8 streaming picks to add to your watchlist this May

I will watch anything and everything the Fanning sisters are in because they’re such insanely talented actors. This show was an emotional roller coaster. The writing is sharp, humorous, and surprisingly tender. It made me laugh, cry, roll my eyes, and root for the characters. Michelle Pfeiffer as Margo’s mom Shayanne is incredible too. What I love most about the show, though, is that it portrays sex work in a positive light, treating those who engage in it like actual people with agency, which is refreshing for an industry that often reduces sex workers to cautionary tales or for shock value (looking at you, Sam Levinson). —Chloe Chou

I watched Rooster last week and ended up loving it for the exact reasons that make something an elite comfort watch: a low-stakes funny plot about a pulp-fiction author taking up an academic position at a New England college to stay close to his daughter, a cosy uni setting with fall energy, and Steve Carell playing an emotionally awkward dad in a way only Steve Carell can. —Sheya Kurian

Cute dogs and a cast that includes comedy greats like Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Parker Posey, and Jennifer Coolidge—what more can you want? This hilarious mockumentary about the contestants of the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show is populated by a host of colourful characters that make it a delight to watch. Levy is a man with two literal left feet jealous of his wife’s (O’Hara) past lovers, while Coolidge is her signature hilarious best as a trophy wife with an elderly husband. If nothing else, watch it for one of her more classic lines: “We both love soup.” —Butool Jamal

It’s the one show that never leaves the “Continue Watching” list on my Netflix home page. Lisa McGee’s show about a group of teens growing up in Derry, Northern Island, during the Troubles has the most amazing retro soundtrack featuring everyone from the Cranberries to the Spice Girls to Ace of Base; an eyerolling Catholic nun as a principal who isn’t above raising her students’ anxiety levels when she’s having a “bit of a slow day”; and a cameo by Liam Neeson that you’ll watch a dozen times. Amidst IRA bombings and Orange Order parades, concerns like crushes, concert tickets, murderous cats, and missed tanning appointments play out. Everyone needs to watch this. —Shalini Shah

I’m not big on documentaries, but what made me watch the Martin Short docu was how a friend described it: imagine being part of a group of creatives as a 20-something, maybe that drama gang from college. You spend all your waking hours together, you jam together, work together— people date, they break up, they get married, have kids, get famous. Imagine that group being a constant in your life through celebrations and hardships, new houses, children, deaths. Only in this case, the gang is made up of some very recognisable faces. Steve Martin, Eugene Levy, Goldie Hawn, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, and Catherine O’Hara all make appearances through archival home videos, and you get to see a life that was not without its struggles—in Short’s case, it was a series of tragic deaths and a shaky career trajectory—but made better by the rare privilege of having your favourite people be coworkers and family through 20, 30, 40 years of your life. —Ridhima Sapre

If there is a genre of television I’m most attached to, it is mystery. The police procedurals, the dramatic short series... I love them all. And Apple TV’s newest domestic drama has all the makings of a good thriller. It has a short eight-episode run, features three best friends (one of whom is the murder victim) and their many shady husbands, and it’s based on a book of the same name by Araminta Hall. Kerry Washington (and her three-layered necklace), Elisabeth

Moss, and Kate Mara play the main characters as it flashes between past and present as Mary and Eleanor (Washington and Moss) try to uncover who killed Nancy (Mara). The last episode dropped on April 28, and May was the perfect month to binge the series. Watch it in a single night, with a large globe of red wine and a bowl of popcorn, à la Olivia Pope if you must. —Ruhi Gilder

I am the biggest fan of weekly programming. Nothing does a better job of getting you through a workday (and keeping you off your phone through that workday) than knowing a new episode of your show just dropped. Especially when that show is the latest, possibly greatest addition to the Housewives franchise. It’s so thrilling, in 2026, to find any piece of non-scripted content that doesn’t care about PR, only who was right and who was wrong. These women, connected by alma mater, blood or a plastic surgeon are so easy to love (or hate, depending on which side of the edit you’re on) and the sounds that come out of their mouths (in their New England accents) give new meaning to words I thought I knew all my life. —Saniya Jaffer

Last week, I finally gave in to the hype around Off Campus. To be honest, I expected nothing more than done-to-death tropes and attractive leads. But it was actually fun. The leads seemed to have great chemistry, the boys shared a healthy camaraderie, and the male characters possessed the rare and endangered trait called emotional intelligence. Nobody made me want to throw my remote at the TV, and that is saying something. The show has already been greenlit for the second season and I have to admit I am genuinely excited. —Sheya Kurian