Duster, Overcompensating, Murderbot, and more

Hello and welcome to this week’s TV Party roundup column, in which I pick the best new shows you need to be watching right now (I try to list both US and U.K. streamers where possible). It’s another busy one. For this week’s round-up, I’ve got:

• Benito Skinner (a.k.a. @bennydrama7) playing it straight at college

• A ‘70s set crime caper from J.J. Abrams

• Alexander Skarsgård playing a robot trained to kill but who would rather be at home watching TV. Relatable (besides the killing part)

There is also a recap of the week’s TV news + must-read links. If any of that sounds interesting and you want to stay in the know and up to date the please subscribe to TV Party below. Subscribers get access to these weekly emails and to a separate, weekly essay. Now, on with the round-up.

Stars: Josh Holloway, Rachel Hilson

Set in the 1970's Southwest, the life of a gutsy getaway driver for a growing crime syndicate goes from awful to wildly, stupidly, dangerously awful. Created by J.J. Abrams.

*Duster isn’t currently available to watch in the U.K.

Stars: Benito Skinner, Mary-Beth Barone, Wally Baram, Kyle McLachlan, Connie Britton

“Taking its cues from millennial movies such as American Pie and Mean Girls, Overcompensating feels like a necessary queering of a genre that often used gay people as a punchline. All of the college tropes are here: Fake IDs, frat parties, hazing, etc., but Overcompensating also pulls from more modern and enlightened series such as Heartstopper or The Sex Lives of College Girls in its breezy and inclusive depiction of campus life.” Read my full review of Overcomepensating at The FADER.

Stars: Alexander Skarsgård, David Dastmalchian

A security android struggles with emotions and free will while balancing dangerous missions and desire for isolation, evading detection of its self-hacking as it finds its place.

He built a health empire, eating raw meat in commercials, and had huge muscles. But did he get those muscles eating just raw meat? SPOILER: No, he didn’t.

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives S2 (Hulu/Disney+)
Welcome to Wrexham S4 (FX/Disney+)
Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story (Netflix)
Bad Thoughts (Netflix)

*DJ cue Burial, “Untrue.”* Adam Curtis’s new series Shifty, a study of “how over the past 40 years in Britain extreme money and hyper-individualism came together in an unspoken alliance,” will launch on the BBC in June. BBC

The long-in-development Madonna biopic appears to have become a Netflix limited series directed by Deadpool & Wolverine’s Shawn Levy. Deadline

The 2025 edition of the upfronts took place in New York this week. Headlines for those who don’t work in the ad business are mainly renewal related with confirmation that The Four Seasons, Bridgerton, Forever, Fallout, The Diplomat, Love on the Spectrum, and Beast Games are all coming back at some point. Variety

Suits LA, however, has been axed in a move that comes as no surprise. Netflix viewing habits are not applicable elsewhere. The Hollywood Reporter

Amazon has greenlit a TV spin-off of the Creed movie franchise. Delphi is set around the Delphi Gym and will focus on younger boxers. Screen Rant

Task is the new series from Brad Ingelsby, the Emmy-nominated creator of Mare of Easttown. It stars Mark Ruffalo and will debut this September. Check out a teaser below.

LIFE’S TOO SHORT TO FINISH BAD TV says Vogue. 100% agree.

SHE COULD HAVE BEEN YOUR ENGLISH TEACHER. INSTEAD, SHE’S FUNNY ON TV. i-D profiles Overcompensating’s Mary-Beth Barone.

ONSCREEN, ROBOTS ARE THE MOST INTERESTING PEOPLE. NYT

‘I DIDN’T SIGN UP FOR A MUSICAL!’ ARE THE GUITAR SING-ALONGS KILLING THE LAST OF US? asks The Guardian