A Guide to Streaming Your Way Through the Coronavirus

(Bloomberg) -- For the first time since the dawn of Netflix streaming, people are worried they might not have enough to watch. Hundreds of millions of people are stuck at home for the foreseeable future with hours of additional free time, and odds are that the rules keeping you indoors are only going to get more restrictive. While staying safe is the No. 1 priority, couples can spend only so much time making TikTok videos.

Streaming services were built to satisfy these idle hours. Netflix, Amazon.com, and Hulu are all sitting on thousands of movies and TV shows from the last 100 years. More streaming services are on the way.

Yet viewers crave the new. All five of Netflix’s most popular programs in the U.S., as measured on Sunday, were released in the past couple of weeks, including a series starring Octavia Spencer as an early female entrepreneur and a documentary series about big cats.

So we thought we’d create a guide with new TV shows (and movies) that are coming to streaming services in the next month.

For Comedy Lovers

• Insecure. The new season of Issa Rae’s show about a young woman searching for answers in South Los Angeles. April 12 on HBO.
• Run. Did you like Fleabag? Phoebe Waller-Bridge, that show’s creator and star, has executive produced this new show starring Merritt Wever and Domhnall Gleeson. April 12 on HBO.
• What We Do in the Shadows. The second season of the vampire comedy created by Jemaine Clement, co-star of Flight of the Conchords. This is inspired by the movie Clement wrote with new Oscar winner Taika Waititi. April 15 on FX on Hulu.
• Black AF. A new show from Blackish creator Kenya Barris, starring Barris and Rashida Jones, hopes to reinvent the family sitcom. April 17 on Netflix.

The Next Great Drama

• Mrs. America. Cate Blanchett stars as Phyllis Schlafly, who fought against the Equal Rights Amendment and embodied the backlash among some women against the feminist movement. April 15 on FX on Hulu.
• The Plot Against America. David Simon, who created The Wire , adapts Phillip Roth’s novel portraying an alternate history in which Charles Lindbergh beats Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election, and anti-Semitism grows rampant. The show premiered on March 16 on HBO, but new episodes will appear weekly.
• Westworld. The third season of the dystopic science fiction show finally takes viewers outside the theme park. Like Plot, this has already premiered on HBO. But new episodes are rolling out on Sundays.
• Ozark. The third season of the Emmy-winning crime drama stars Jason Bateman and Laura Linney. March 27 on Netflix.
• The Good Fight. The fourth season of the critically beloved legal drama. April 9 on CBS All Access.

Documentaries + Topical News

• Crip Camp. A favorite at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Crip Camp is about a camp for disabled kids that spawned the disability rights movement. Higher Ground, the company led by former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, provided funding. March 25 on Netflix
• Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj. The sixth installment of the current events comedy show, which was won an Emmy and a Peabody Award. March 29 on Netflix.
• Vice. The seventh season of the award-winning weekly documentary series returns on a different network. March 29 on Showtime.

Reality TV

• Making the Cut. The first season of a new fashion competition hosted by Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, two of the forces behind Project Runway. March 27 on Amazon.
• Home. A nine-episode series about the world’s “most innovative homes.” April 17 on Apple TV+.

Movie Buffs

Every streaming service is adding dozens of old movies, from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly on Netflix to The Kids Are All Right on HBO. But as for the new …

• Parasite. The recipient of this year’s Oscar for best picture will make its streaming debut. April 8 on Hulu.
• Kino Marquee. Movie distributors Kino Lorber created a virtual screening room for movies that will help support independent movie theaters. The first movie available is Bacurau, a Brazilian thriller that won a prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.

For the Cost-Conscious

Niche streaming services are offering longer free trials to entice customers during a challenging time for the economy. Here are some of the best options.

• Acorn TV. The streaming service devoted to British TV has a library that includes medical comedy Doc Martin and detective drama Midsomer Murders.
• Sundance Now and Film Movement Plus. Both services offer loads of good movies you won’t find on more conventional streaming services. Sundance has the Oscar-nominated documentary The Act of Killing and Tangerine, a dramatic comedy, while Film Movement Plus focuses on world cinema.

Sports Fans

There’s nothing to watch, right? Wrong!

• The National Basketball Association is opening up League Pass to offer hundreds of old games, free.
• The Scheme. A new documentary about a college basketball scandal that ensnared coaches, players, sneaker companies, and some unsavory characters. March 31 on HBO.
• Sunderland Til I Die. The second installment of a documentary series about the struggles of an English football club. The Independent deemed the first season “triumphant TV.” April 1 on Netflix.

International Shows

• Terrace House: Tokyo 2019-2020. A new installment of the Japanese reality show will hit Netflix on April 7.
• Money Heist Part IV. The most popular heist TV show on Netflix will return on April 3.
• Fauda. The third season of the Israeli crime drama. April 16 on Netflix.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.