Prepare to be whisked away to Cousins Beach once again as the characters of Amazon Prime Video’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty” returns for a brand-new season.
As the new season washes up on the shores, protagonist Belly (Lola Tung) finds herself caught in a whirlwind of emotions, with Conrad (Christopher Brinley) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) vying for her heart while dealing with the return of Susannah’s cancer.
‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ season 2
— Photo: Prime Video
As an unexpected visitor threatens the future of Susannah’s (Rachel Blanchard) cherished house, Belly must rally her friends together to face the challenges ahead and make crucial decisions about her own heart’s desires.
The first look of the new season of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” also gifted fans with a delightful surprise from Taylor Swift herself: a fresh, slowed-down rendition of the beloved track “August” from her Grammy-winning 2021 album, folklore.
‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ season 2
— Photo: Prime Video
Jenny Han, the acclaimed author of the No. 1 New York Times best-selling “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” and “The Summer I Turned Pretty” series, brings her literary magic to the small screen as she executive produces and co-show runs both “The Summer I Turned Pretty”.
‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ season 2
— Photo: Prime Video
With three new episodes premiering on Prime Video on Friday, July 14, fans can look forward to weekly episodes leading up to the season finale on Friday, August 18.
I’m at that point in life where I’m re-watching my favorite comfort shows for the zillionth time because nothing else is on. All of the shows I watch aren’t currently airing, and quite frankly, I’m bored. I can essentially quote New Girl word-for-word now because of this agonizing lull.
And while Zooey Deschanel is never the wrong choice, I’m already counting down the days until I have something new to watch. There are plenty of good shows in existence, but when it takes Euphoria three years to create a new season…times get tough.
Luckily enough for me – and the rest of the world – there have been a few recent announcements that have restored my faith in the streaming service gods. The TV networks have seen me re-watch Ted Lasso for the umpteenth time and decided it’s finally time to give me a new season. We can collectively release a sigh of relief.
HBO Max, Apple TV+, Netflix, and more have been slowly announcing their upcoming shows for spring 2023 and I’m finally feeling better. I can feel myself being released from the grip of excessive reality television as we speak. I’ve even been watching countless re-runs of Degrassi (which is Drake at his best, by the way).
If you’re feeling a little uninspired, underwhelmed, and burnt out from browsing Hulu’s main page for a show to stick out – same. But there’s hope on the horizon. Here are the best shows to stream this spring across all platforms:
Ted Lasso – Apple TV+, March 15
With 40 Emmy nominations and 11 wins, the accolades speak for themselves. Ted Lasso follows Jason Sudeikis as the title character throughout his time coaching AFC Richmond soccer as an American football coach. With lovable characters like Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) and Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), it’s hard not to become obsessed with the show.
Everyone loves a good underdog story, and this one is no exception. This season’s dilemma? How will Coach Nate coaching Rupert’s team affect AFC Richmond’s future?
Succession – HBO Max, March 26
Another huge contender at the Emmy’s: HBO Max’s Succession. It’s a drama series reminiscent of the Murdaugh family, with Logan Roy (Brian Cox) heading the media conglomerate Waystar Royco. Although his retirement is ever-looming, his children Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin), and Shiv (Sarah Snook) are constantly competing for a spot at the head of the table.
Viewers go insane for the relationship between Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) and Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen), but season four is going to be explosive considering all of the children are in their “Reputation Era” of sorts.
Quarterback – Netflix
Announcing Quarterback, a docu-series following the 2022 NFL season through the eyes of @KirkCousins8 , Marcus Mariota, and MVP and Super Bowl champ @PatrickMahomes!
Unprecedented access and for the first time ever players are mic’d up for every game! Premieres this summer. pic.twitter.com/VKC39Vy5fi — Netflix (@netflix) February 22, 2023
Netflix just announced they’re releasing Quarterback, which follows three QBs in the NFL during the 2022 season. Patrick Mahomes (Kansas City Chiefs), Marcus Mariota (Atlanta Falcons), and Kirk Cousins (Minnesota Vikings) were mic’d up each game and are now giving fans the most intimate look into the season.
Since there are a little under 200 days until we see the next snap of a football, Quarterback will be a great placeholder. Fans of the game will have a chance to see some of the league’s most exciting quarterbacks in action like they’ve never seen before.
It feels like Penn Badgley becomes the most viral person on the internet whenever a new season of You premieres. The newest installment of the Netflix series has been divided in two parts. The first is out now, and the next comes out March 9.
We are finally seeing Joe get a taste of his own medicine. In a Knives Out-style who-dunnit, Joe is surrounded by a group of rich elite in England and someone is out to get him. With rising stars like Lukas Gage (Euphoria, White Lotus), I’m anticipating big things from part two.
Brace yourselves. Soon everyone will be back trying to mold themselves into a John B derivative. Outer Banks is back for another season of rewriting The Goonies and us eating it up. Chase Stokes, Madelyn Cline, Rudy Pankow, Drew Starkey, Madison Bailey, and Jonathon Daviss will take up our social media from here on out.
Netflix knows they have a grip on the TikTok community with this show, so I can only imagine there will be lots of thirst-trap-worthy clips, a run-in with the police and the Kooks, and a plethora of bandanas tied around the neck. The Outer Banks, paradise on Earth.
Daisy Jones & The Six – Amazon Prime Video, March 3
If you know me, you know I’ve been anticipating this show for almost a year now. One of my favorite books of all time by Taylor Jenkins Reid has been turned into an Amazon Prime miniseries. If you’re a fan of Fleetwood Mac and 70’s rock and roll, this show will give you your fix.
With a star-studded cast featuring Riley Keough (Elvis’ granddaughter), Suki Waterhouse, Sam Claflin, and Camila Morrone, I expect nothing less than excellence. Keough and Claflin play TJR’s version of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, as the show follows the tumultuously talented band looking back on their prime years.
Disney+ Hostar’s parent Disney has brought back former Chairman & CEO Robert Iger to replace Bob Chapek as its top executive amid mounting losses on its streaming business, which includes the largest OTT player in India by user base which has been struck by slowing subscriber addition because of void created by the loss of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“The Board has concluded that as Disney embarks on an increasingly complex period of industry transformation, Bob Iger is uniquely situated to lead the Company through this pivotal period,” Susan Arnold, Chairman of the Board, said in a press release early on Monday IST.
The American entertainment giant has lost $1.5 billion on its streaming business, which includes Disney+ (as Disney+ Hotstar in Asia), Hulu, ESPN+ and the Star service in Europe, just this quarter and around $8 billion over the past three years, according to Q4 results declared 10 days ago. The company follows the October-September calendar.
Recent results showed that Disney+ Hotstar has a whopping 60.3 million subscribers in Asia. A large majority of it comes from India, making it the largest streamer by user base in the country, way ahead of rivals Amazon Prime Video (approximately 20 million) and Netflix (approximately 6 million). Disney+ Hotstar is also a crucial piece in the global scheme of things as it contributes around 37% to Disney+ ’s 164.2 million-strong global subscriber base.
The platform managed to attract a large part of that subscriber base because of the cricket IPL tournament, the digital streaming rights of which it has lost to Reliance-backed Viacom18 for the 2023-27 cycle.
It added fewer than 3 million subscribers in July-September compared to the 8 million in April-June. Besides, the firm expects its user base to decline in the October-December quarter because of the IPL void and stabilise during January-March, Disney’s chief financial officer Christine McCarthy warned in the recent earnings call. Further, the firm in August cut Disney+ Hotstar’s user base growth projection to 80 million by fiscal 2024 compared to its earlier projection of 70-100 million.
“The loss of digital IPL rights will be a short-term problem for Disney+ Hotstar. Sony had also lost the IPL rights five years ago and they also came out stronger after that by focusing on good content,” says former Sony LIV head and Kurate Digital Consulting’s Founding Partner Uday Sodhi. He says they have a great product and one of the best app distributions in the digital space, giving them a good edge in the long run as the market grows because of connected TVs and 5G.
At a time of proposed budget cuts and layoffs by parent firm Disney to focus more on profitability, the OTT player has its task cut out in grabbing eyeballs as the digital streaming landscape gets more competitive in India where content costs are high but ARPUs are low. That is, customers are not paying as much to match the platforms’ content investments.
“Sport content costs are escalating and that’s probably why they shied away from buying the IPL digital streaming rights. They are at a risk of losing 40-50% of subscriber base because of IPL. We see them trying to curtail that impact by investing in original content and licensed movies. They need to focus on large-scale franchise web series with strong recall so they can make multiple seasons of the same to get a sticky audience,” says Karan Taurani, Senior Vice-President, Elara Capital.
He also points out that a lot of OTT platforms were investing heavily in content because of high valuations and a good flow of money. “But that money flow has slowed down now globally.”
