From the return of Nicole Kidman’s devilish dark comedy Nine Perfect Strangers to a new HBO docuseries about the complicated comedic genius behind Pee-wee Herman, we round up our top 10 shows to watch this week
1. Tucci in Italy – Sunday, May 18, National Geographic | Series Premiere
On the heels of his CNN series Searching for Italy, actor Stanley Tucci returns to the land of his ancestors for a visually stunning and deeply personal exploration of Italy’s breathtaking landscapes, rich history and the complex connections with food that have shaped each region’s distinct culture — and, of course, its iconic pasta. “Italy is a feast for the senses, and Tucci in Italy is an invitation to the table,” the host explains. “It’s about more than just the food; it’s about the people, the history and the passion that makes Italy so special. I hope you’ll join me on this new adventure. I believe that eating well is inspiring, and I hope to inspire viewers to embrace the beauty and richness of Italian culture.” Click here to watch trailer.
2. LEGO Masters – Monday, May 19, CTV2 & Fox | Season Premiere
Canadian Will Arnett returns to emcee a fifth season of this feel-good competition that wholesomely — yet irreverently — taps into our collective inner child.
As ever, various teams-of-two who never quite grew out of their obsession with the titular plastic blocks are invited to show off their imagination and determination on a playground with an unlimited supply of building materials — parlaying their lifelong hobby into a shot at $100,000.
Challenges this year include a colossal wedding cake, a masquerade block ball, and forays into the iconic worlds of Star Wars, Wicked and Batman. Can we expect a celeb or two from those franchises to stop by? Well, at least one. Arnett himself is the voice of LEGO Batman . . . and we’d be downright shocked if he didn’t have somethin’ special cooked up for that particular episode.
3. Sarah Silverman: Postmortem – Tuesday, May 20, Netflix
There’s an adage among folks who make their living being funny that, if nothing else, standup comedy is at least cheaper than therapy.
And if ever there were a standup set that doubles as a therapy session, Sarah Silverman’s Postmortem is it. The special, and the world tour during which it was filmed, take their name from the New Hampshire-born comic’s experience of losing both her father and her stepmother within days of one another back in May 2023. Per Netflix’s synopsis, here Silverman “hilariously navigates the absurdities of death with her signature wit, from unexpectedly finding the ‘deal of a lifetime’ while planning their funerals to cherishing the bittersweet experience of hearing her mother’s last words.”
Speaking with U.K. paper The Guardian, the comedian reflected on her proud, endlessly supportive parents — and her absolute certainty that they would both be onboard for this very public, very peculiar tribute. “Dad and Janice would’ve loved it. If he’d been alive, my dad would’ve been head-to-toe in the merch,” Silverman lovingly quipped. “He used to be like, ‘Somehow it came up in conversation that you were my daughter.’ And I’m like, ‘Maybe it was the T-shirt, the sweatshirt, the hat you’re wearing, from all the shows I’ve been on — maybe that was a bit of a tipoff?!’ ” Click here to watch trailer.
4. Motorheads – Tuesday, May 20, Prime Video | Series Premiere
Outsiders in a sputtering Rust Belt town keep hope alive via a shared love of street racing in this high-octane coming-of-age drama about “first love, first heartbreak and turning the key in your very first car.” Love, Victor’s Michael Cimino and One of Us Is Lying’s Melissa Collazo lead the teen cast, while old pros Ryan Phillippe (Big Sky) and Nathalie Kelley (Dynasty) play the grownups. Click here to watch trailer.
5. The Daily Show Presents: Jordan Kepper Fingers the Pulse: MAGA: The Next Generation – Tuesday, May 20, Paramount+
This half-hour special follows The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper as he investigates the surprising pocket of under-30 voters who threw their support behind Donald Trump in last year’s presidential election, asking: “Was it because of economic anxiety or were they drawn to the rizz of a 78-year-old fist dancing to ‘YMCA?’ ”
6. Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service – Wednesday, May 21, Fox | Series Premiere
Ever since Fox debuted Hell’s Kitchen back in 2005, Gordon Ramsay has become the network’s most prolific and ubiquitous personality. Thanks to the success of shows ranging from Next Level Chef to Kitchen Nightmares to MasterChef, at least one of the hot-headed Brit’s TV shows was on the air for 47 out of 52 weeks last year — and every week so far this year.
The latest addition to Fox’s Ramsay-verse is Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service, a restaurant-improvement show with a twist of espionage.
The new series follows Ramsay as he “trades his signature chef knives for a state-of-the-art surveillance vehicle and cutting-edge spyware,” per the press release. “In a Gordon Ramsay series first, Chef Ramsay will venture into struggling restaurants under the cover of night. With the help of a secret source on the inside, he’ll gather raw, unfiltered evidence and get a 360-degree view of the major issues facing each restaurant.”
Ramsay’s mole will enter the restaurant after hours, armed with a black light to divulge the shocking actual level of filth. “By the time Ramsay reveals his identity, it will be too late for staff to cover up their culinary crimes,” adds the release, furthermore noting that Ramsay will not only upgrade the menu and renovate the restaurant, but also change the culture of each eatery. “Are the restaurant and staff willing to accept Gordon’s mission,” the release concludes, “or are they too far gone to be saved?”
“Over the years, I’ve embarked on many daring adventures alongside my partners at Fox,” said Ramsay in a statement. “And Secret Service is the most intrepid of them all! With undercover help and cutting-edge technology, I get to go full-on ‘MI6’ with these restaurants . . . and they’ll never see it coming.”
7. Sneaky Links: Dating After Dark – Wednesday, May 21, Netflix | Series Premiere
A vet of Too Hot to Handle and Perfect Match, Chloe Veitch goes from contestant to host on Netflix’s latest romance extravaganza, which invites “not-quite-so-single daters” and their secret paramours to explore whether their late-night hook-ups can turn into something real.
8. Nine Perfect Strangers – Thursday, May 22, Prime Video | Season Premiere
Back in 2021, Nicole Kidman reteamed with her Big Little Lies writer David E. Kelley and exec producer Bruna Papandrea to adapt another novel penned by Australian potboiler savant Liane Moriarty.
Nine Perfect Strangers invited viewers along on a California retreat, where an array of wellness-seekers (including Melissa McCarthy, Luke Evans and Michael Shannon) found themselves under the care of the mysterious guru Masha Dmitrichenko (Kidman). Secretly drugging her guests with mind-altering substances, in the end everyone was forced to face their secrets and their demons, while Masha faced the consequences of her own deep-seated trauma.
Now, nearly four years later, we get a second season, wherein our Russian antihero sets up shop in the Alps, inviting another group of A-listers to trip their way to “enlightenment.” They include White Lotus breakout Murray Bartlett, The Good Wife’s Christine Baranski, Crazy Rich Asians alum Henry Golding, Oscar nominee Lena Olin, Kingsman’s Mark Strong and Canadian Schitt’s Creek darling Annie Murphy.
“Over the course of a week, she takes them to the brink,” teases the synopsis. “Will they make it? Will she? Masha is willing to try anything in the interest of healing everyone involved, including herself.”
Executive producer Samantha Strauss, who has worked on more than one Liane Moriarty-based TV series, recently encapsulated the appeal of the author’s writing in a chat with TV Week. “I think what she does so beautifully is tell the truth about people, in a way that there is no judgment,” said Strauss. “She has such a lot of empathy for people . . . She does also have the ‘mystery engine’ in lots of her books that helps hook the audience — but to me, that’s never at the sacrifice of the characters.” Click here to watch trailer.
9. Fountain of Youth – Friday, May 23, Apple TV+
Director Guy Ritchie continues his prolific foray into the streaming world. On the heels of such hit gangster series as Netflix’s The Gentlemen and Paramount+’s MobLand, the U.K. filmmaker unveils Fountain of Youth — a big-budget blockbuster pic coming directly to Apple TV+.
Shot around the world at such exotic locales as Bangkok, Vienna and Egypt, the action centres on Luke and Charlotte Purdue (John Krasinski and Natalie Portman), estranged siblings whose father was an archaeologist. While both have maintained a tie to the family business, Charlotte leads a very stuffy, academic sort of existence — which changes in a hurry when her Indiana Jones-wannabe brother pops back up, needing help to track down history’s most fabled Fountain.
Reluctantly dragged along, Charlotte finds that Luke isn’t the only one searching for this mythical prize, and that the quest for eternal life could lead them both to their deaths.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Krasinski noted that the swashbuckling Luke Purdue is “the definition of ‘live life to the fullest.’
His adventurous (and somewhat reckless) spirit always makes for a good time . . . even if it is at the expense of his sister. It was that outlook on life that made Luke a blast to play.”
Meanwhile, for the buttoned-down (yet adventurous at heart) Charlotte, Portman relished portraying “a woman who’s finding her wildness again.” And indeed, there were plenty of “wild” moments for the actress as well. “I’d never been to Cairo or Vienna before and was blown away by both cities — some of the most special places I’ve ever been,” she said. “We also had a crazy chase sequence we shot in Liverpool . . . and an incredible sunken ship sequence we shot on stage in London. It was always an epic day with wild stunts and scenarios to tackle. Just the most fun you can have, really.” Click here to watch trailer.
10. Pee-wee as Himself – Friday, May 23, HBO Canada | Series Premiere
In the guise of his alter ego Pee-wee Herman, Paul Reubens became ensconced in 1980s pop-culture via Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and his groundbreaking Saturday-morning kid’s show. From the start, Reubens made an artistic choice to remain in character. “I thought Pee-wee Herman worked better if one didn’t know that I was an actor. So I went out of my way to try and get the public to think that that was a real person,” he once said. As a result, everyone knew Pee-wee but few knew Reubens, who rarely spoke about his private life — until an embarrassing 1991 arrest in an adult theatre blew up the anonymity that he’d guarded so fiercely. A subsequent arrest, for possession of child porn, inflicted further damage, even after he was fully exonerated.
Prior to his 2023 death, Reubens spent 40 hours being interviewed for this two-part docuseries, opening up like never before. “Occasionally sparring with the documentary’s director over creative control, Reubens speaks candidly, and sometimes warily, about his personal and professional challenges before and after his arrests,” notes an HBO press release. “Alongside interviews with artists and actors from Pee-wee’s Playhouse and prominent figures in his life, Reubens openly discusses further legal battles, his exoneration, his ultimate resurrection as a public figure, and the apotheosis of Pee-wee as an adored and enduring cultural icon.” Click here to watch trailer.