TVNZ+’s School Spirits, Netflix’s Fubar among great shows to stream this King’s Birthday weekend

BLACK KNIGHT (NETFLIX)

Based on a webtoon of the same name by Lee Yun-kyun, this six-part, 2071-set tale depicts a dystopian future where extensive air pollution is a huge problem after a comet collided with Earth. The 1% of the population left standing are forced to wear respirators and rely on specialist delivery drivers to provide them with the supplies they need to stay alive.

This is the story of a legendary driver who decides to train a boy in the art of being a “knight”.

“As dystopian escapism goes, the series delivers thrill, spills and chills with dead-eyed efficiency,” wrote The Telegraph’s Ed Power.

THE CLEARING (DISNEY+)

Disney+’s first “scripted” Australian series is an eight-part psychological thriller based on the best-selling 2019 crime thriller In The Clearing by J.P. Pomare, which itself was inspired by the darkness of real-life cults around the world.

Starring Teresa Palmer (A Discovery of Witches), Miranda Otto (Homeland) and Guy Pearce (Mare of Easttown), it’s the story of a woman who is forced to confront the nightmares of her past in order to stop a secret organisation from gathering children to fulfil its master plan.

“The knockout performances of Otto and Palmer, mixed with the thrilling psychological mystery, makes for a series worth watching,” wrote Ready Steady Cut’s Ricky Valero.

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FUBAR (NETFLIX)

Seventy-five year old Arnold Schwarzenegger makes his TV drama-headlining debut in this eight-part series about a father and daughter (Top Gun: Maverick’s Monica Barbaro) who have been lying to each other for years. However, once they learn the truth that they are both CIA operatives, they then realise they don’t really know anything about each other at all.

Right from the opening strains of The Rolling Stones’ Sympathy for the Devil, there’s a swagger and style about creator Nick Santoro’s series that reminds one of Schwarzenegger in his heyday.

Sure, he creaks a little more, both in the action and the line-delivery (although the latter does make it feel more like his early forays into Hollywood blockbusters), but he delivers the appropriate presence and subversive laughs right on cue.

THE GREAT (NEON)

As the 10-part third season of this critically-acclaimed, satirical 18th Century-set dramedy opens, Catherine (Elle Fanning) and Peter (Nicholas Hoult) seek marriage guidance after the chaotic events of the previous day have left them in an awkward place in their relationship.

“It’s yesteryear reimagined as a theatre of the absurd, and all the more winning for the way in which its ridiculousness is rooted in enduring personal, social, and political dynamics,” wrote The Daily Beast’s Nick Schager, while The Boston Globe’s Matthew Gilbert thought this latest instalment was “playful, deeply irreverent, twisted, moving, and, this season, defined by one or two powerful twists, The Great is true to its title”.

QUANTUM LEAP (NEON)

While the premise of La Brea and Alcatraz duo Bryan Wynbrandt and Steven Lilien’s reboot of the beloved 1990s sci-fi drama is essentially the same, it features a much more diverse set of central characters.

Although the focus is very much on the complicated dynamic between the leaping Dr Ben Song (Top Gun: Maverick’s Raymond Lee) and his advisor from the future Addison Augustine (Caitlin Bassett), a bigger group of characters involved in the scientific project give the show more of a police procedural vibe similar to Criminal Intent or The Blacklist, which may or may not be a good thing in the long run.

However, what made the original show so endearing and nostalgia-inducing is still there, each episode featuring appropriate period details and hits. It’s clear from the care and attention shown onscreen that the creators definitely have an affinity for the ‘90s series’ sensibilities.

SCHOOL SPIRITS (TVNZ+)

Cobra Kai’s Peyton List headlines this eight-part teen fantasy series. She plays Maddie Nears, a teen stuck in the after-life, who goes on a crime-solving journey in an attempt to investigate her own disappearance. Then there’s the small matter of adjusting to secondary school purgatory at Split River High.

“Engrossing from start to finish, School Spirits proves the teen drama genre still has a lot of stamina left in it thanks to its stellar writing and cast, with a particularly star-making performance from List,” wrote Cultured Vultures’ Joey Rambles, while Variety magazine’s Daniel D’Addario thought it “manages to be surprisingly sparky and fun — proof positive that there are new stories to tell about the institution no one would ever want to be stuck in for their entire afterlife”.

TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS (DISNEY+)

Based on the best-selling 2012 literary collection by Wild author Cheryl Strayed, this eight-part dramedy follows Clare (Kathryn Hahn), a floundering writer who becomes a revered advice columnist while her own life is falling apart.

Executive produced by Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern, while Strayed has said that while the character isn’t exactly her, “there were pieces that come from my life”. “She had to have a mother who died young of cancer, who got married young and then divorced. She had to grow up in a rural environment like I did.”

“True to its name, Tiny Beautiful Things is sensitive to the details,” wrote The Hollywood Reporter’s Angie Han. The series has a knack for zeroing in on moments too strange or specific to feel like anything but lived experience.

WHITE HOUSE PLUMBERS (NEON)

After a recent string of more sombre takes around Watergate, a new five-part series delivers the half-century-old scandal with a hefty dose of hilarity and satire.

The slightly cracked creation of former Late Show with David Letterman and Frasier writers Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck, White House Plumbers is far removed in tone from last year’s Gaslit or The Martha Mitchell Effect.

Reminiscent in style to Adam McKay projects like Vice, The Big Short, The Other Guys, Don’t Look Up and Winning Time, most of the delights of Plumbers comes from the chemistry between its two leads. As he showed in the charming Champions earlier this year, Woody Harrelson is having something of a renaissance at the moment, while Justin Theroux (The Mosquito Coast, Maniac) offers a welcome refresher on just what a terrifically dry comedic actor he can be.