About this episode Get ready for your weekend streaming with "What to Watch This Weekend: Streaming Picks and Skips"! Every Friday evening, your personal film critic dives into the latest releases across Netflix, Apple TV, Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, Paramount+, and Peacock. Discover what's truly worth your precious viewing time and what you can confidently skip, ensuring your weekend binge-watching is always a hit.
0:00 Disney Plus uploaded four new scenes into Avengers: Endgame this morning, rebranding the 2019 release as Endgame: Encore to drum up ticket sales for December's theatrical premiere of Avengers: Doomsday.0:12 Last week we combed through the platforms hunting for bold original storytelling; this week, the industry retreated squarely into corporate nostalgia.0:21 Now, sweeping the wire across your watchlist: Prime Video rolled out season three of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Wednesday, delivering grand visual scale that you can comfortably skip unless you're already locked into Second Age politics.0:36 Hulu answered with season two of Rivals alongside reality spinoff The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County, while Peacock quietly put thriller The Good Daughter on its server.0:48 Over on Netflix, you'll find Jessica Chastain leading the country music mystery Heartland, plus holiday filler titled The Gospel of Christmas.0:56 And on Paramount Plus, cartoon pups tackle dinosaurs in Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie.1:01 But take note on Paramount's heavy marketing push for Johnny Depp in Ebenezer: That release is confirmed exclusively in movie theaters this Friday, not streaming on the service, despite how the home menu frames it.1:14 So where does that leave your weekend?1:17 Well, look at the pattern.1:18 We've seen this play out before — back when studios reissued theatrical special editions on home video just to manufacture hype for an incoming sequel.1:27 It's brand management disguised as programming.1:30 Here's the thing: if you want a genuine narrative, head over to Apple TV Plus, which has two titles actually worth your attention this hour.1:39 First, two episodes of eight-part crime thriller twelve twelve twelve dropped today, starring Anthony Mackie as a former FBI agent chasing Jamie Dornan's master criminal across Zurich.1:50 Look, we've watched this cat-and-mouse heist dynamic ever since Michael Mann's Heat, but the pacing is brisk and their friction works.1:58 It's solid craft.1:59 Wait, the REAL standout this Friday isn't an action thriller at all.2:03 Director Siân Heder just released Being Heumann on Apple TV Plus.2:07 Ruth Madeley stars as disability rights activist Judy Heumann, leading the historic 1977 sit-in at the San Francisco federal building opposite Mark Ruffalo.2:17 It's tense, deeply human, and — and it refuses to soften the institutional resistance Heumann fought against.2:23 I mean, in a week choked with franchise teasers, an actual historical drama with teeth feels almost radical.2:30 That's your clear MUST-WATCH.2:32 Okay, so what does it all add up to?2:34 The major services are using mid-November as an overture, holding back their prestige cards while banking on old IP to preserve subscriber retention.2:43 Skip the superhero repackaging, watch Ruth Madeley command the screen, and let's see if December brings real invention.2:50 That's the picture from here.2:52 Back to you in the studio.
