| July 27, 2026 
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A gritty drama about a female serial killer | | Scoot McNairy and Emmy Rossum in a scene from “Furious,” Based loosely on the 1987 movie “Black Widow.” Disney/Sarah Shatz |
Dear Watchers,The writer Elizabeth Meriwether is probably best known for creating “New Girl,” a snappy, charmingly silly sitcom that ran for seven seasons. But since that show ended, Meriwether has moved away from out-and-out comedy with two strikingly different mini-series adapted from podcasts: “The Dropout,” a nuanced look at the disgraced tech entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes, and “Dying for Sex,” about a woman who lives more freely after a terminal cancer diagnosis. Meriwether’s latest series is even more unexpected: “Furious,” a gritty drama about a vengeful serial killer. Based loosely on the 1987 movie “Black Widow,” “Furious” follows the cat-and-mouse games between an F.B.I. agent and a murderer. Emmy Rossum plays the agent, Alice, who was a New York City police detective until she quit to get away from her abusive boyfriend and colleague (Jake Lacy). Lola Petticrew plays Catherine, a crafty grifter who has dedicated much of her adult life to stalking, seducing and poisoning men. Catherine’s victims are not random. Over the course of the first three episodes (available today on Hulu, with the remaining five episodes arriving weekly), we learn that, as a teenager, she worked in a shady upscale massage parlor. Alice’s past has hardened her, too. She has an intensity that is off-putting to nearly everyone but Danny (Scoot McNairy), her best friend from the police force. And like Catherine, Alice has an obsession with punishing anyone who hurts young girls. Meriwether and her cast and crew have made a show that recalls the neo-noir cinema of the 1970s and ’80s, with a twisty plot and a richly developed milieu. Rossum and Petticrew play complicated women who go to extremes in pursuit of causes that are, ultimately, unnervingly similar. Alice and Catherine are lively company and entertaining to watch. But they are profoundly broken in ways that can be disturbing. Nevertheless, Meriwether regards them with empathy. In “Furious,” these two — along with Alice’s boss in the sex crimes unit, Nora (Quincy Tyler Bernstine) — are frequently surrounded by men who ignore them, patronize them, bully them or blame them. That’s what gives this series its title. These women are seething. Also this week | | From left, Owen Thiele, Lucy Freyer, Jack Innanen and Amita Rao. Michael Gibson/FX |
- After leaving BET+, the comedy-mystery “Diarra From Detroit” has found a new home on Paramount+ for its second season. The show’s creator, Diarra Kilpatrick, returns as the title character, a schoolteacher who in Season 1 became an amateur detective, exploring the criminal underworld while searching for a man who ghosted her after a hot date. The first two episodes of Season 2 debut on Wednesday.
- “Batman: Caped Crusader” showed a lot of promise in its first season, combining the simple, clean, noir-inspired animation of the ’90s Batman cartoons with an imaginative reinterpretation of the superhero’s mythos in stories set in the ’40s. Season 2 of this mature Batman arrives on Friday on Amazon Prime Video.
- FX’s very funny hangout sitcom “Adults” comes back for Season 2 on Aug 27. For fans who can’t wait, the network is releasing a special prequel episode “Marathon Day,” which looks back at how the show’s young New York roommates became friends. The episode airs on FXX and begins streaming on Hulu on Friday at 1 p.m.
- The international spy thriller “Lioness” — one of the better shows created and written by Taylor Sheridan — returns. Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman reprise their roles as C.I.A. officers who run a team of female undercover agents in a world where technology and politics are rapidly changing the rules of engagement. Season 3 debuts on Sunday on Paramount+.
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