There’s no denying the thrill of starting a binge-worthy series – especially when you know you have loads of seasons to watch.
Fortunately, since Showmax has added shows you can watch on-demand, we are here to help you find some good shows you can watch from the first season.
Let’s take a look at some of our favourite begging-to-be-binge-watched shows on Showmax:
Power Follow the story of ruthless drug dealer James St. Patrick who is looking to leave the criminal life behind to follow a more legitimate way of living. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done, and the series follows his attempts to balance his two very different worlds. Power has six impressive seasons which can all be streamed on Showmax.
Suits Two words: Harvey Specter. For nine glorious seasons you can follow the nail-biting drama as law-school dropout Mike Ross makes a name for himself at one of New York’s biggest law firms. Will his secret ever be revealed? Find out…
Binnelanders If you’re looking for something local with a hint of Grey’s Anatomy, Afrikaans soapie Binnelanders has all the drama, love triangles, and heartache you could ever wish for – and then some! With 14 seasons available to binge, there’s never been a better time to discover some local content.
New Girl For some light-hearted, goofy fun, why not give New Girl and its bounty of seven seasons a shot? Following a breakup and the need for a place to say, Jess responds to a roommate listing and ends up moving in with three guys – what could possibly go wrong?
The Real Househelps of Kawangware It’s another Kenyan show that will keep you on the edge of your seat and entertained for hours. House-helpers Njambi, Trufena, Kalekye, and Awiti go through their daily routines and give viewers a unique, behind-the-scenes look at what it is that they do throughout the day. Bonus? There are 14 seasons.
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Not looking to watch shows right now? Just download and watch them later.
1st seasons of I May Destroy You, Love Life; new seasons of What We Do In The Shadows, My Brilliant Friend & Love Island are just some of the shows you can watch on Showmax this August. See what’s on:
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS S2 | First on Showmax | Binge now
From multiple Emmy nominee Jemaine Clement (Flight Of The Conchords) and 2020 Oscar winner Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit, Thor: Ragnarok), the hit mockumentary What We Do In The Shadows is a look into the daily (or rather, nightly) lives of three vampires who’ve lived together in New York for over 100 years – plenty of time to get on each other’s nerves.
This magnificently silly mock-doc series showed its teeth with eight Emmy nominations for Season 2 last week, including one for Best Comedy Series and three for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. It’s at #9 on Rotten Tomatoes’ Best TV of 2020 (So Far) list, with a 100% critics rating, and has been hailed as “TV’s best comedy” by The Hollywood Reporter, among others.
What We Do In The Shadows stars BAFTA winners Kayvan Novak (Four Lions) and Matt Berry (The IT Crowd, Toast of London) as Nandor the Relentless and Laszlo respectively. Sketch comedian Natasia Demetriou is Laszlo’s sultry sire, Nadja, while Mark Proksch (The Office, Better Call Saul) plays energy vampire Colin Robinson. But while the vamps flap and fuss in the foreground, it’s downtrodden little Guillermo, Nandor’s familiar, played by Harvey Guillén (The Magicians), who swoops into the spotlight this season, having discovered he’s descended from the famed vampire slayer van Helsing.
THE WALKING DEAD S10 | Binge now
The Walking Dead is the definitive zombie show, having won 77 awards globally.
Season 10 has a 91% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus is, “A few changes in front of and behind the camera allow The Walking Dead to create space for compelling new stories and some seriously scary new adversaries.”
Norman Reedus and Danai Gurira return in their People’s Choice-nominated roles as Daryl and Michonne, as does Melissa McBride in her Critics Choice-nominated role as Carol. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is also still alive as Negan, a role that won him MTV and Critics Choice awards, but the bigger threat this season is two-time Oscar nominee Samantha Morton (Harlots, In America, Minority Report) as Alpha, the leader of the Whisperers, who wear the skins of zombies, and live among them…
VIDA S3 | First on Showmax | Binge now
In the third and final season of Vida, the bar the Hernandez sisters inherited is booming and their love lives are flourishing — until they discover another long-buried family secret, which leaves them wondering if they can continue together as a family or if they should each move on alone – for good this time.
Vida has captivated the critics, earning a 100% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes for all three seasons, where the Season 3 critics consensus reads, “A bittersweet farewell that’s entirely too short, Vida‘s final season is as messy, beautiful, and inspirational as life itself.”
As AVClub says, “Vida is rightly lauded for its excellent performances, incisive writing, and commitment to centering queer, female and non-binary, and Latinx voices both in front of and behind the camera. But you know what? It’s also one of the best-looking shows on TV. The cinematography is top-tier. The direction is impeccable. It’s beautiful, immersive, often dreamlike filmmaking.”
Vida was nominated for a 2020 GLAAD Media Award as Best Comedy Series, earned fourth place on Time Magazine’s Best of 2019 list for Season 2, and won the Audience Award at SXSW 2018 for Season 1.
BRIARPATCH S1 | Mondays at 2300 from 3 August, same day as M-Net
Senator’s aide Allegra Dill (MTV Movie Awards nominee Rosario Dawson from Sin City, Luke Cage and Jane the Virgin) returns to her border-town Texas home to investigate the death of her sister – a local cop killed by a car bomb. What begins as a search for a killer turns into an all-consuming fight to bring her corrupt hometown to its knees.
Golden Globe nominee Alan Cumming (The Good Wife) and Kenyan Teen Choice nominee Edi Gathegi (X-Men: First Class) co-star in this latest offering from Emmy nominated writer/producer Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot, Homecoming), based on the Edgar-winning crime novel by Ross Thomas.
Briarpatch has a 78% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with The Hollywood Reporter saying, “Anchored by a strong Rosario Dawson performance and flavoured with wit and a real sense of place, Briarpatch is a charmer: It keeps those aspects of Mr. Robot that were most audience-friendly, and jettisons the rest.”
I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE S1 | Thursdays at 23:00. Binge from 6 August
Three-time Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight, Avengers Assemble) has just picked up a 2020 Emmy nomination for Best Actor in A Limited Series or Movie for his dual performance in I Know This Much is True.
Based on the Wally Lamb bestseller about how you never give up on the people you love, IKnow This Much is True follows the parallel lives of identical twin brothers Dominick Birdsey and his brother Thomas, a paranoid schizophrenic – both played by Mark, with Gabe Fazio (The Place Beyond The Pines) serving as his unseen acting double for both roles. As The Los Angeles Times put it when predicting his Emmy nomination, Ruffalo “lost 20 pounds before production began, then spent 16 weeks filming his scenes as the aggressive Dominick. Then he took six weeks off, gained 30 pounds by subsisting on oatmeal and mashed potatoes, and returned as the more vulnerable Thomas.”
I Know This Much Is True has an 8.2/10 rating on IMDb. The phenomenal cast includes Oscar winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter), Emmy winner Rosie O’Donnell (SMILF), Emmy nominees Kathryn Hahn (Mrs Fletcher, Transparent) and Rob Huebel (Transparent), Golden Globe nominee Archie Panjabi (Run, The Good Wife), and Oscar nominee Juliette Lewis (Natural Born Killers).
LOVE ISLAND UK S6 | 5 eps every Saturday from 8 August
For South African fans dying to see the latest season of the BAFTA-winning reality show Love Island UK, the long wait is finally over. And it’s all the more delicious because this is the season that was filmed at a villa in Constantia, Cape Town.
Laura Whitmore of Strictly Come Dancing and I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! fame is this season’s new host for the drama-packed reality show, where single hopefuls flirt, date, break up and make up while trying to capture the hearts of viewers, who will vote for their favourite couple to take home the £50k prize money.
LOVE LIFE S1 | First on Showmax | Binge from21 August
HBO Max recently announced its three most popular shows since launch, with Friends unsurprisingly in first place and The Big Bang Theory in third. Cuddled in between those classics is the streamers’ most popular new show, Love Life, a romcom anthology series that traces the journey from first love to lasting love, and how the people we’re with along the way make us into who we are when we finally end up with someone forever.
Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air, Into the Woods) stars as Darby opposite the likes of Golden Globe nominee Hope Davis (American Splendor, The Special Relationship), SXSW award winner Peter Vack (The Bold Type), Screen Actors Guild winner Scoot McNairy (Narcos, True Detective), Sasha Compère (Uncorked, Miracle Workers), and Jin Ha (Devs), with narration by Oscar nominee Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread, Harlots).
The Washington Post calls Love Life “HBO Max’s marquee offering.. a surprisingly deep romance dramedy… Say what you must about Kendrick’s trademark cutesiness, it’s her acting chops that really pay off here.”
Executive produced by Paul Feig (Bridesmaids), Love Life has an 81% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and was recently renewed for a second season, which will centre on a whole new love story.
I MAY DESTROY YOU S1 | Wednesdays at 22:30 from 26 August, same day as 1Magic
I May Destroy You centres on Arabella (BAFTA winner Michaela Coel from Chewing Gum), a carefree, self-assured Londoner with a group of great friends, a boyfriend in Italy, and a burgeoning writing career. But when her drink is spiked with a date-rape drug, she must question and rebuild every element of her life.
I May Destroy You is #23 on Rotten Tomatoes Best TV of 2020 (So Far), with a 97% critics rating and a critics’ consensus that reads, “I May Destroy You is at once brave and delicate, untangling the trauma of sexual assault with dark humour and moments of deep discomfort, all held together on the strength of Michaela Coel’s undeniable talent”.
In their five star review, The Guardian raved, “It is the drama of the year so far… Michaela Coel’s exploration of consent, race and millennial life… works on every level… An extraordinary, breath-taking achievement without a false note in it, shot through with humour and with ideas, talent and character to burn at every perfectly plotted turn.”
Including it in their roundup of the 10 Best TV Shows of 2020 So Far, The Hollywood Reporter called it, “The most ‘2020’ show of 2020”, adding that it’s “representative of the mood of the moment – the combination of anger, confusion, uncertainty and unexpected humour; the exploration of intersections of gender and race, sexuality and violence, youth and hard-earned experience.”
MY BRILLIANT FRIEND S2: THE STORY OF A NEW NAME | Binge from 29 August
Set in Naples and based on Elena Ferrante’s bestselling novels, My Brilliant Friend is the story of a life-long friendship spanning 60 years. Season 2, based on the second novel in Ferrante’s series, sees Lila (Gaia Girace) stuck in a brutal marriage to the wealthy Stefano Caracci (Giovanni Amura), while Elena dallies with suitor Antonio Cappuccio (Christian Giroso) and her growing attraction to the magnetic Nino Sarratore (Francesco Serpico).
My Brilliant Friend, helmed by multi-award-winning Italian directors Saverio Costanzo (Hungry Hearts) and Alice Rohrwacher (Happy as Lazaro), has a 96% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is at 236 on IMdB’s list of the top-rated TV of all time, where it has a score of 8.6/10. The series was recently renewed for a third season.
The Hollywood Reporter included it in their roundup of the 10 Best Shows of 2020 So Far, saying the series “portrays post-war young-womanhood in all its victories, devastations and frailties. This season’s story, told with seemingly no expense spared, is where the girls’ paths start to truly diverge, as one pursues dreams beyond their impoverished neighborhood and the other finds herself irretrievably chained to it.”
Season 1 won Best Drama Series at Monte-Carlo TV Festival 2019 and an Italian Golden Globe for Best Breakthrough Actress for Ludovica Nasti as Lila. The series was also nominated for 2019 Critics Choice, Peabody and Shanghai International TV Festival awards.
PERRY MASON S1 | Tuesdays at 23:00, same day as M-Net. Binge from 15 September
It’s 1932, and despite the Great Depression, LA is booming. But when the kidnapping case of the decade comes knocking on down-and-out detective Perry Mason’s door, his relentless pursuit of the truth reveals a fractured city and, just maybe, a pathway to redemption for himself.
HBO’s biggest debut in nearly two years, Perry Mason reboots the award-winning 1950s-60s series based on Erle Stanley Gardner’s detective stories. Emmy winner and Golden Globe nominee Matthew Rhys (The Americans) is Perry Mason. Tatiana Maslany, herself an Emmy winner and Golden Globe nominee for her leading role in Orphan Black, and Oscar nominee John Lithgow (The Crown, 3rd Rock from the Sun) co-star.
Perry Mason is currently #3 on IMDb’s Most Popular Series list, with Indiewire proclaiming it “one of the most beautiful series ever made… One of the best I’ve ever seen. Really.”
EVERYTHING ON SHOWMAX IN AUGUST Other international series to look out for include the third and final season ofFuture Man,the critically acclaimed sci-fi comedy starring Four-time Teen Choice winner Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games), and Reckoning, a new serial killer series starring Critics Choice nominee Aden Young (Rectify) and Screen Actors Guild nominee Sam Trammell (True Blood). To see everything on Showmax in August, including the new Showmax Original Life With Kelly Khumalo, click here.
The Emmy nominations were announced last night, with HBO’s Watchmen leading the way with 26 nominations. Insecure and What We Do In The Shadows earned their first Best Comedy nominations; Ramy Youssef nabbed his first Best Actor and Best Director in a Comedy nominations for Ramy; Zendaya earned her first ever Emmy nomination, as Best Actress in a Drama, for Euphoria; and Jeremy Strong and Brian Cox are up for Best Actor in a Drama for the first time, for Succession. Other first time Supporting Actor nominees include Succession stars Nicholas Braun, Kieran Culkin, Matthew Macfadyen and Sarah Snook, as well as Nigeria’s Yvonne Orji (Insecure).
“Despite the unprecedented challenges facing the entertainment industry, it has been an extraordinary year for television,” said Television Academy Chairman and CEO Frank Scherma. “Television has inspired, united and comforted a global audience this season. We are honoured to be recognizing so many of the talented programs, producers, directors and craftspeople behind the remarkable storytelling that has brought us together while we remain apart.”
Content currently available on Showmax has a whopping 113 nominations, with more nominees coming soon. This includes:
HBO’s Watchmen is the most nominated show overall at this year’s Emmys, with 26 nominations, including Outstanding Limited Series, Writing, Cinematography, Lead Actor (Jeremy Irons as Ozymandias), Lead Actress (Regina King as Sister Night), Supporting Actress (Jean Smart as Agent Laurie Blake) and three Supporting Actor nominees (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Cal Abar, Jovan Adepo as Hooded Justice and Louis Gossett Jr. as William Reeves), not to mention three Directing and three Editing nominations.
Inspired by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ iconic DC graphic novel, Watchmen was the best reviewed new TV show of 2019 on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 95% critics rating. Created by Damon Lindelof (Lost,The Leftovers), the nine-part series was the#1 show of last year for the likes of Empire, Mashable, Vox, and Washington Post, where Hank Stuever said the show takes “my breath away with its bracing vision of racism, mask-wearing vigilantism and super-heroic qualms in a skewed-reality America.”
SUCCESSION S2
Having won Best Writing and Best Original Main Title Theme Music at last year’s Emmys, Succession is tied with Ozark as the most-nominated drama this year, with 18 nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series. Having been snubbed last year, the show’s cast dominate this year’s nominees in all the categories, including Lead Actor (both 2020 Golden Globe winner Brian Cox as Logan Roy and Jeremy Strong as his son Kendall), Supporting Actor (Nicholas Braun as Cousin Greg, Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy, and Matthew Macfadyen as Tom Wambsgans), Supporting Actress (Sarah Snook as Shiv Roy), Guest Actor (James Cromwell as Ewan Roy) and Guest Actress (Harriet Walter as Lady Caroline Collingwood and Cherry Jones as Nan Pierce).
In Succession, four very rich siblings behave very badly as they try to win their father’s approval – and control of his company, a global media empire. In Season 2, the Roys meet their liberal counterparts as Logan attempts to orchestrate his biggest acquisition yet.
Succession, which won Best TV drama at the 2020 Golden Globes, topped numerous Best of 2019 lists, from AV Club to The Guardian to Uproxx. As The Guardian said: “2019 was the year HBO threw millions upon millions of dollars at the final season of Game of Thrones, only to have another of its shows blow it out of the water entirely. That show was Succession, Jesse Armstrong’s dizzyingly seductive drama about a billionaire media family, which became a runaway hit with its second series. A veritable powerhouse, Succession contained all the things that had once drawn us to Westeros: power, wealth, loyalty and sheer nastiness.”
THE HANDMAID’S TALE S3
The Handmaid’s Tale is up for 10 Emmys this year, including Best Drama, Supporting Actor (Bradley Whitford as Commander Joseph Lawrence), Supporting Actress (2018 Emmy winner Samira Wiley as Moira), and Guest Actress (2017 Emmy winner Alexis Bledel as Emily). Elisabeth Moss was snubbed this year as June, a role that earned her Best Actress awards at the 2017 Emmys and 2018 Golden Globes.
Season 1 was based on Margaret Atwood’s classic novel of the same name, which won the first Arthur C. Clarke Award for its depiction of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly the United States, which has returned to ‘traditional values,’ with women treated as property of the state.
Season 3 has a 81% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics consensus says, “The Handmaid’s Tale‘s third season reigns in its horrors and inspires hope that revolution really is possible.”
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS S2
What We Do In The Shadows is having its best Emmys year yet, with eight nominations, including its first for Best Comedy and three Best Writing nominations.
From Jemaine Clement (Flight Of The Conchords) and 2020 Oscar winner Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit, Thor: Ragnarok), the hit mockumentary What We Do In The Shadows is a look into the daily (or rather, nightly) lives of three vampires who’ve lived together in New York for over 100 years – plenty of time to get on each other’s nerves.
Season 2 is #9 on Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the Best TV Shows of 2020 So far, with a 100% critics rating. As the Season 1 critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes put it, What We Do In The Shadows is “delightfully absurd and ridiculously fun… A mockumentary worth sinking your teeth into.”
Season 2 of What We Do In The Shadows releases on Showmax this Saturday, 1 August 2020.
INSECURE S4
Insecure had its best ever year at the Emmys, earning eight nominations, including first-time nods for Best Comedy and Best Supporting Actress for Nigerian comedian Yvonne Orji as Molly. Co-creator Issa Rae received her second Best Actress nomination as Issa, with the show also picking up Casting, Editing, Music Supervision and two Cinematography nominations.
Insecure centres on friends Issa and Molly in what the Rotten Tomatoes critic consensus hails as “an insightful, raunchy, and hilarious journey through the life of a twentysomething black woman that cuts through stereotypes with sharp wit and an effusive spirit.”
As The Peabody Awards put it, “Rae delivers a ground-breaking series that captures the lives of everyday young black people in Los Angeles with a fresh and authentic take. Breaking away from tired and familiar representations of ‘diversity’ on television, this series offers a fun and intimate portrayal of work, relationships, and the ordinary experiences of the two young black women at its center.”
Insecure is the most nominated show, with Watchmen, at the 2020 Black Reel Awards and was named TV Program of the Year at the 2018 American Film Institute Awards.
EUPHORIA S1
Euphoria is up for six Emmys, including Zendaya’s first-ever Emmy nomination, for Best Actress in a Drama as 17-year-old Rue, who returns home from rehab with no plans to stay clean, and falls for the new girl in town, Jules (played by trans superstar Hunter Schafer).
Zendaya won the 2019 People’s Choice Award for Favourite Drama TV Star for her role in this adults-only high school drama series, as well as a Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Series. She was also nominated for a Critics Choice Award. The series also won the Camerimage TV Pilots competition and Best Music Supervision from The Guild of Music Supervisor Awards, and earned a 2020 GLAAD Media Award nomination for Outstanding Drama Series, a Queerty nomination for Best Series, and a BAFTA nomination for Best International Series.
Euphoria has an 8.3/10 rating on IMDb and a 82% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus says, “Euphoria balances its brutal honesty with an empathetic – and visually gorgeous – eye to create a uniquely challenging and illuminating series, held together by a powerfully understated performance from Zendaya.”
MCMILLION$
McMillion$ is up for five Emmys this year, including Outstanding Documentary or Non-Fiction Series, Writing, and Editing.
The six-part HBO documentary investigates the biggest scam in the history of fast food: the rigged McDonald’s Monopoly competition that offered its US customers in the ‘90s the chance to go out for a burger and come home with $1 million. The scam ran for over a decade, had links to organised crime and netted $24 million worth of illegal profits.
McMillion$ has an 89% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with The Hollywood Reporter saying, “McMillion$ tells a quirky and frequently hilarious tale filled with enough twists and turns that you’ll swear it came from the keyboard of a Carl Hiaasen or Elmore Leonard.”
LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE
Little Fires Everywhere is up for five Emmys, including Best Limited Series, Directing, and Lead Actress (Kerry Washington as Mia).
Based on Celeste Ng’s 2017 bestselling book, Little Fires Everywhere follows the intertwined fates of the Richardsons – a picture-perfect, privileged white American family – and enigmatic African-American mother and daughter Mia and Pearl Warren.
Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon (Big Little Lies, Walk the Line, Wild) and Teen Choice winner Joshua Jackson (The Affair, Dawson’s Creek) co-star, with Lexi Underwood earning a 2020 Black Reel nomination as Pearl.
Little Fires Everywhere has an 80% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The Guardian calls it “moreish, searing, excellent”, while CNN says it’s “one of those rare multi-generational dramas where the arcs involving the kids are every bit as good as the adults’.”
RAMY S2
Ramy is up for three Emmys: Best Actor in a Comedy and Best Director for creator Ramy Youssef, as well as Best Supporting Actor for two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali (Moonlight,True Detective) as Sheikh Malik.
Ramy stars 2020 Golden Globe winner and stand-up comedian Ramy Youssef as Ramy Hassan, a first generation Egyptian-American in politically divided New Jersey, where he’s caught between a Muslim community that thinks life is a moral test and a millennial generation that thinks life has no consequences.
Ramy won the Audience Award at SXSW 2019 and S2 is currently at #25 on Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the Best TV of 2020 So Far, with a 96% critics rating. As Rolling Stone put it, “There is no other show quite like Ramy, because there is no other character quite like Ramy… Superb.”
The Emmy-nominated Season 2 comes first to Showmax on 1 November 2020; in the meantime, binge Season 1 now.
A BLACK LADY SKETCH SHOW S1
HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show is one of three nominees in the Outstanding Variety Sketch Series category at the Emmys, where it’s also up for Directing and Guest Actress (Angela Bassett).
Creator Robin Thede (host of BET’s The Rundown with Robin Thede and head-writer for The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore) executive produces, writes and stars, with Issa Rae (Emmy and Golden Globe nominee for HBO’s Insecure) producing and guest starring.
The core cast includes Emmy winner Ashley Nicole Black (Full Frontal with Samantha Bee), Gabrielle Dennis (Insecure, S.W.A.T.) and Quinta Brunson (Quinta vs. Everything), while other guest stars include Emmy winners Lena Waithe, Emmy nominee Laverne Cox, Imagen Award winner Gina Torres, Nailed It! star Nicole Byer, Grammy winner Kelly Rowland and Grammy hall-of-famer Patti LaBelle.
Hollywood Reporter hailed the show as “energetic, funny and wonderfully distinctive” and PopBuzz as “sharp, entertaining and seriously overdue.”
BAD EDUCATION
Bad Education, nominated for Outstanding TV Movie, is based on the real-life scandal that went down at writer Mike Makowsky’s high school, where a student journalist uncovered the single largest public school embezzlement scheme in America’s history.
The movie follows Frank Tassone (Hugh Jackman, who is up for Best Actor for the role) and Pam Gluckin (Oscar winner Allison Janney), whose reign over a prestigious school district is threatened by the embezzlement scandal, forcing Frank to take drastic steps to maintain order and secrecy.
The cast includes MTV Movie + TV Awards nominee Alex Wolff (Hereditary), Kathrine Narducci (The Irishman, Godfather of Harlem) and Golden Globe nominee Ray Romano (The Irishman, Everybody Loves Raymond).
Bad Education has a 93% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics consensus is, “Anchored by an outstanding Hugh Jackman, Bad Education finds absurd laughs – and a worthy message – in the aftermath of a real-life scandal.”
RICK AND MORTY S4
Rick and Morty is nominated for Best Animated Program, where it’s competing against Big Mouth, Bob’s Burgers, BoJack Horseman, and The Simpsons.
Rick Sanchez is a sociopathic genius scientist who lives with his daughter Beth’s family, constantly bringing her, his son-in-law Jerry, granddaughter Summer, and inherently timid grandson Morty on insanely dangerous adventures across the multiverse.
Adult Swim’s half-hour animated comedy is the highest-rated animated series of all time on IMDb, with a 9.2/10 rating, and has won an Emmy, two Annie Awards and a Critics Choice Award, among other honours. Season 4 has a 94% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which praises the season as “both an exciting progression and a delightful return to form that proves more than worth the two-year wait.”
ROBOT CHICKEN S10
Robot Chicken is one of three nominees for Best Short Animated Program, for its Christmas special, Santa’s Dead (Spoiler Alert) Holiday Murder Thing Special – think Murder of the North Pole Express, with Inspector Jesus on the case and a train full of fairytale suspects.
Robot Chicken uses stop-motion animation to bring pop-culture parodies to life in a modern take on the variety/sketch show format. In its decade of existence, the show has attracted A-list pop culture voiceover talent, from George Lucas and Scarlett Johansson to South Africa’s very own Charlize Theron. The show includes both original characters and hundreds of parody characters from pop-culture franchises like Star Wars, DC Comics Universe, and now, The Walking Dead.
Having just aired its 200th episode, the six-time Emmy-winning series remains among the top-rated original series on Adult Swim.
I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE S1 | Thursdays at 23:00; binge from 6 August 2020
It’s no surprise that three-time Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight, Avengers) is up for Best Actor in a Limited Series for his dual role in I Know This Much is True as identical twin brothers, one of whom is a paranoid schizophrenic.
As The Los Angeles Times predicted, “In a transformative feat that seems all but guaranteed to earn him an Emmy nomination, Ruffalo plays both the Birdsey brothers. He lost 20 pounds before production began, then spent 16 weeks filming his scenes as the aggressive Dominick. Then he took six weeks off, gained 30 pounds by subsisting on oatmeal and mashed potatoes, and returned as the more vulnerable Thomas.”
Based on the 1998 bestselling novel by Wally Lamb, I Know this Much is True’s phenomenal cast includes Oscar winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter), Emmy winner Rosie O’Donnell (SMILF), Emmy nominees Kathryn Hahn (Mrs Fletcher, Transparent) and Rob Huebel (Transparent), Golden Globe nominee Archie Panjabi (Run, The Good Wife), and Oscar nominee Juliette Lewis (Natural Born Killers).
BUT THAT’S NOT ALL, FOLKS Other 2020 Emmy nominees on Showmax include:
• HBO’s AI sci-fi series Westworld, which is up for 11 Emmys, including Best Supporting Actor (Jeffrey Wright as Bernard) and Supporting Actress (2018 Emmy winner Thandie Newton as Maeve)
• HBO’s prestige drama Big Little Lies, which is up for five Emmys, including Supporting Actress (2017 Emmy winner Laura Dern as Renata Klein and three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep as Mary Louise Wright)
• NBC’s cop comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which is up for two Emmys, including Supporting Actor (Andre Braugher as Captain Raymond Holt). Seasons 1-6 are available to binge now on Showmax; Season 7 comes to Showmax 1 January 2021
• The Discovery Channel documentary series Why We Hate, which is up for Theme Music and Music Composition
• HBO’s Stephen King crime series The Outsider, which is up for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for Jason Bateman as Terry Maitland
The reality TV singing competition, The Masked Singer S2, which is up for two Emmys, including Outstanding Competition Programme, is coming to Showmax on 1 October 2020, while HBO’s classic comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is up forfour Emmys, including Outstanding Comedy,has nine seasons available to binge, with its most recent Emmy-nominated season coming first to Showmax in January 2021.
The 72nd Emmy Awards will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and broadcast on Sunday, 20 September 2020, with the Creative Arts Awards airing the night before. Check out the full list of nominees here.
MultiChoice’s streaming service Showmax has new international movies for you to stream.
Here are 5 best international movies new to Showmax for you to watch- from BlacKkKlansman (2018) to The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019).
BLACKKKLANSMAN (2018)
BlacKkKlansman tells the bizarre true story of Ron Stallworth, Colorado Springs’ first African-American detective, who attempts to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s… with the help of a Jewish stand-in.
The film won auteur-director Spike Lee a long-overdue Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, making it his first competitive Academy Award in a 34-year career that’s included films like Do The Right Thing (1989) and Malcolm X (1992).BlacKkKlansman also won the Grand Prix at Cannes; was nominated for four Golden Globes, including Best Drama; and is ranked third on Rotten Tomatoes’ recent list of the Best Black Movies of the 21st Century.
John David Washington (Ballers) stars the Golden Globe-nominated lead role, with Adam Driver (Star Wars’ Kylo Ren and Oscar nominee for Marriage Story [2019]) in an Oscar-nominated supporting role.
Lee and producer Jordan Peele (Get Out, 2017; Us, 2019) released BlacKkKlansman just after the Unite The Right white supremacist rally in Charlottesville in 2017, which features at the end of the film, but Blackkklansman sadly feels even more timely now, in light of the recent Black Lives Matter protests.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD (2019)
Inseparable besties Hiccup and Toothless, the big screen’s most adorable dragon ever, are back for their final adventure in the beloved Dreamworks threequel inspired by Cressida Cowell’s best-selling book series. Hiccup and Astrid have created a utopia for dragons and Vikings alike, but now a new danger threatens everything they love, just as Toothless finds a potential girlfriend…
The Hidden World was nominated for a 2020 Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, as well as a Golden Globe, six Annies and two People’s Choice Awards. Rated 7-9 PGV, The Hidden World was the 14th biggest film at the global box office in 2019, grossing over $500 million, and has a 91% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Jay Baruchel (This Is The End, 2013) reprises his Emmy-winning role as Hiccup, alongside Golden Globe winner America Ferrera (Superstore, Ugly Betty) as Astrid. The stellar cast includes Oscar winners Cate Blanchett (Galadriel in Lord of the Rings) and F. Murray Abraham (Homeland, 2011); Oscar nominees Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids, 2011) and Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street, 2013); Golden Globe nominee Kit Harington (Game of Thrones’ Jon Snow); Emmy winner and Late, Late Show host Craig Ferguson; BAFTA winner David Tennant (Doctor Who, 2005; Good Omens, 2019); and MTV Movie Award winner Gerard Butler (300, 2006).
THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2 (2019)
With a new baby in the house, our favourite Jack Russel, Max, lands himself in pet therapy for stress and finds a mentor in the form of a Welsh Sheepdog, Rooster.
Emmy winner Patton Oswalt (Remy in Ratatouille, 2007), replaces Louis C.K. as the voice of our hero Max; Oscar-nominee Harrison Ford voices Rooster, and two-time People’s Choice winner Kevin Hart returns as Snowball.
The Secret Life of Pets 2 was a 2020 Kids Choice nominee for Favourite Animated Movie, a 2019 People’s Choice nominee for Favourite Family Movie, and was the 19th biggest movie of 2019 at the global box office, grossing over $400m. Rated PGV, the film has a 90% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with both Guardian and Variety hailing it as even better than the original 2016 blockbuster.
YESTERDAY (2019)
Jack Malik (Himesh Patel in a 2019 Teen Choice-nominated performance) is a small-time singer-songwriter in an English coastal town who’s rapidly facing the reality that his dream probably isn’t going anywhere, in spite of the fanatical support of his best friend, manager and biggest fan, Ellie (People’s Choice, Teen Choice and Kid’s Choice nominee Lily James from Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018), Baby Driver (2017), Cinderella, 2019). Then there’s a mysterious global blackout, Jack gets hit by a bus, and wakes up to find that The Beatles never existed…
Yesterday was nominated for a People’s Choice Award for Favourite Comedy Movie, a Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer Movie, and a Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Movie, as voted by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.
Yesterday is written by Oscar nominee Richard Curtis (Love Actually, 2003; Four Weddings and a Funeral, 1994) and directed by Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 2008; Trainspotting, 1996). It has a gorgeous, feel-good soundtrack that Beatles fans (and most humans with a pulse) will adore, a modern-day fairytale of a love story, and endearing performances from a charming cast that includes BAFTA nominees Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Syal (The Kumars at No. 42, 2001) as Jack’s conservative and musically-clueless parents; Emmy winner Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live), Ed Sheeran, and the best cameo ever from Emmy nominee Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty, 1997; Trainspotting, 1996).
TIME FREAK (2019)
You know that time you messed up in a relationship and got your heartbroken, maybe let the one that could have been The One slip through your fingers? Well, what if you could go back and fix it? What if, like teen genius Stillman, you had a time machine, that would give you all the do-overs you needed to get it right?
Expanded from director Andrew Bowler’s Oscar-nominated short film, this comedy-drama with a sci-fi twist was nominated for a 2019 Saturn Award, as voted by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. Critics Choice and Teen Choice nominee Asa Butterfield (Sex Education) stars opposite Emmy nominee Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones’ Sansa Stark, Dark Phoenix, 2019); and Skylar Gisondo (The Righteous Gemstones, 2019; Santa Clarita Diet, 2017).
Los Angeles Times calls it “a whimsical rom-com that’s a little bit Hot Tub Time Machine (2010), and a little bit Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).”
Before you go…
THE BEST BLACK FILMS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
In addition to Blackkklansman, other films on Rotten Tomatoes’ list you can stream on Showmax include Creed, 2015 (#12), Fruitvale Station, 2013 (#21), O.J.: Made In America, 2016 (#24), Straight Outta Compton, 2015 (#43), Creed 2, 2018 (#45), Barbershop: The Next Cut, 2016 (#63), Akeelah and the Bee, 2006 (#77), and Barbershop, 2002 (#89). Look out for Jordan Peele’s multi-award-winning Us 2019, starring Lupita Nyong’o, which is ranked second on Rotten Tomatoes’ list and premieres on Showmax on 16 July 2020.
