As students have been cooped up in quarantine, the Internet has supplied one reliable place to go to escape the despondency of daily living. Streaming service usage alone increased by 12% since the beginning of March, according to Forbes, and the services kept up the pace with some great content. Be it Netflix, Hulu, or Disney Plus, the content machine refuses to stop pumping out gems this fall.
Netflix continued releasing a steady stream of exciting media, from the long awaited sequel to The Babysitter to Away, a sci-fi drama about the first Mars colony in space. However, one show stands head and shoulders above the rest: Teenage Bounty Hunters. The show follows two twin sisters, Blair and Sterling, as they tackle both life in a religious high school as well as the oddly compelling world of bounty hunting in Atlanta. The show has a lot of heart, carried by the two strong lead characters with impeccable acting and comedic timing. While many anticipated that the show would have a standard, surface-level way of lampooning the Southern Christian environment, the way the show looks at the culture comes across as shockingly deep, willing to put the characters in morally gray areas without making them good or bad, just people. Definitely a high recommend, despite the early cancellation it recently received.
Hulu proves no slouch either, with their most compelling show released for the fall season being Woke. Starring former New Girl cast member Lamorne Morris, the show follows Keef Knight, a cartoonist racially profiled by the police who becomes “woke”, which in this world, means that inanimate objects start speaking to him. It very much mimics Who Framed Roger Rabbit if done by the writers behind Atlanta. While Woke doesn’t take as intense a stand as that show, it has some very cutting criticisms about the cartooning industry as well as the treatment of Americans in general. The amount of comedic talent stacked in the show, in both the writing and acting departments, builds it into a show that has something to say, and says it with such candor and humor that it becomes difficult to stop watching. The stand-up backgrounds of the actors gives the dialogue a realistic rhythm that makes it a must-watch for the season.
Finally, the new challenger in the streaming wars, Disney Plus, comes to play. While I haven’t seen the film that I’m recommending yet, the trailers got me incredibly excited. The movie Sky High fills a nostalgic place in the hearts of many, and it appears Disney Plus will push out a spiritual successor titled Secret Society of Secondborn Royals. Starring a collection of young actors and actresses as well as Pitch Perfect’s Skyler Astin, the movie follows a group of high school members of royalty who discover that they have superpowers. The trailer continuously maintains a really fun tone and seems to promise a solid adventure for the whole family. Viewers may be excited to see Disney push another small-scale superhero team, especially considering their previous successes with the medium.
These picks, and many more shows and movies on the services, should hold enough weight to get anybody through this fall with some laughs, drama, and a little bit of social commentary.
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