May 2024 TV Preview

To help you plan your viewing options, our editors have selected the most interesting TV and movie titles debuting at home in May 2024, listed in order by premiere date.

tbd Hacks

Season 3
Premieres May 2 on Max

The acclaimed comedy led by Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder returns after a lengthy hiatus (necessitated by both the strikes and a health scare for Smart) for a third season that will feature Succession's J. Smith-Cameron in a recurring role and additional guest appearances from Christina Hendricks, Christopher Lloyd, Helen Hunt, George Wallace, Tony Goldwyn, and Dan Bucatinsky. The new season picks up about a year after the events of the S2 finale, which saw Smart's Deborah Vance finding success with her standup special but firing Einbinder's Ava Daniels. Expect two new episodes per week through May 30.

tbd The Idea of You

Streaming movie
Premieres May 2 on Prime Video

Michael Showalter (The Big Sick) directs a May-December romance starring Anne Hathaway as a 40-year-old divorced single mother who begins a whirlwind romance with the lead singer of a popular boy band (Nicholas Galitzine) after a chance encounter with him at Coachella. Reid Scott and Annie Mumolo also star in Amazon's streaming-only adaptation of Robinne Lee's 2017 debut novel, adapted by screenwriter Jennifer Westfeldt (Friends with Kids). Critics enjoyed the rom-com when it debuted at SXSW earlier this year and highlighted Hathaway's charming performance.

tbd A Man in Full

Limited series
Premieres May 2 on Netflix

Jeff Daniels heads the cast of David E. Kelley's six-episode adaptation of the 1998 novel of the same name by Tom Wolfe. Daniels plays Charlie Croker, an Atlanta real estate mogul who is suddenly faced with the prospect of bankruptcy and the collapse of his empire. Directed in part by Regina King, the miniseries also stars Diane Lane, William Jackson Harper, Lucy Liu, Bill Camp, Tom Pelphrey, Sarah Jones, and Ami Ameen. Slightly divisive following its release, Man was just the second novel written by the longtime journalist, and Wolfe's prior novel (The Bonfire of the Vanities) didn't translate well to film, though his nonfiction book The Right Stuff became a terrific movie. How will this adaptation fare?

tbd The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Limited series
Premieres May 2 on Peacock

A co-production from Peacock and the UK's Sky, this Holocaust drama is based on the best-selling novel by Heather Morris that chronicles the real-life romance between Auschwitz-Birkenau prisoners Lali and Gita Sokolov (played here by Jonah Hauer-King and Anna Próchniak). Harvey Keitel plays Lali six decades later as he shares his story with writer Morris (Melanie Lynskey). All six episodes will be available to stream on day one.

tbd John Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in LA

Limited series
Premieres May 3 on Netflix

Part of the 12-day Netflix Is a Joke Festival being held in Los Angeles in early May, this six-night event series finds comedian John Mulaney exploring the city with a number of comedian guests in town for the festival. Expect a mix of live segments, pre-taped field pieces, and musical guests. The May 3rd debut airs live at 10p ET/7p PT, while additional episodes air live at the same time nightly from May 6-10. In addition, Netflix will stream several other live events from this year's festival including a celebrity roast of Tom Brady (May 5 at 5p ET; yes, of course Jeff Ross will be there) and a Katt Williams stand-up special on May 4 at 7p PT.

tbd Unfrosted

Streaming movie
Premieres May 3 on Netflix

"If Barbie can get her own movie, why can't Pop Tarts?" Famous words said by nobody, and yet here we are with a Pop Tarts origin story. Jerry Seinfeld (the very same one from Seinfeld) makes his directorial debut with a comedic look back at the real-life race between rival breakfast cereal companies to create a toaster pastry in the early 1960s. Seinfeld also writes (alongside Spike Feresten and others) and stars in a loaded cast that also includes Melissa McCarthy, Hugh Grant, James Marsden, Max Greenfield, Thomas Lennon, Rachael Harris, Christian Slater, Amy Schumer, Maria Bakalova, Jim Gaffigan, Daniel Levy, Fred Armisen, Bill Burr, Sarah Cooper, and Jack McBrayer.

tbd Dark Matter

New sci-fi series
Premieres May 8 on Apple TV+

Sure, 3 Body Problem was a Netflix series, but the majority of new sci-fi shows these days seem to arrive on Apple's streaming service, making it one of the few things that Apple TV+ specializes in (along with announcing new and returning shows that never seem to materialize). Their latest is an eight-episode thriller adapted from Blake Crouch's acclaimed 2016 page-turner by the author himself. (That wasn't the case for a previous Crouch TV adaptation, Wayward Pines.) Dark Matter centers on a Chicago physicist (Joel Edgerton) who finds himself kidnapped and taken into a parallel universe. There, he must find a way back to his own timeline to reunite with his wife and son—but must do so while being pursued by a very familiar foe. Jennifer Connelly, Alice Braga, and Jimmi Simpson also star in the series, which launches with two episodes on the 8th.

tbd Bodkin

New dramedy series
Premieres May 9 on Netflix

A darkly comedic thriller from two high-profile production companies (Barack and Michelle Obama's Higher Ground, and Mare of Easttown producers Wiip), Bodkin follows a group of podcasters as they investigate a series of disappearances in a small Irish town—a case that grows weirder the more they learn. It's a mostly Irish cast but the biggest star is an American: Will Forte. You'll be able to binge all seven episodes on day one.

tbd Doctor Who

Season 14 (aka Season 1)
Premieres May 10 on Disney+

Sex Education's Ncuti Gatwa takes over as the Fifteenth Doctor as the long-running British sci-fi series moves to Disney+ (except in the UK) for its 14th season. (Note that Disney considers this S1 of a "new" series, but you don't have to play along with that.) He'll be joined by new companion Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson, though only for one season on a solo basis—she'll be joined by Varada Sethu in the already greenlit S15/S2. The network change brings a (slightly) bigger budget and guest stars like Jonathan Groff, Jinkx Monsoon, and Indira Varma. Two episodes stream on premiere day, followed by one per week each Friday.

tbd The Big Cigar

Limited series
Premieres May 17 on Apple TV+

André Holland stars as Huey P. Newton in a six-episode miniseries based on the true story of how the Black Panther leader fled to Cuba with the help of Hollywood producer Bert Schneider (played by Alessandro Nivola) to evade capture by the FBI. A wild true-story escape caper involving a movie producer? If that sounds a bit like Argo, well, The Big Cigar is—much like that film—based on a magazine article by Joshuah Bearman. The series adaptation comes from Jim Hecht (Winning Time) and the first two episodes—directed by Don Cheadle—stream on day one.

tbd The Beach Boys

Streaming documentary
Premieres May 24 on Disney+

Disney+ isn't only for comic book fans and kids: There's also something for dads (granddads?)—or at least those who are fans of 1960s rock. In fact, May brings two such somethings, including a new Disney-exclusive feature documentary about the legendary California band The Beach Boys. Directed by the duo of Frank Marshall (who recently profiled The Bee Gees for HBO) and Thom Zimny (several Bruce Springsteen collabs including Western Stars), the doc includes new interviews with Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, Mike Love, and more.

Also on tap for Disney+ subscribers this month (on May 8) is a new restoration of Michael Lindsay-Hogg's long-out-of-print 1970 Beatles documentary Let It Be. Footage shot for that movie—including many hours originally left on the editing-room floor—were given a hi-tech audio and visual restoration by Peter Jackson for Disney's 2021 miniseries The Beatles: Get Back, and now Jackson has used that same technology to remaster Lindsay-Hogg's original film, which was previously unable to stream, rent, or buy anywhere.

tbd Eric

Limited series
Premieres May 30 on Netflix

A six-episode thriller from Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady, The Hour) set in 1980s New York, Eric deals with police corruption amid the NYPD's search for a missing nine-year-old boy—while the boy's grieving and increasingly unstable father (Benedict Cumberbatch), a popular TV kids show puppeteer, copes by talking to the monster that lives under his son's bed. (Don't snicker: It's actually based on a true story.) Also on board are stars Gaby Hoffmann, Clarke Peters, David Denman, and Dan Fogler, while Lucy Forbes (The End of the F***ing World) directs.

tbd We Are Lady Parts

Season 2
Premieres May 30 on Peacock

A co-production between Peacock and the UK's Channel 4, We Are Lady Parts was hailed by critics as funny, fresh, and upbeat when it debuted in 2021. Three years later, fans finally get to stream a second season, while newcomers have a chance to catch up on this under-the radar comedy centering on an all-female Muslim punk band in London and featuring original songs. This six-episode second season (streaming in its entirety on day one) features guest appearances by Malala Yousafzai and comedian Meera Syal as it follows the band attempting to figure out what they want from their music careers as they record their debut album.

tbd Jim Henson: Idea Man

Streaming documentary
Premieres May 31 on Disney+

It's hard to find anyone who didn't grow up with Jim Henson's creations. The longtime puppeteer, animator, and director is best known for creating The Muppets, both for Sesame Street and for Muppets-branded TV shows and films, and lending his voice to characters like Kermit the Frog and Ernie. But Henson's decades of work also spanned commercials, talk show appearances, experimental film, more children's TV (Fraggle Rock) and feature filmmaking (including The Dark Cystal and Labyrinth). In Idea Man, director Ron Howard dives into Henson's personal archives to bring all these stages of Henson's career to life.