Whatcha Watching This Summer?

The dog days of August are here — the heat is sticky and September is looming, which means many of us are in search of some cool respite and fun escapism.

Tyee staff have assembled their top television and podcast recommendations for the season, and we hope this inspires some high-quality summertime lounging for you.

Most importantly, we want to know what you’re watching this month. Let us know in the comments!

‘Too Much’ aims to reflect the anxieties of a generation

I watched this series as nature intended: on my phone, blanket up to my neck, in a late-night blitz while everyone else was asleep. That’s the height of summertime decadence for me, and it felt fitting for Too Much, American writer-director Lena Dunham’s compelling new series that invites viewers to contemplate the fine line between excess and restraint. The show debuted on Netflix this June and seems overtly conscious of the fact that Dunham is a generational talent, remarkable for the same reasons she attracts vociferous, even cruel, reactions.

For some critics and audiences, Dunham and her breakout HBO comedic drama Girls were cringey, entitled and obnoxious — just too much altogether. To others, Dunham’s work offered a needed voice for younger people, embodying and affirming their experiences in all their ugliness, confusion and anger. Too Much is an extension of Dunham’s oeuvre, marking another such effort to reflect the anxieties of a generation while its members piece together work, romance and friendship in their 30s.

Set in London, the show is a semi-biographical telling of Dunham’s move from the United States to the United Kingdom. The show follows protagonist Jessica (comedian Megan Stalter of Hacks), an avatar for Dunham, as she breaks up with her boyfriend and leaves her home in Brooklyn for a fresh start across the pond. When Jessica meets rock musician Felix (millennial renaissance man Will Sharpe of The White Lotus) on her first night in town, he bears a resemblance to Dunham’s real-life husband, musician Luis Felber, who created Too Much with his wife.

The show poses pertinent, often painful questions about how self-centredness can cloud our perceptions of others’ struggles. Bonus: the comedic use of the indie-folk heartbreaker “Farewell Transmission” by Songs: Ohia offered me a genuine opportunity to laugh out loud.

— Jackie Wong, senior editor

In spite of itself, ‘And Just Like That’ is weirdly compelling

Yes, I know it’s terrible for its ham-fisted take on sexual politics and celebration of vacuous rich people, but I can’t stop watching it. The third season of the Sex and the City spinoff just announced that 2025’s would be the final outing for Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda. Samantha (Kim Cattrall) phoned in a cameo, took the healthy payout and got the hell out of dodge by way of London. No dumdum, she.

After three kicks at the can, the original Sex and the City cast is aided in And Just Like That by a few new faces — the close-knit circle of friends in Manhattan extends to include Lisa, a documentary filmmaker, and Seema, a superstar real estate agent. We follow them as they slog along in the relationship trenches.

I’m still horrified by a scene where Aidan (John Corbett), Carrie’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, spits into his hand in preparation for a bout of phone sex. I almost ran out of the room.

The true stars of the show are still the clothes, the city and the largely irrelevant problems that beset the characters, like a mean mother-in-law sporting one of the worst Italian accents in recorded history played by none other than real-life Broadway diva Patti LuPone.

Most of the time, if I’m not laughing like an idiot, I’m thinking, “Who the hell is writing this stuff?”

The current season being the last is another reflection of how all terrible things must come to an end. Uh-oh, that made me think of Aidan again...

— Dorothy Woodend, culture editor

‘Fargo’ is legacy television

This summer, I’ll be escaping the heat with the frigid landscapes of the Fargo TV series. Each season of the show follows a different unlikely protagonist’s electric journey through an underground world riddled with organized crime, unexplained forces, serial killers and corporate greed.

Sure, the show takes place mostly south of the border, but its dry wit and “Minnesota nice” atmosphere feels decidedly Canadian. Plus, Fargo has all the trappings of a masterpiece — a pantheon of complex characters, a unique cinematic style and a satirical bent that feels more relevant today than ever before. The star-studded cast and electric action sequences don't hurt, either.

This will be my third watch-through of the series. It’s not a comfort watch, per se. Instead, the show’s absurdist portrayal of all-too-real villains (that definitely don’t represent any real people, groups of people or political affiliations) helps me stomach my existential dread with a smile.

It just might be the greatest piece of cinematic art of all time. I know, television doesn’t technically count as cinema. But watch this show and tell me I’m wrong.

— Isaac Phan Nay, labour reporter

‘America’s Sweethearts’ offers a welcome boost

My mental health has been frailer than a well-dried wishbone this summer, and what cures that better than a little Netflix escapism? Specifically, America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, a reality TV show that follows would-be Dallas Cowboys cheerleader hopefuls from tryouts through the NFL season.

The women don uniforms — short shorts and crop tops — that haven’t changed much since the 1970s, to open home games dancing to AC/DC’s 1990 hit “Thunderstruck.” They’ve been doing the same routine for over a decade and a half.

The show is escapism because it provides a window into something that is, for me, an entirely foreign universe and culture. But it’s not a confection: we confront eating disorders in the context of the team’s body standards; the pittance the women are paid; sexual harassment; the wear and tear the routines, in particular an iconic jump split, take on their bodies; and what it means to fit in, or not, to a sisterhood.

It’s a fascinating look into the making of an iconic American institution.

— andrea bennett, senior editor

‘Veronica Mars’ is delightful early-aughts nostalgia

Call it a defence against the summer of slop where nothing is real. Take me back to when things mattered, because people had been murdered, raped, swindled and cheated on. But also, there was a sassy and savvy teenager who stayed cool in the moment no matter what, and she was there to get to the bottom of things. But also, prom!

I’d love to think I love Veronica Mars because the show nudged me towards being a journalist. It’s more likely I’m reaching for the iconic early aughts for the nostalgia of solving crimes with the perfect photograph, by finding the camcorder tape of the crime, where you could track bad guys by checking their licence plate number.

It’s an era free of the doublespeak and bold-face lying that people in power do today when they’re caught doing evil shit.

As a bonus, the cast has genuine chemistry (something that’s been lost in the streaming era) and I can get lost in Francis Capra’s dreamy eyes. And we all need more of the Dandy Warhols in our life.

— Michelle Gamage, health reporter

‘Alone’ is fascinating summer fare

“This show is ridiculous,” I sputtered the first time my husband put on Alone, a reality series where self-styled survivalists compete to live alone in the wilderness for as long as possible. “Don’t these people realize the only way humans survived was by living in groups?”

Alone has gone on to become my family’s go-to when we want something undemanding to watch together. The show has its problematic elements: macho guys who love knives just a little too much; contestants who openly appropriate a sort of pseudo-Indigenous identity; dudes who boast endlessly of how brave they plan to be, only to beg to be extracted at the first sign of bear scat.

But watching a person try to cope with being totally alone in the wilderness, while also doing the survival-y stuff of building a shelter, catching food and making fire, is endlessly fascinating.

On top of all this, the contestants also have to learn how to film themselves doing everything, with varying results — there are some truly inventive shots, and then there are times when the camera falls over or is dropped.

Do I want to live alone in the wilderness? Absolutely not. Is it fun to watch people try? You betcha.

— Jen St. Denis, reporter

Two recommendations from a new member of the Tyee team

Ever since the pandemic when I decided it would be a good idea to reminisce, and later trudge, through nine seasons and 201 episodes of The Office, I can only commit to limited series. I relish in the comfort of knowing that my assignment is time-bound.

To this end, my most recent indulgences have been Your Friends & Neighbours and Apple Cider Vinegar.

In Friends & Neighbours, Jon Hamm hits rock bottom and starts stealing from his wealthy friends to maintain his extravagant lifestyle. Hamm is nice to look at, the dark comedy is right up my alley and it’s a great reminder that money can’t buy happiness.

For those equally fascinated and abhorred by cults and multi-level marketing, Apple Cider Vinegar is for you. Based on a true story, the series centres on an Australian woman who lies about having cancer and curing it with a healthy diet. She then amasses a huge following of people who actually have cancer. The show is a great way to reinforce your beliefs in science and modern medicine, and the stupidity of humanity.

Addendum: In fact checking this submission, I learned that there will, tragically, be a second season of Your Friends & Neighbours, so it is not technically a limited series. Though it was when I was blissfully watching the first season, thinking it was the only season.

— Carla Pellegrini, chief operating officer

Finally, something for the podcast-inclined

I recently finished history podcaster Mike Duncan's fascinating series on the Martian Revolution. Duncan's long-running Revolutions series tackled this millennium’s most interesting upheavals in both a rigorous and often very funny way. He declared the series over a couple of years ago, only to return with the 15-part look at the first space revolution and its fascinating characters. It’s fiction, but based on common themes found throughout the actual revolutions Duncan previously chronicled. The entire series is also very much worth a listen.

— Tyler Olsen, senior editor

What are you watching or listening to this summer? Share your recommendations in the comments.