We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+.
If you like to laugh AND learn: Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee (ThreeNow, Thursday 22)
Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee pits comedians against each other in a fierce battle of words. Photo / The Spinoff
The greatest televised spelling competition returns this week in Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee, pitting comedians against each other in a fierce battle of words. Last season provided such dizzying highs as Kura Forrester not knowing who Winston Churchill is, James Mustapic calling everyone “dumb bitches” and Josh Thomson spelling hors d’oeuvres as “phwoar-d’yum’urves”. The format just premiered to rave reviews in Australia, so we can only hope season two is going to be even bigger, better and more unhinged.
If you like buzzy social experiment reality TV: Made in Korea: The K Pop Experience (TVNZ+, August 23)
This new reality series from the BBC takes five English lads with dreams of making it big in music and chucks them into a brutal popstar training course in South Korea. Their band, Dear Alice, has just 100 days to learn from the world’s greatest choreographers, songwriters, and K-pop business experts before they are launched on the global stage. “They will face a schedule of choreography, vocal and performance lessons, life coaching techniques, alongside an immersion into all aspects of Korean life,” the blurb reads. Think Popstars, but much more hectic.
If you are missing the Olympics: Grit and Glory: The Road to the Paralympics (TVNZ+ August 24)
Grit and Glory: The Road to the Paralympics premiers this Saturday night on TVNZ1 and TVNZ+. Photo / The Spinoff
If you are missing the highs and lows, tears and cheers, triumphs and tragedies of the Olympics, never fear. Not only are the Paralympics starting next week, but TVNZ is premiering Grit and Glory: The Road to the Paralympics this Saturday night at 8.05pm on TVNZ1 and TVNZ+. Made by Attitude Pictures, the documentary showcases a range of incredible athletes as they battle to win their place on the team for Paris.
If you are a sucker for a rom-com: Anyone But You (Neon, August 21)
If corny romantic comedies with a rich metatext are your thing, look no further than Anyone But You. Starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, the film follows a pair of people who hate each other, but are forced to pretend that they are a couple for convoluted and classic rom-com reasons. What could possibly happen next? You’ll never guess! Comes to Neon on August 21, so in the meantime please enjoy this hilarious review from CommonSenseMedia: “I wanted to watch a romantic comedy to laugh and have it be sweet. This made me feel disturbed and sad for society.”
If you like intergenerational prestige drama: Pachinko S2 (AppleTV+, August 23)
Critics raved about season one of Pachinko, based on the novel by Min Jin Lee. The Guardian called it “a sumptuous South Korean epic like nothing else on TV”, while others fretted if it was too early in the year to crown the best show of 2022 (it was only March). Offering up a multi-generational narrative, Pachinko explores everything from the immigrant experience to the resilience of women, providing plenty of opportunities to give the old waterworks a whirl. “Awash in big emotions, this is not a series shy about trying to make you cry,” wrote the NBR. Unsurprisingly, season two is already getting five-star reviews.
