The 9 best TV shows to watch in July

From Natalie Portman’s TV debut to the violent Roman epic Les Enfants Desert, to a reboot of the 1980s cult film Time Bandits.

Emma Myers, who played Wednesday Addams’ werewolf roommate Enid in the Netflix series Wednesday, helps solve the murders. But in the film adaptation of Holly Jackson’s hit YA novel, the actor stars as a more down-to-earth student detective. Myers plays Pip Fitzamobi, a character with a lovely name that means something special. She is determined to get to the bottom of a supposedly solved murder-suicide that rocked her school five years ago. For a school project, she’s ambitious. Zain Iqbal stars as Ravi, a friend whose brother is suspected to be the killer, and Anna Maxwell Martin plays Pip’s understanding mother. Dolly Wells, who co-starred and co-created Doll & M with Emily Mortimer, will direct the show. Unusually, Jackson wrote both British and American versions of the novel, each set in different locations (the fictional Little Kilton in England and Fairview, Connecticut in the United States), although the television adaptation is set in Little Kilton.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is currently streaming on BBC iPlayer in the UK and will premiere internationally on Netflix on August 1st.

Jones stars and executive produces the drama series, which blends a topical theme, artificial intelligence, with a time-honored mystery story. Jones plays Suzie Sakamoto, an American living in Japan. When the plane she is on with her husband and young son crashes, the technology company her husband works for gives her a robot companion as a consolation gift: a chatty, know-it-all little robot named Sunny, who looks a bit like a metallic Teletubby. Strange things start happening, and Suzie and Sunny soon team up to investigate what really happened to her son and husband, whose bodies have never been found. Jones smoothly transitions into her role to convey Suzie’s grief and determination, as well as her sense of the absurd, in a drama that is suspenseful and, thanks to the machinations of Sunny and the technology company, even comical moments. Nishijima Hidetoshi, star of the 2021 Oscar-winning Japanese film Drive My Car, appears in flashbacks as Suzie’s husband, and his relationship with Sunny comes as a big surprise to his wife.

Sunny premieres internationally on Apple TV+ on July 10

In the 2016 animated adult comedy Sausage Party, no puns, no double entendres were too obvious about supermarket food. And that’s why so many people loved it, and the movie was an unexpected box office success. The TV spinoff features many of the same star voice cast, most notably Seth Rogen as Frank the hot dog, who plots his escape after learning that the food’s fate is to pass through someone’s throat. Kristen Wiig reprises her role as Frank’s hot dog bun Brenda, and Edward Norton reprises his role as Sammy Bagel Jr. New voice cast members include Will Forte as a human who needs help building a utopia, and Sam Richardson as Julius the orange (yes, a homage to the old fruit drink chain, the Orange Julius Stores). Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who were one of the producers of the film, are also involved in the TV version. Here’s what they said: Empire Magazine: “It’s got more heart, twice the puns, and three times the food sex.”

Sausage Party: Foodtopia will have its global premiere on Prime Video on July 11th

Forest Whitaker brings dignity and cunning to the role of Judge Oliver Garland in this Chicago-set series based on Steven L. Carter’s 2002 bestselling novel, “The Emperor of Ocean Park.” Garland dies of a heart attack at the beginning of the show. Or was he murdered? The timeline constantly switches between the past and the present. In flashbacks updated from the novel to 2009 and beyond, Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court is thwarted due to some dangerous connections from his past. Now, his three children discover some dark secrets. His daughter Mariah (Tiffany Mack) is a conspiracy theorist by nature, but that doesn’t mean she’s wrong to suspect that her father was murdered. She struggles to convince her two siblings, Tal (Grantham Coleman), a law professor with marital problems, and Addison (Henry Simmons), a TV journalist, that they’re not guilty. Filled with plot twists and family drama, the show is the latest evidence that courtroom thrillers are perfect for television.

“Emperor of Ocean Park” will premiere in the U.S. on MGM+ on July 14th.

Time travel is a fascinating fantasy for all ages. That’s the idea behind this colorful family-friendly series based on the 1981 film by Terry Gilliam. It tells the story of a boy who joins a band of thieves who travel through time. In the series, the band of thieves is led by Lisa Kudrow as Penelope, and takes 11-year-old Kevin (Kal-El-Tuck) and his friends to different eras, including the beginning of Stonehenge, the Ice Age and the Middle Ages. The show’s creators are Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, who made the vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows, which shares Gilliam’s quirky comedy style, and screenwriter Ian Morris, who collaborated with Waititi on his previous film. Next goal winsThe show comes at a different cultural moment than the film — in it, Kevin accompanies a troupe of dwarves who don’t appear in the TV version — and the series has been shadowed by its own controversy. Actor Charlie Yi recently Alleged Paramount Television Studios said in a statement that he was subjected to “physical assault” and “emotional abuse” on set, and that it had “conducted a thorough investigation into the allegations that have been brought to our attention” and “taken additional steps to address his concerns.”

“Time Bandits” will premiere globally on Apple TV+ on July 14th

Appearing ahead of the release of director Ridley Scott’s highly anticipated film Gladiator 2“Swords and Sandals,” coming this November, is an action series with a pedigree of its own. Anthony Hopkins plays the Roman Emperor Vespasian, complete with flowing robes and a gold laurel wreath on his head. Roland Emmerich, director of spectacles such as “Independence Day,” is directing five of the show’s 10 episodes about gladiators and those who try to kill them. And “Gladiator’s Creation” screenwriter Robert Rodat is Saving Private Ryanis the creator of the series. The cast includes Iwan Rheon, best known as the villain Ramsay Bolton. game of thronesPeacock’s official description states that his character, Tenax, “Crime Boss“He’s the man who runs a gambling operation that involves betting on vicious games played in the newly built Colosseum. Somehow, it makes me think of Tony Soprano in a toga, which shows just how committed Peacock is to the shenanigans of 79 A.D. and its modern connections.

Those About to Die will premiere on Peacock in the US on July 18th and on Prime Video in the UK on July 19th.

Natalie Portman, in her first TV series lead role, plays Maddie Schwartz, an upscale Baltimore housewife who is a lot like a 1960s Jackie Kennedy. She becomes a journalist determined to solve the murder of a drowned woman. Moses Ingram (Josie in The Queen’s Gambit) plays murder victim Cleo Johnson, whose story is told in flashbacks in parallel with Maddie’s flight to escape her suffocating marriage. Based on the novel by Laura Lippman and written and directed by Alma Har’el (Honey Boy), the drama tackles themes of feminism, Jewish and black identity in the form of a complex murder mystery. Filming took place in Baltimore, where Portman’s grandmother once lived, giving the role a special resonance. “It was really wonderful to be there 60 years ago and imagine my family being there,” she said. Vanity Fair“Imagining what it might have been like to be a woman in a Jewish marriage at that time, it definitely felt personal to explore the constraints that that meant in that time and place.”

Lady in the Lake will premiere globally on Apple TV+ on July 19th.

While people sheltering together during a pandemic sounds timely, Boccaccio was the first to do it in the 14th century. In his Decameron, a group of noblemen and servants gather in a villa outside Florence to tell stories and ward off the bubonic plague that rages outside. Kathleen Jordan, the author of this irreverent black comedy loosely based on Boccaccio, said: Said She sees his classic book as a series of “short, naughty stories.” The show is also set in Florence in 1348 and stars a diverse cast that includes Tony Hale as the hapless butler of the villa where they’re all staying, Zosia Mamet as a privileged woman who wants to become the villa’s mistress, and Saoirse-Monica Jackson (Derry Girls) as a beleaguered maid. Executive produced by Jenji Kohan (Orange Is the New Black), the show is about class warfare as well as drinking, dancing, sex, and Survivor-style intrigue.

The Decameron premieres internationally on Netflix on July 25th

Set in the early 1970s, this Spanish-language drama is inspired by the true story of the first women to join Mexico City’s police force. It wasn’t smooth sailing. The story focuses on four women who soon learn that they are public relations facades, not expected to fight real crime, and given whistles instead of guns. Their uniforms, with short blue skirts and leather high boots, make them look like airline flight attendants of the time, but they are smarter than the indifferent men around them. Soon they are on their own to find a serial killer who preys on women. The female officers are a diverse bunch, led by the determined Maria (Bárbara Mori), followed by Gavina (Amorita Lasgado), the daughter of a respected police officer, Ángeles (Ximena Sariñana), a fingerprint expert, and the young and rebellious Valentina (Natalia Telles). This neat distribution may be typical, but the series also offers a fresh perspective on female detective dramas.

“Women in Blue” will premiere globally on Apple TV+ on July 31st.