August has a specific feeling — summer is still here but you can sense the turn coming. A good weekend for good television. Here's what we'd watch.
The One That Demands Your Full Attention
The Penguin (HBO/Max)
Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb — the Penguin from The Batman — navigating Gotham's criminal underworld after the events of the film. You don't need to have seen The Batman to follow it, but it helps. Farrell is completely unrecognizable under the prosthetics and completely magnificent. Dark, violent, operatic. Eight episodes that feel like a long film. This is what prestige comic book television looks like when it's done right.
Skip it if: You need something light. This one earns its darkness.
The Comfort Pick
Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez returning for another season of amateur true-crime podcasting in a Manhattan apartment building. Warm, clever, reliably funny. The kind of show that works for literally everyone — parents, partners, roommates. If you haven't started from Season 1, this weekend is the time.
Best for: Any group, any mood, wants to be charmed rather than challenged.
The Underrated One
For All Mankind (Apple TV+)
An alternate history where the Soviet Union landed on the moon first, and the space race never ended. Spans decades across its four seasons, each set in a different era, each with a different aesthetic. Smart, emotional, and surprisingly action-packed for a show about astronauts and geopolitics. One of Apple TV+'s best and least-talked-about shows.
Best for: Sci-fi fans, history buffs, anyone who likes shows that take big swings.
Good August ahead. Not sure what fits? Let us pick for you →