Eight New TV Shows Streaming This Weekend on Netflix, Disney+ and Hulu, October 16-18

It’s a good weekend to be a TV fan. In recent weeks, Mike Flanagan’s Carrie remix and an anime based on an Anthony Bourdain manga finally arrived, so there’s something for most tastes. Avatar is back too. Polygon has run several articles on Seven Havens and on what the new series means for the franchise’s future and past.

Genre fans have plenty to pick from this week. VisionQuest is out and marks an end of sorts for Marvel’s streaming era. Crystal Lake is a Friday the 13th prequel starring Linda Cardellini. Treasure Island, based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic pirate tale, stars Hayley Atwell and David Oyelowo.

For standard dramas, Keri Russell returns in a new season of The Diplomat, and Ethan Hawke is back for the second season of The Lowdown. Reality fans get Tyson, a four-part documentary series on the life and career of the controversial boxer, plus a new season of Love Is Blind. We’re not judging. Happy watching.

1. VisionQuest

• Available on Disney Plus
• Genre: Sci-fi
• Episode count: 8
• Cast: Paul Bettany, James Spader, Ruaridh Molica

VisionQuest concludes a saga that began many years ago. It follows the newly rebuilt White Vision (Paul Bettany), who is hiding out and keeping a low profile by working in a pub in Scotland. Inside his mindspace, he spends a lot of time with the AI personas in his brain, including J.A.R.V.I.S. and Ultron (James Spader). His quiet existence falls apart when someone puts a bounty on his head. He has to run and reunite with his long-lost son.

From our Polygon review:

VisionQuest picks up the many threads left dangling by WandaVision (and unspooled a bit more by Agatha All Along) and weaves together all that plot into an unexpected and mostly satisfying conclusion. While the new series from showrunner Terry Matalas (Star Trek: Picard) is definitively its own thing, it’s also a clever continuation of several major moments that prove Matalas might just understand this corner of the MCU better than anyone. (Hey Kevin Feige, if you’re reading this, please give Matalas a movie to direct.

2. Crystal Lake

• Available on Peacock
• Genre: Horror
• Episode count: 8
• Cast: Linda Cardellini, William Catlett, Devin Kessler

Ever think about Pamela Voorhees, Jason Voorhees’ mom? There’s a TV show about her now. It explores her life in the years before the original Friday the 13th, when the ghost of her son seemingly terrorized a group of teenage camp counselors at Camp Crystal Lake. The prequel series shows Jason’s tragic death and the effect it had on his mother, who goes on to become a vicious killer.

From our Polygon review:

Crystal Lake begins on the day Jason dies, which Kane shifts from 1957 to 1971. We’re quickly introduced to the young boy (Callum Vinson) covered in prosthetics that give him a bulging, bald head meant to match the terrifying design from the original film’s final scene. The next few scenes go pretty much as you might expect. Jason drowns while the camp counselors who were supposed to be watching him are busy hooking up in a supply shed. Pamela, who lived alone with her son and worked as a cook for the camp, quickly dissolves into a puddle of tears and trauma.

3. The Diplomat

• Available on Netflix
• Genre: Drama
• Episode count: 8
• Cast: Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, Allison Janney

The Diplomat returns for a fourth season. US Ambassador Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) heads into new and stressful political trouble abroad. This time she discovers that the US President and the Vice President, who is also her husband, orchestrated a dangerous covert operation to steal a superweapon from Russia.

4. The Lowdown

• Available on Hulu
• Genre: Drama
• Episode count: 8
• Cast: Ethan Hawke, Tommy Lee Jones, Ryan Kiera Armstrong

The Lowdown shows Ethan Hawke at his most charming. He plays Lee Raybon, a Tulsa journalist who keeps getting pulled into local conspiracies involving corruption and other dangerous situations. He wants the truth at all costs.

5. Tulsa King

• Available on Paramount Plus
• Genre: Drama
• Episode count: 10
• Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Frank Grillo, Andrea Savage

There’s always a Taylor Sheridan show on the air. Tulsa King is his take on the mob drama. Sylvester Stallone plays Dwight Manfredi, an ex-con exiled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he slowly builds his own mob empire. In the fourth season, Dwight tries to move into more legitimate businesses and runs into some trouble along the way.

From our Polygon recommendation:

Tulsa King is equal parts mafia drama and mafia action, with an additional bonus of mafia-driven comedy. The show opens with Dwight Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone, like that’s not a good enough reason to watch), a former mafia boss who is sent to Tulsa, Oklahoma to build a new empire from the ground up. That mission comes with everything you’d expect from the mafia — gang violence, turf wars, and shootouts, and that’s just the beginning.

6. Treasure Island

• Available on Paramount Plus
• Genre: Adventure
• Episode count: 6
• Cast: Hayley Atwell, Tom Sweet, David Oyelowo

Treasure Island reimagines Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel. Teenager Jim (Tom Sweet) and his mother Bess (Hayley Atwell) come into possession of a pirate map. It sends them on an adventure aboard the Hispaniola, where they meet pirates, treasure, and plenty of danger.

7. Tyson

• Available on Netflix
• Genre: Documentary
• Episode count: 4
• Cast: Mike Tyson, Miguel Tyson, Morocco Tyson

Tyson is a four-episode documentary directed by Floyd Russ about the rise of Mike Tyson’s boxing career. It covers his rough childhood, his years as one of the biggest athletes and stars in the country, and the many controversies that have followed him.

8. Love Is Blind

• Available on Netflix
• Genre: Reality
• Episode count: 13
• Cast: Nick & Vanessa Lachey

Love Is Blind is back for its 11th season. Episodes premiere in batches from October 14 through the end of the month, and the finale and reunion special air in November. It’s one of Netflix’s biggest dating shows. Singles connect with potential partners in pods without ever seeing them, then get engaged and go on a honeymoon. After that, they head toward the altar, where they might marry or leave each other forever.

Source: Polygon