Each month, Katherine Singh and Melissah Yang share their picks of can’t-miss TV shows and movies that have them texting up a storm. Trust, you will be too.
It’s officially summer, which means the days are longer, temperatures are (hopefully) getting warmer, and TV is about to take a bit of a nose dive. With the end of fan fave shows like Succession and Barry, and the Writers Guild of America strike pushing back production on shows like Euphoria (rightfully so!), the usual summer TV slump may seem like it’s going to be worse than ever. Which is why it’s more important than ever to find TV shows and movies that are worth your while; because not just *anything* is going to get you indoors.
Luckily, just because the summer season tends to produce less on-screen entertainment doesn’t mean these shows and movies won’t still have an impact. Our fave picks for June will have you feeling inspired, nostalgic for your teen years (or maybe happy you’ve outgrown them), or ready to reignite a romance with the one that got away.
So before you go buns out suns out, sit back and relax with these picks.
Past Lives
If you’re looking for a good emotional release, A24’s Past Lives will get you there. Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) are childhood friends/crushes when they are separated after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. The film jumps forward to two seminal periods of their lives: their 20s — when a Facebook comment reconnects the two — and their 30s — when they finally meet in person for the first time since they were kids. The quiet modern romance asks the often-tried question of fate, but through the uniquely Korean idea of inyeon, which most closely translates to the tie and connection between two people over time but with a much more destined understanding.
In her feature directorial debut, Celine Sung, who also wrote the script, tells a heartwrenching tale of love and the decisions that dictate our lives and how they impact the people in them. Past Lives will have you not only feeling the pangs, but shamelessly googling what ever did happen to that boy you had a crush on in elementary school.
Where to watch: In theaters
When: June 2
Good if you like: Pachinko, Before Sunset
Never Have I Ever Season 4
It’s rare for a beloved TV show to hit all the right notes through its entirety, and Never Have I Ever — from creator Mindy Kaling — definitely had some missteps through its four season-long run. But, it stuck the landing. The final season is a near-perfect send-off for the characters at Sherman Oaks Highschool, and for the audience that’s come to love them. Following Devi (Maitreyi Ramikrishnan) and Co. as they go into their final year of high school and plan their steps for the future, Season 4 manages to show just how far each character and relationship has come, wrapping up storylines and answering the questions we’ve been asking in ways that don’t seem absolute (Devi and her friends are, after all, still only in their teens), but are perfect for the characters and where they are in their lives at that moment. By the end of the final episode you’ll believe that, whatever happens to Devi and her friends down the line, they’ll all come out on the other end a-okay.
Where to watch: Netflix
When: June 8
Good if you like: The Mindy Project
Cruel Summer Season 2
What is summer without a little bit of drama? And the second season of Cruel Summer — Freeform’s hit show — delivers that in spades. The second installment of the anthology series follows a new set of teens in small town Washington between the summer of 1999 and 2000. Like the first season, there’s an unsolved mystery at the center of the story: Isabella (Lexi Underwood), a mysterious exchange student from abroad, moves in with Megan (Sadie Stanley) and becomes entangled with her friends and boyfriend Luke (Griffin Gluck), leading to one of the trio disappearing, and the other two left as suspects. The series is pretty campy in both storyline and aesthetic, moving between three different timelines as Isabella and Megan first meet, become BFFs bonded by a secret and are then torn apart by another. As someone who didn’t grow up in a super small town where everyone knows your business, I don’t quite understand some of the reasoning behind Isabella and Megan’s decisions, but the series does a good job of throwing in some A+ surprises — alongside a few predictable ones.
Semi-cheesy teen dramas are my bread and butter, and with some heavy “prestige” TV taking over streaming services over the past year, it’s kind of nice to tune in for something a little easier to digest, that feels like an episodic summer mystery read come to life. Cruel Summer is the perfect watch for anyone who loved the early seasons of Pretty Little Liars and Riverdale (before all the supernatural stuff).
Where to watch: Freeform
When: June 5
Good if you like: Pretty Little Liars (the early seasons), Riverdale
No Hard Feelings
While she may be better known for her work in dramas like Silver Linings Playbook, Joy, and Don’t Look Up, Jennifer Lawrence IRL is a comedy queen. So it makes sense that for one of her first roles back on screen in several years, she’d choose to show her range with a comedy. No Hard Feelings follows Lawrence’s character Maddie who, facing bankruptcy, takes on a job dating a 19-year-old with limited experience in the real world. Of course, chaos and life lessons for both ensue.
Where to watch: In theaters
When: June 23
Good if you like: Superbad, Booksmart
Based On A True Story
There are hundreds of true crime shows and documentaries on every single streaming service, but you should make room for one more. Because Only Murders In The Building this is not. Starring Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina, Based On A True Story follows a down-on-their-luck LA-based couple with marital issues who, in need of some money for their impending child, decide to launch a true crime podcast — but there’s a twist. While we can’t reveal *exactly* what that twist is (you’ll find out in the first episode), we can say that it’s worth it.
IMO, Chris Messina is the best Chris, no ifs, ands, or Pines about it. So while he’s enough to sell this new series alone, it’s the concept that is really worthwhile, taking America’s obsession with true crime (coining it the true “Great American pastime”) and satirizing it by having realtor Ava (Kaley Cuoco) and tennis coach Nathan (Chris Messina) take their obsession to the absolute extreme.
Where to watch: Peacock
When: June 8
Good if you like: Santa Clarita Diet (RIP)
