What's worth streaming in September 2024: -2-

The steamy romantic drama "Tell Me Lies" (Sept. 3) returns for its second season, followed a few days later by "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" (Sept. 6), a reality show about a group of Mormon-mom influencers who got caught up in a swinging sex scandal.

Then there's "How to Die Alone" (Sept. 13), a comedy from Natasha Rothwell about a broke worker at JFK airport who decides to live life to the fullest after a brush with death; "English Teacher" (Sept. 3), an FX comedy about a high school teacher trying to balance the demands of his students and their parents; and Season 2 of "The Old Man" (Sept. 13), the spy thriller starring Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow that ran out of steam in Season 1 and seems to be seriously pressing its luck with a second season.

There's also "In Vogue: The 90s" (Sept. 13), a docuseries about the fashion magazine; "Child Star" (Sept. 17), a docuseries from Demi Lovato and featuring former child stars Drew Barrymore, Christina Ricci, Raven-Symone, JoJo Siwa and more; "American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez" (Sept 18), Ryan Murphy latest anthology series, which focuses on the former NFL player who was convicted of murder; and a slew of network shows, including ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" (Sept. 18), "The Golden Bachelorette" (Sept. 19) and the 21st(!) season of "Grey's Anatomy" (Sept. 27), and Fox's "Rescue: Hi-Surf" (Sept. 23), "9-1-1: Lone Star" (Sept. 23), "The Masked Singer" (Sept. 26), "Bob's Burgers" (Sept. 30) and "The Simpsons" (Sept. 30).

Still, the most watchable thing may be Season 4 of the affable murder-mystery "Only Murders in the Building" (new episodes every Tuesday), which premiered in August and, beyond expanding its universe to Hollywood, seems to be taking a more introspective and melancholy tone this time around.

Play, pause or stop? Pause. "Only Murders" is fun, but what else really stands out this month?

Peacock ($7.99 a month with ads, or $13.99 with no ads)

Comcast's (CMCSA) Peacock peaked with its Summer Olympics streaming lineup, but a solid string of football games won't prevent a severe drop-off.

The NFL season kicks off Sept. 5 with the Baltimore Ravens vs. the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, which will also air on NBC. The next night (Sept. 6) will see the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers battle from São Paulo, Brazil, in a game exclusive to Peacock. And Sunday Night Football (also available on NBC) starts Sept. 8, with the Los Angeles Rams vs. Detroit Lions.

Peacock also has the Summer Paralympic Games (closing ceremonies Sept. 8), Big 10 and Notre Dame college football starting Sept. 7, and a full slate of English Premier League soccer, as well as golf and motorsports.

Aside from sports, the best bet is "Fight Night: The Million-Dollar Heist" (Sept. 5), a limited series about how the most famous robbery in Atlanta history, on the night of Muhammad Ali's 1970 comeback bout, paved the way for the city's transformation into the so-called Black Mecca. Kevin Hart, Don Cheadle, Samuel L. Jackson, Terrance Howard and Taraji P. Henson lead an all-star cast in the miniseries based on the popular podcast.

Peacock also has a new season of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" (Sept. 19); the Season 3 finale of "Bel-Air" (Sept. 5); NBC series such as "Brilliant Minds" (Sept. 24), "The Voice" (Sept. 24) and "Chicago Fire/Med/PD" (all Sept. 26); and, to mark the show's 50th anniversary, all nine seasons of "Little House on the Prairie" (Sept. 11). It's also getting a head start on Halloween with a ton of scary movies, including "Candyman," "Night of the Living Dead," "Frankenstein," "Shaun of the Dead," and, of course, "Halloween" and its sequels.

There's also Peacock's first-ever live comedy special, "Colin Jost & Michael Che Present: New York After Dark" (Sept. 12), hosted by the "Saturday Night Live" stars, with special guests.

And don't forget August's offerings, which including the tonally inconsistent but mostly funny Steph Curry comedy "Mr. Throwback," and all seven seasons of NBC's classic cop drama "Homicide: Life on the Street," which is still great despite most of its original soundtrack being swapped out for generic music.

Play, pause or stop? Pause. Football is the main draw, but there's a big enough library to merit consideration.

Paramount+ ($7.99 a month with ads, $12.99 a month with Showtime and no ads)

The NFL and college football are two of the best reasons to subscribe to Paramount+, so naturally prices rose right before those seasons kicked off. The basic plan jumped by $2 a month for new customers starting Aug 20, while the ad-free tier with Showtime rose by $1. Current subscribers will see the hike take effect Sept. 20.

The reboot of the classic sitcom "Frasier" (Sept. 19), starring Kelsey Grammar, returns for its second season, which will include a trip back to Seattle and a reunion with Frasier Crane's old radio-station co-workers. "Tulsa King" (Sept. 15) is also back for its second season, with Sylvester Stallone's fish-out-of-New York mob boss dealing with new enemies, including the FBI, as he expands his Midwest empire. Both series were fine in their first seasons - not great enough to warrant a subscription by themselves, but perfectly watchable if you're already signed up.

There's also "Apartment 7A" (Sept. 27), a movie prequel to "Rosemary's Baby," starring Julia Garner ("Ozark") and Dianne Weist ("Mayor of Kingstown"); the second season of the charming Australian rom-com "Colin From Accounts" (Sept. 26); and the return of Taylor Tomlinson's CBS late-night show "After Midnight" (Sept. 4)

On the sports side, Paramount (PARA) has the NFL on CBS every Sunday starting Sept. 8; Big 10 college football starting Sept. 7; and a slew of soccer, including Serie A, EFL and NWSL.

The end?: "Evil" wrapped up its four-season run in August, ironically canceled at the peak of its popularity (thanks largely to its first two seasons recently becoming available on Netflix). As mentioned here before, it's a delightfully weird, sometimes creepy, always fun show that's well worth a binge. The most recent season got an additional four episodes to wrap up loose ends - which it did, somewhat - but ended with enough ambiguity to leave the door open for a possible revival on another streaming service at some point.

Play, pause or stop? Pause. It comes down to football, because there's not a lot else that's compelling right now.

Disney+ ($7.99 a month with ads, $13.99 with no ads)

Disney (DIS) has the long-anticipated "WandaVision" spinoff "Agatha All Along" (Sept. 18), starring Kathryn Hahn as the namesake witch, who gets sprung from a containment spell and wakes up powerless, leading her on a quest to regain her powers while getting the ol' coven back together. Hahn's Agatha was the best thing about 2021's "WandaVision," and there's a stellar supporting cast, including Aubrey Plaza, Patti LuPone, Debra Jo Rupp and Emma Caulfield, along with Joe Locke (Netflix's "Heartstopper"). Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has compared the series to a dark but fun adventure in the vein of "The Goonies," which would be a big step up from Marvel's lackluster recent shows.

But beyond that, there's not a lot else new. The best of the bunch are a new season of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" (Sept 17), airing live every Tuesday, as well as streaming on Hulu, and a pair of what are basically animated commercials: "Lego Pixar: BrickToons" (Sept. 4) and "Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy" (Sept. 13).

Play, pause or stop? Stop. "Agatha All Along" has a lot of potential, but given Marvel's track record and the lack of anything else compelling, viewers should take a wait-and-see approach.

Amazon's Prime Video ($14.99 a month with ads, $8.99 without Prime membership, both +$2.99 to avoid ads)

Season 2 of Amazon's massively expensive "Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" premiered in August and will have new episodes every Thursday. Season 1 was nowhere near the global hit that Amazon (AMZN) had hoped for. And it can be tough not to compare it to the other recent big-budget, ultimately unsatisfying fantasy series, Max's "House of the Dragon," as the two have been plagued by similar pacing problems and tend to favor self-serious grandeur over character development. A two-year layoff hasn't helped viewers keep track of an overcomplicated plot either. But for a show that desperately wants to be a spectacle, it simply has not been compelling enough. "The Rings of Power" was originally envisioned as a five-season epic, but it's unclear if viewers' patience or Amazon's accounting department will let it go that long if things don't improve quickly.

And Prime Video is really banking on "Rings" drawing viewers, because there's not a lot of other original programming this month.

Thursday Night Football is the best bet, with weekly NFL games starting Sept. 12, with the Buffalo Bills vs. Miami Dolphins. Prime Video also has WNBA games on Thursdays, and NWSL matches every Friday.

There's also "The Grand Tour: One for the Road" (Sept. 13), the final (for now at least) installment of the "Top Gear" spinoff; "The Money Game" (Sept. 10), a docuseries showing how NIL rights have transformed LSU athletics, featuring athletes like Livvy Dunne, Angel Reese and Jayden Daniels; and "Evolution of the Black Quarterback" (Sept. 24), a football docuseries hosted by Michael Vick.

Bat to basics: The animated "Batman: Caped Crusader," which dropped in August, is a refreshing change of pace for the Dark Knight. It's a clever, stripped-down, old-school throwback, embracing a noir aesthetic in everything from its 1930s slang to an Art Deco-inspired Gotham City to the corrupt cops and gangsters wielding Tommy guns that run it. But more than anything, it's fun, and a welcome break from Batman's unwavering bleakness in the recent DC universe.

Play, pause or stop? Stop. Until "The Rings of Power" proves it can live up to its potential, it's a skip.

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09-03-24 1954ET

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