leprechaun? Yes. Is "Do-re-mi" better reimagined as a sex ed tune? I'll let you find out for yourself.
“Unbelievable” on Netflix
Mariel Barnes, Assistant Professor of Public Affairs, La Follette School of Public Affairs
Based on a true story, “Unbelievable” follows teenager Marie Adler (Kaitlyn Dever) who is raped by a masked intruder. In the aftermath of the rape, Marie does everything “correctly” to report the crime. Yet despite adhering to all of society’s prescribed actions for sexual assault victims, Marie is branded a liar, loses all her friends, and is charged with making a false report to the police. It is not until two female detectives (played by Toni Collette and Merritt Wever) connect Marie’s rape with subsequent attacks, that it becomes clear that Marie was telling the truth, and that a serial rapist could continue to prey on women.
Unflinching and at times incredibly angering, “Unbelievable” is an accurate portrayal of the barriers that sexual assault victims experience when trying to make a report. Having worked with victims, I frequently hear that they are not believed. Even those who are trying to help end up causing the victim to experience significant amounts of self-blame, self-hatred and re-traumatization.
“The Harder They Fall” on Netflix
Ainehi Edoro, Professor of English
I have now watched Jeymes Samuel’s “The Harder They Fall” three times since it was released on October 22. The movie is a Black Western very loosely based on historical characters and starring Idris Elba and Jonathan Majors. It has all the delights of a classic Western: revenge story, enigmatic characters, aestheticized violence. But all of this is set in a world that is unapologetically Black. It was affirming to see the American past re-imagined—without the white gaze—entirely through the aspirations, desire, and perspective of Black characters. The story is perfectly paced. The action sequences are razor-sharp. The cinematography is stunning. The American West never looked so alluring. The music is fantastic, making the story more immersive. It doesn't take much to see that “The Harder They Fall” is going to be a classic.
“The Sopranos” on HBO MAX
Jonathan Senchyne, Associate Professor & Director, Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture
I didn't watch this show when it premiered in 1999 because back then I was a high school senior with no cable TV and zero interest in mafia/gangster movies. Twenty-two years later I became hooked, as I realized that “The Sopranos” is the ur-text of so many of the antihero shows I enjoyed for the last 20 years: “The Wire,” “Breaking Bad” and “Mad Men.”
“The Sopranos” dwells in the stagnation and decline of institutions at the turn of the 20th century into the 21st. In the very first episode Tony, played by the brilliant James Gandolfini, tells his therapist that being in the Mafia doesn't provide the same meaningful structure that it did for his father. Tony says, "It's good to be in something from the ground floor. I came too late for that and I know. But lately, I'm getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over." Melfi, the therapist, replies "I think a lot of Americans feel that way." I'm fascinated that Millennials who are now entering middle age, just like an emotionally struggling Tony was in 1999, are streaming this alongside 90s culture-obsessed Gen Zs. The show asks us to think about how to rebuild life in the ruins, and that might account for why it's more popular streaming in 2021 than it was on premium cable in 1999.
“Maya and the Three” on Netflix
Armando Ibarra, Professor, School for Workers
Sofía (our seven-year-old daughter) and I recently watched this animated series featuring Maya, a coming-of-age princess warrior, who sets off on a quest to save Teca, her home, from vengeful gods. We were mesmerized by the imagery and storyline. Sofia asked questions about the characters' dress, culture and environment that led to conversations of ancestry and belonging.
We chose to view the show in English, although it is available in Spanish and other languages. To my surprise, much of the English narrative is offered in Spanglish, which is very much welcomed and a part of our household and community. Few animated children’s series include Mesoamerican storylines, and it’s unusual to see a positive portrayal of a Mesoamerican nation, with its own heroes and villains, tropes, culture, colors and social organization rooted in indigeneity. And what a cast! Zoe Saldaña, Rita Moreno, Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, Cheech Marín, Danny Trejo, Rosie Perez, Queen Latifah … and the list goes on.