It’s April Fools’ Day, but this post is no joke: There is a lot of new TV to watch this week. In a lot of ways it’s a showdown of tense situations — “tense,” here, being used to cover things like Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott, in the new adaptation) trying to con his way into high society, American Horror Story: Delicate’s Anna (Emma Roberts) attempting to figure what’s a real haunting and what’s in her head, Mark (Steven Yeun) trying to live up to the title of Invincible while he protects his family, or Larry David (Larry David) just trying to make it through the end of Curb Your Enthusiasm alive.
Lots to unpack in those stories, and beyond. Here’s the best new TV premieres and finales this week.
New shows on Netflix
Ripley
Genre: Con-artist class warfare
Release date: April 4, with all episodes
Showrunner/creator: Steven Zaillian
Cast: Andrew Scott, Johnny Flynn, Dakota Fanning, and more
Tom Ripley is always slippery, whether you’re encountering him in the original Patricia Highsmith novels or adapted to the screen. While he was last portrayed by Matt Damon in The Talented Mr. Ripley, here it’s Andrew Scott, rendered in stark black and white, as Ripley undertakes the same story as the film, and the tragicomic story of Ripley and Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn).
New shows on Hulu
American Horror Story: Delicate part 2
Genre: Rosemary’s Baby
Release date: April 3 on FX at 10 p.m. EDT, next day on Hulu
Showrunner/creator: Ryan Murphy and Halley Feiffer
Cast: Emma Roberts, Kim Kardashian, Matt Czuchry, and more
Anna (Emma Roberts) should be enjoying having it all, in the running for the Oscar and with child. Unfortunately, things keep going mysteriously wrong, and she’s quickly losing time and sanity. Season 12b will pick up with where we left her last year before the season break — as the mystery mounts and the pregnancy progresses.
New shows on Max
Curb Your Enthusiasm season 12 finale
Genre: Cringe comedy
Release date: April 7
Showrunner/creator: Larry David
Cast: Larry David, Cheryl Hines, Susie Essman, and more
Larry David is going out on top — or his version of it, anyway. This is the guy who co-created Seinfeld, as he is oft reminded, and left in the final season, but did come back for the final episode, as he is also often reminded about. Probably nothing to read into for this finale.
The Regime
Genre: Drama
Release date: April 7
Showrunner/creator: Will Tracy
Cast: Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, and more
The Chancellor is losing it — and now it’s time to see how everything really shakes out for her.
New shows on Prime Video
Invincible season 2
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Image: Amazon Studios
Genre: Coming of age (as a superhero)
Release date: April 4
Showrunner/creator: Robert Kirkman
Cast: Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh, Sterling K. Brown, and more
Mark (Steven Yeun) is still trying to figure his shit out, especially as he comes to terms with a breakup and a complete confusion of his sense of purpose. And now Angstrom Levy (Sterling K. Brown) is back and threatening his family. Fuck, dude.
New shows on Paramount Plus
Elsbeth
Genre: (Still a) Columbo-esque procedural
Release date: April 4
Showrunner/creator: Robert and Michelle King
Cast: Carrie Preston, Wendell Pierce, and more
That’s right, we’re doing it again! Elsbeth, the Good Wife spinoff centered around the best Good Wife side character, Elsbeth Tascioni (Carrie Preston), is back with the rest of the season. While it technically appeared in these very pages announcing its premiere earlier in February, the season now starts in earnest. Join us!
Star Trek: Discovery season 5
Genre: Science fiction
Release date: April 4, with one episode
Showrunner/creator: Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise
Cast: Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, David Ajala, and more
Star Trek: Discovery is returning for its fifth and final season. It’s the show that’s been driving the Star Trek TV renaissance (or, at least, the show all the other shows are building off of). And, as Susana Polo put it in her preview, “Discovery has reached the final final frontier for a Star Trek show,” with the opportunity not seen in a quarter of a century.
New shows on Apple TV Plus
Loot season 2
Genre: Comedy
Release date: April 3, with two episodes
Showrunner/creator: Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard
Cast: Maya Rudolph, Joel Kim Booster, Nat Faxon, and more
Molly Novak (Maya Rudolph) is still trying to reconnect to the real world through her philanthropic efforts. In the process, she’s learning to be a little more human herself — often to, well, humorous effect. With Rudolph and Loot coming back for season 2, we can trust Molly is going to really, finally figure it out this time.
Sugar
Genre: Contemporary noir
Release date: April 5, with two episodes
Showrunner/creator: Mark Protosevich
Cast: Colin Farrell, Kirby, James Cromwell, and more
Sugar (Colin Farrell) is a world-weary private eye who needs a break, but is now booked for one more case. This modern noir — told vibrantly, both in palette and tone — follows that case, which, as these things do, turns out to be more complicated than meets the eye. (That is his real name, though.)
New shows on Crunchyroll
Wind Breaker
Genre: Shonen anime
Release date: April 4
Based on the manga by: Satoru Nii
Haruka Sakura is lonely in his first year of Furin High School, recognized in town as the school with a bad academic rep that’s basically just for delinquents. Or at least he was bored, until he meets the members of Bofurin, a school organization comprised of said delinquents, who he learns are actually the sole protectors of the town.