Best new TV shows to stream this week on Netflix, Disney Plus, and more

One of the most controversial documentary series this year finally debuts as part of our best new TV shows this week. Harry & Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are the subjects of the new Netflix documentary. There’s also a new docudrama about the lives of country music legends George Jones and Tammy Wynette on Showtime. Netflix debuts its latest video game-based animated series, this time based on Dragon Age. The strangest DC Comics superhero team, Doom Patrol, is back for a new season on HBO Max. You can also catch His Dark Materials’ third and final season on that same streamer. Finally, Amazon Prime Video has a new mystery drama, Three Pines, to watch. Here’s what to check out in the best new streaming TV shows this week.

Netflix launches its long-awaited documentary series centering on Prince Harry and Meghan, the UK’s Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The series is supposed to offer an official, but still transparent, look at the relationship between the royal couple from its beginnings to the present day. It will include not only interviews with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex but with family and friends that have never spoken publicly about Harry and Meghan. It will also feature the controversial relationship between the couple and the UK press, which ultimately was the main reason why they decided to step down from their full-time royal duties. You can watch the first three episodes now, with the final three to debut on Netflix on December 15.

Showtime has debuted a new limited series about the country music legends George Jones (Michael Shannon) and Tammy Wynette (Jessica Chastain). The docudrama shows how the couple met in the late 1960s when both were already major country music stars. The limited series shows their short and tumultuous relationship and marriage. It also shows how it influenced their music to create some of the most well-known country songs of all time, including Wynette’s classic “Stand By Your Man.” New episodes of the series will debut on Showtime’s streaming service every Friday.

Netflix continues its trend of launching new animated shows based on video games with this latest entry. Based on the Bioware fantasy RPG series, Dragon Age: Absolution takes place before the events in the first game, in the Tevinter Imperium nation. The story centers on the theft of a powerful artifact called the Circulum Infinitus by a group of heroes, but of course, things don’t go according to their plan. Dragon Age game fans can look forward to checking out lots of new lore and Easter Eggs in this six-episode series.

If you haven’t been watching this DC Comics-based superhero series on HBO Max, now is a great time to start. If you have been watching the show, you know how wild, weird, and wonderful the series actually is. In the fourth season, the Doom Patrol members are actually going to work as an organized team for the first time. They will need to do so pretty quickly as they time-travel to the future to see their deaths in a post-apocalypse wasteland. Will they be able to stop this new threat? The second half of season four will debut in early 2023.

This is the third and final season for this HBO and HBO Max fantasy multiverse-themed series, based on The Amber Spyglass, the third novel in the His Dark Materials trilogy by author Philip Pullman. The third season begins with Lyra (Dafne Keen) getting captured by Mrs. Coulter (Ruth Wilson) to keep her “safe,” which really means keeping Lyra from becoming the prophesied savior of humanity. Meanwhile, Lord Asriel (James McAvoy) is gathering an army to head to the Kingdom of Heaven and destroy the Authority.

Amazon Prime Video has started a new mystery series set in the fictional Three Pines town in Quebec. Alfred Molina stars as Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, who is investigating a series of murders in and around Three Pines. Who is responsible for these crimes, and how will these murders affect Gamache himself?

Other shows to check out

There are some other popular shows launching new seasons this week as well:

Disney Plus launches a new drama series that’s based on the 1988 fantasy movie of the same name created by Star Wars’ George Lucas. This new series is actually a sequel to the film. Willow (again played by Warwick Davis), who helped to protect the show’s fantasy kingdom once in the movie, is recruited once again to fight off a new evil threat. He’s joined by a small band of youthful warriors in their quest. Joanne Whalley also returns from the original film as Sorsha, the former warrior and now queen of the kingdom.

Netflix launches this Turkish language series with an interesting premise this week. It’s set in the near future, where a virus that causes madness is transmitted by the human voice. A linguist discovers he is immune from this virus and now has to escape from the infected crowds to discover why he is unaffected and if he can stop this unusual and deadly epidemic.

There’s no shortage of cooking competition shows, but this new Netflix series has a very appetizing twist. 12 chefs compete during the course of the series to try to recreate some of the most iconic snack foods like Cheetos, Oreos, and more, along with making their own delicious snack treats. The winner of this competition gets $50,000.

Peacock launches this new comedy-drama starring Colin Donnell. He plays an American criminal who is on the run from a Chicago mob family. He ends up in a small town in the Queensland section of Australia and decides to hide in plain sight as the town church’s new minister. Naturally, things don’t quite go the way he intends.

This is the second season of this Apple TV Plus exclusive series. Gary Oldman once again stars in this comedy-drama, about a group of unwanted agents in a UK spy organization. The second season sees this disenfranchised group assigned to investigate the death of a former agent. As usual with a spy series, the group, led by Oldman’s character, quickly discovers that this agent’s death is just the tip of the iceberg.

Here’s another UK-based series, this time on Amazon Prime Video. It centers on the extended Richards family, who have become very wealthy thanks to their hair and makeup company. When the father and founder of the family passes away, he leaves the company to his estranged son and daughter, which creates a huge conflict with the husband’s second wife and their children.