“Marvel’s The Defenders”
Synopsis: New York City’s ground level vigilante superheroes team up to fight a common enemy: The Hand.
What You Need To Know: Three decent-to-great and one garbage-fire disaster series have led to the street-level superhero team-up “The Defenders,” which Netflix hopes will be streaming equivalent of the MCU’s “Avengers.” While the “giant threat to New York City” trope has been largely played out it is going to be interesting to see Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter) and Iron Fist (Finn Jones), with all of their all their combined baggage and dysfunction giving the Avengers and Guardians a run for their money, being forced to work together. One thing is for certain; even the most cynical of entertainment/pop culture fans are curious about the series, especially after the very positive reception of a surprise screening of the first episode at San Diego Comic-Con.
Release Date: August 18th
“Halt and Catch Fire”
Synopsis: A slow burn drama capturing the 1980s personal computer revolution and growth of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s through the eyes of four visionaries, whose innovations and ideals clash against the corporate behemoths of the time.
What You Need To Know: The fourth and final season of the AMC drama dives into the birth of the fledging Internet at the beginning of the 1990s after a four-year time jump. Its remains to be seen as to whether Cameron (Mackenzie Davis) and Donna (Kerry Bishe) will patch things up, but it appears Mutiny will be going toe-to-toe with the search giants that will come to dominate the World Wide Web, with Anna Chlumsky (“Veep”) playing a crucial role as Dr. Katie Herman, Chief Ontologist. While the series’ beginnings were rough (that first season was extremely uneven), by making the smart decision to pivot its focus from its male de facto leads (Lee Pace and Scoot McNairy) to the much more interesting female characters, “Halt and Catch Fire” became a much more cohesive and intriguing show about the technology that is now our sixth sense. Its fans may wish it could have aired longer, but at least “Halt and Catch Fire” was given the opportunity to end on their terms.
Release Date: August 19th
“Broad City”
Synopsis: The comedic misadventures of two women going about their daily lives in New York, who make the smallest and mundane events simultaneously hysterical and disturbing to watch.
What You Need To Know: Lucia Aniello is leaving the disappointment of “Rough Night” in the dust and charging forward with yet another hilariously insane/insanely hilarious season of Comedy Central’s “Broad City.” In this Post-Trump nightmare break from reality, we should take inspiration from Abby (Jacobson) and Ilana (Glazer); if they can get up out of bed and continue to go about their lives getting high, hanging out with gun-toting grannies and blowing smoke in the faces of abortion protesters, then By God so can we. It’s a killer stroke of genius to treat T***p’s name as a swearword; hopefully one day it will become the worst thing you could call someone.
Release Date: August 23rd
“The Tick”
Synopsis: In a world where superheroes have been around for decades, an ordinary accountant comes to realize his city is owned by a super villain. As he struggles to uncover this conspiracy, he falls in league with a strange blue superhero.
What You Need To Know: Amazon’s latest comedy, created by Ben Edlund (who created the titular New England Comics cult comic book), with episodes directed by former Christopher Nolan cinematographer Wally Pfister, is a bit of an outlier from the shows released by the streaming service, but not an unwelcome one. Starring the hilarious Peter Serafinowicz, Griffin Newman, Valorie Curry and Jackie Earle Haley, the series is basically the adventures of a “Darryl” trying to wrangle/keep up with his “Thor.” Overall, “The Tick” looks to be a hilarious, unique superhero spoof palate cleanser for those who are burnt out on the superhero genre.
Release Date: August 25th
