The 2024 NFL playoffs is a very exciting time for TV watchers...at least, for those who like football. For the rest of us, it can be disheartening to see every single television in our local bar dominated by the games leading up to Super Bowl LVIII. But don't fret: rather than having to watch players toss around the old pigskin for hours on end, there are plenty of new streaming series that you can watch instead this weekend.
Whether your viewing tastes lean more towards love reality TV shows like Netflix's Love on the Spectrum or detective series like Hulu's Death & Other Details, here are five great binging options that will keep you happily distracted from all of that sports stuff.
5 shows to watch besides the NFL playoffs
1. Death & Other Details (Hulu)
Mandy Patinkin sails into the murder-mystery genre as renowned detective Rufus Cotesworth in Hulu's new 10-part series Death & Other Details, which debuted its first two episodes on the streamer on January 16, with one new edition to follow weekly on Tuesdays. Set aboard a "lavishly restored Mediterranean ocean liner," the drama centers on "brilliant and restless Imogene Scott (Violett Beane), who finds herself in the wrong place/wrong time (okay, it was kinda her fault) and becomes the prime suspect in a locked room murder mystery," per Hulu. The other culprits? Every papered guest and exhausted crew member on board.
2. On the Roam (Max)
Between Game of Thrones, Dune and the Aquaman franchise, Jason Momoa is one of the most famous action stars on any screen. In this new "eight-part cinematic docu-series"—which dropped its first episode on Max on Thursday, January 18—follow the movie star "as he travels the country chasing art, adventure and friendship," stopping along the way to meet everyone from photographers to knife makers. Momoa told Conde Nast Traveler about the inspiration behind the series: "I’m really curious and I want to keep learning. When I’m building my characters—whether it’s Aquaman or Baba Voss for See—I come up with my own style and I put a lot into it. [This time] I wanted to show myself with my friends, coming together over something that we built together."
3. The Woman in the Wall (Showtime)
The Woman in the Wall makes its stateside cable TV debut on Sunday, January 21 at 9pm ET on Showtime, after having aired in the UK on BBC One last summer. (Episodes will also be available to stream on Paramount Plus.) The series follows Lorna Brady (Ruth Wilson) who "wakes to discover a corpse in her home with no recollection of how it got there—or if she’s responsible," as she's suffered from sleepwalking and trauma ever since surviving the infamous Magdalene Laundries. "When Detective Colman Akande arrives to investigate the seemingly unrelated murder of a priest he’s drawn into a game of cat-and-mouse as he and Lorna search for answers in a small town in Ireland full of long-buried secrets," reads the show's official logline.
4. Love on the Spectrum (Netflix)
Season two of Love on the Spectrum—the American adaptation of the Australian reality show that sees "people on the autism spectrum look for love and navigate the changing world of dating and relationships," per its streamer, Netflix—is here, with all seven episodes hitting the platform on Friday, January 19. The latest edition of the romantic Netflix docuseries features plenty of fresh faces this time around but also a few familiar ones: returning cast members Dani Bowman and James Jones are back to try and find their potential romantic partner in the second season.
5. True Detective: Night Country (HBO)
The fourth season of the crime drama anthology, True Detective: Night Country is an HBO thriller starring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as two detectives investigating the unsettling disappearance of a whole staff of scientists from an arctic research station in Alaska. The series transports viewers to the dark and desolate polar town of Ennis, where it's creepily customary to "see dead people" out there among all that ice, meaning that there might be something a little more supernatural at play in this case. The second episode of Night Country hits HBO and Max on Sunday, January 21 at 9pm Eastern.
