To put it plainly, May is a BUMPER month of television.
Like, huge. Enormous, even. Worth blocking out hours upon hours of couch time.
THERE IS JUST SO MUCH GOOD STUFF.
From spin-offs and re-imaginings of old favourites, to emotional documentaries, to mystery thrillers, to... Pete Davidson's life, you'll want to get your eyeballs around these recommendations.
Here are the shows to devour this month.
Image: Paramount+.
Fatal Attraction is a series reimagining the 80s classic film you already know, through the lens of privilege, personality disorders, family dynamics and murder.
This thriller miniseries takes place in both 2008 and the present day. In 2008, Daniel Gallagher (Joshua Jackson) first meets Alexandra Forrest (Lizzy Caplan), and his world begins to unravel after their brief affair threatens to destroy the life he’s built with his wife, Beth (Amanda Peet).
Fifteen years later, Dan is paroled after serving fifteen years in prison for the murder of Alex and sets about reconnecting with his family and proving his innocence.
Fatal Attraction is streaming on Paramount+, with new episodes weekly on Mondays.
Image: Disney+.
Ed Sheeran is one of the most famous musicians in the world, so he's doing what famous musicians simply must do: a documentary series.
But the four episode series The Sum of It All does not feel like a box ticking exercise, or even a cynical form of PR.
Sure, the episodes track how Sheeran went from a shy child with a stutter to one of music's biggest superstars, but it is also refreshingly raw and honest, establishing Sheeran as, well, a person as well.
Blending exclusive, never-before-seen personal archive, present-day actuality, interviews with his wife and loved ones, and intimate performances in cinematic locations, the series is a very vulnerable look at the man whose voice you haven't been able to escape for a decade.
Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All is streaming on Disney+.
Image: Netflix.
Bridgerton season three is still coming, but Netflix has kept fans of sexy regency love story to keep us occupied in the meantime.
Queen Charlotte tells the origin story of Bridgerton's most fun character; the match-making Queen of England, and her later quest to ensure one of her hapless children gives her an heir.
The series explores Charlotte's unorthodox marriage to her husband, King George of England, George's mental health and how their union transforms high society.
As you'd expect, it's sexy — the extremely satisfying (sorry) exploration of Lady Danbury's sexual awakening is great -- while also a little grittier than the original series, with a number of love stories that will warm your heart (and almost certainly make you cry).
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is streaming on Netflix.
Image: Binge.
Slip has the craziest premise I have heard in a long time: Every time 30-something Mae (Zoe Lister-Jones) orgasms, she transports to another dimension. No, like, literally.
Mae is restless in her 13-year relationship with Elijah (Whitmer Thomas), and has a 'slip' where she winds up in bed with Eric (Amar Chadha-Patel).
She wakes up to find herself in an alternate universe in which she's now married to him, thus begins a dimension-hopping journey of self-discovery every time she comes.
How can you not be intrigued by that?
Orgasms aside, Slip is also a beautiful exploration of long-term relationships and self-worth.
All seven episodes of Slip are streaming on Binge.
Image: Binge.
Even if it wasn't a show by and about the comedian/go-to Hollywood boyfriend, the opening scene of Bupkis would cause chatter.
Because, well, it's outrageous.
Bupkis is a semi-autobiographical comedy series by and starring Davidson as a heightened version of himself, alongside Oscar-winner Joe Pesci as his fictional grandfather and Emmy-winner Edie Falco as his mum.
It's half dude-bro humour and half genuinely heartfelt and earnest: in episode one, fictional Davidson tries to get his grandfather laid, and in episode two, a flashback documents young Davidson following the death of his father on 9/11.
It continues to walk that line (and zig-zag wayyyyy across it) throughout 10 half hour eps.
All eight episodes of Bupkis are streaming on Binge.
Image: Apple TV+.
I don't know what it says about me — especially given the last few years of, uh, real life — but I love a series set in a dystopian future. Ya know, things are bad! But they are not (yet) stuck in an underground silo because above ground is too toxic for human life!
That's the premise of Silo: the last few thousand surviving people are confined in a self-sustaining silo, with no knowledge of exactly how or why they got there, because a rebellion in the past erased their history.
The show, which lurches between a thriller full of conspiracies and a good ol' police procedural, is anchored by a fantastic performance from Rebecca Ferguson, who plays an engineer who works on the generators in the lowest levels of the Silo who is promoted to Sheriff, an is intent on finding out the truth about their very claustrophobic, underground world.
The first four episodes of Silo are streaming on Apple TV+ now, with new episodes weekly on Fridays.
Image: Apple TV+.
This is Michael J. Fox's story, in his own words.
The story of the 80s icon's public lifeplays out with archival footage, unprecedented access to Fox and his family and scripted elements, giving insight into his journey from the heights of stardom to the years that followed his diagnosis, at 29, with Parkinson’s disease.
STILL chronicles his professional and personal highs and lows, plus explore what happens when someone as eternally optimistic as the Back to the Future star is faced with an incurable disease.
There's adventure, romance, comedy and drama, because while it's a documentary, it's also very much a Michael J. Fox movie. STILL is, unsurprisingly, often sad, but also very successful in its quest to inspire.
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is streaming on Apple TV+.
Image: Stan.
Based on true events in Australia's history, Ten Pound Poms is a six-part series that follows a group of Brits as they leave dreary post-war Britain in 1956 to embark on a life-altering adventure on the other side of the world.
For only a tenner, they have been promised a better house, better job prospects and a better quality of life by the sea in sun-soaked Australia. But, of course, life down under isn't exactly the idyllic dream they've been promised.
Struggling with their new identity as immigrants, Ten Pound Poms follow their triumphs and pitfalls as they adapt to a new life in a new country far from Britain and familiarity.
The new Stan original stars Brits including Michelle Keegan, Faye Marsay, as well as local talent like Stephen Curry, Rob Collins and Cheree Cassidy.
Ten Pound Poms is streaming on Stan.
Image: Apple TV+.
High Desert stars Patricia Arquette as Peggy, an on-again-off-again addict who decides to make a new start after the death of her beloved mother.
What better way to do that than by becoming a private investigator?
Among the rest of the cast is Matt Dillon as Peggy's parolee ex, Denny, Rupert Friend as the aptly named mystic personality Guru Bob and Christine Taylor as Peggy's sister, Dianne.
It's a poignant, quirky comedy — I laughed a lot in the opening moments, as Peggy and Denny attempt to stuff TOO MUCH WEED down a sink as police raid their home — with compelling performances, especially from Arquette, who is always brilliant.
The first three episodes of High Desert are streaming Apple TV+ now, followed by new episodes weekly on Wednesdays.
Image: Netflix.
Kitty Song-Covey (Anna Cathcart) had a lot of success matchmaking her older sister Lara Jean — yes, of the adorable To All the Boys film series — and thinks she knows everything there is to know about love.
But when she moves halfway around the world to Korea to reconnect with her long-distance boyfriend, she realises that relationships are a lot more complicated when it's your own heart on the line.
XO, Kitty is a spin-off of To All The Boys, created by the series' author Jenny Han. The new 10-part show features lots of faces you'll recognise from the original film trilogy, including John Corbett as Dan Covey and Sarayu Blue as Trina Rothschild, as well as plenty of newbies.
If you're after an easy, breezy watch - this is it.
XO, Kitty is streaming on Netflix.
Image: Disney+.
American Born Chinese is a little like an Everything Everywhere All at Once reunion, which really should be enough to get you excited.
It stars Oscar winners Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan, as well as nominee Stephanie Hsu in a guest role, alongside a host of other familiar faces, like Yeo Yann Yann and Ronny Chieng.
The show is an action comedy based on the 2006 graphic novel of the same name Gene Luen Yang.
It follows Jin Wang, a high schooler struggling with his school and home life. When he meets Wei-Chen, the new Taiwanese exchange student at his school, worlds collide as Jin is unwittingly entangled in a battle of Chinese mythological gods.
All episodes of American Born Chinese drop May 24 on Disney+,
Image: ABC iview.
In Limbo is a new local series that will make you laugh and cry. Or both at the same time. It's a show about friendship, love and grief, starring Ryan Corr and Bob Morley as besties who must face how hard it is to let go of loved ones - especially if they're taken too soon.
When Nate dies, Charlie must face his grief in a way he never expected. Because, uh, his dead bestie starts haunting him.
There are no levitating tables or flying books, but confronting the loss is the scariest thing Charlie has ever done. The only comfort is that he is facing it with his best mate by his side - albeit in ghost form.
It'll make you laugh and cry. I promise.
All episodes of In Limbo drop May 24 on ABC iview.
Image: Apple TV+.
Apple TV+'s comedic offerings are always great, and this new 10-parter is ready to join the ranks alongside Ted Lasso, Bad Sisters and Shrinking.
In Platonic, Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen star as former platonic best friends who reconnect after a long rift.
Their rekindled friendship quickly becomes all-consuming and destabilises their lives in a hilarious way.
The first three episodes of Platonic premiere May 24 on Apple TV+, followed by new episodes weekly on Wednesdays.
Image: Disney+.
The Clearing might just be the perfect TV recipe:
The Clearing is based off J.P Pomare's crime thriller In The Clearing, and follows a woman who's forced to face demons from her past in order to stop the kidnapping and coercion of innocent children in the future.
Also starring Teresa Palmer and Guy Pearce, it blurs the lines between reality and nightmares, and past and present, and honestly... sounds terrifying.
The first two episodes of The Clearing premiere May 24 on Disney+, with new episodes weekly on Wednesdays.
Chelsea McLaughlin is Mamamia's Senior Entertainment Writer and co-host of The Spill. For more pop culture takes, recommendations and sarcasm, you can follow her on Instagram.
Feature image: Netflix/Disney+/Stan.
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