Streaming menus have become crowded enough that choosing what to watch can sometimes take longer than actually watching it. This week, however, three premieres make the decision a little easier, offering a missing-persons thriller, a workplace comedy and a young adult sports drama. There should be something here for just about everybody.
The darkest and most immediately gripping of this week’s picks is Apple TV’s Last Seen, a six-episode mystery starring Patrick Brammall, Maxine Peake and Brendan Cowell.
Brammall plays Ian Ridley, a former police detective whose young daughter, Maggie, disappeared 11 years ago. The loss devastated his life, and he now works as a police dispatcher. But he has never been able to accept that his daughter might be gone forever. When a frightened teenage girl calls his station, Ian becomes convinced the voice belongs to Maggie.
That is where Last Seen kicks into high gear. The hook gives a familiar missing-persons thriller an intensely personal pull: a father gets a chance to put his detective skills to work on the case that shattered his own family. Eleven years later, a single phone call brings the possibility of finding his daughter back within reach.
Brammall makes that desperation compelling, while Peake and Cowell help widen the story beyond one man’s obsession. The performances give the mystery its weight and keep the people at the center of the search as interesting as the search itself.
For viewers who prefer a mystery driven by character over a sprawling crime saga, Last Seen is a great choice.
The first two episodes premiered September 9 on Apple TV, with new episodes arriving Wednesdays through October 7.
For a lighter assignment, The Paper returns for its second season on Peacock. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Koman, the mockumentary follows the same documentary crew that once filmed the employees of Dunder Mifflin on The Office.
Its new subject is the Toledo Truth Teller, a historic Midwestern newspaper attempting to rebuild with a staff that is enthusiastic, chaotic and not always up for the job. The connection to The Office remains the easiest way into the series, with Oscar Nuñez returning as Oscar Martinez. But the newspaper setting gives The Paper an identity beyond nostalgia.
Season 2 builds on the world established in the first season. This is still a workplace full of well-meaning amateurs, but now those people are gaining confidence. And that can be dangerous in all sorts of ways.
That is a funny place to take this group. Getting a little better at the job doesn’t necessarily mean getting better at dealing with one another. The Paper feels familiar enough to satisfy that affection for The Office, while remaining current in its own distinctive way.
Both seasons are streaming on Peacock, with all second-season episodes released September 9.
Netflix’s latest young adult offering heads out on the water. Crew Girl is an eight-episode series set in the competitive, decidedly dramatic world of high school rowing.
Miku Martineau stars as Teagan Tao, a 16-year-old single sculls rower whose future is knocked off course by a family scandal. She moves to the East Coast with her mother and enrolls at the prestigious Easton Prep, hoping for a clean start. Then she discovers the school has no girls’ rowing team.
Her way back onto the water is to join the boys’ varsity crew as its coxswain, steering the boat and directing race strategy. It is a leadership role, but a very different assignment for someone accustomed to racing on her own. Now, her success depends on getting an entire crew to work together.
Some of the prep-school drama will feel familiar to anyone who has spent time with Gossip Girl. The rowing, however, gives the series its own setting and challenges, and I found it quite bingeable.
I’m not ready to call Crew Girl Netflix’s next megahit on the strength of its first season. But I can see it building an audience that becomes increasingly invested in these characters and looks forward to spending more time with them. There is enough here to make me want to see where it goes.
Here’s to getting a Season 2.
All eight episodes premiere September 10 on Netflix.
