MW Here's what's worth streaming in April 2026 on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max and more

By Mike Murphy

Prices are rising at Netflix and Amazon, while Hulu revives 'Malcolm in the Middle' and HBO Max has new seasons of 'Hacks' and 'Euphoria'

Zendaya stars in Season 3 of HBO's "Euphoria," coming April 12.

Are you ready to spend $20 a month for a streaming plan?

You soon may have to, as Netflix and Amazon's Prime Video are raising prices by up to $2 a month in April, putting Netflix's most popular ad-free tier at $19.99, and Prime Video's ad-free tier at $19.98.

Those price hikes are especially rough as gas prices are skyrocketing, along with the price of pretty much everything else.

But with a bit of strategic churning - that is, adding and dropping services month to month - you can still catch the best shows while keeping your monthly streaming budget around $50. Keep in mind that a billing cycle starts when you sign up, not necessarily at the beginning of the month. And it's always worth watching out for time-sensitive deals and money-saving bundles.

Each month, this column offers tips on how to maximize your streaming and your budget - rating the major services as "play," "pause" or "stop," similar to investment analysts' traditional ratings of buy, hold and sell - and picks the best shows to help you make your monthly decisions.

Here's a look at what's coming to the various streaming services in April 2026, and what's really worth the monthly subscription fee:

HBO Max ($10.99 a month with ads, $18.49 with no ads, or $22.99 'Ultimate' with no ads)

HBO has its eyes solidly on awards season with this month's prestige-ey lineup.

The Emmy-winning comedy "Hacks" (April 9) is back for its fifth and final season, with Deborah (Jean Smart) looking to seal her legacy in the wake of erroneous reports of her death, with the help of her right-hand woman Ava (Hannah Einbinder). "Hacks" has been one of the best comedies of the past decade, and it's nice to see it going out on its own terms, as the show's central Deborah-Ava conflicts can only be repeated so many times.

Meanwhile, after a four-year layoff, creator Sam Levinson's provocative and divisive coming-of-age drama "Euphoria" (April 12) is back for its long-awaited third season. The multiple Emmy winner will pick up with a time jump and its characters living as young adults, five years after high school, and things look completely out of control. In real life, the show's stars - Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi - have become Hollywood superstars, and they'll be joined this season by top-notch guest stars including Sharon Stone, Natasha Lyonne and Marshawn Lynch. While definitely not for everyone, "Euphoria" may be the buzziest show of the spring.

Speaking of buzz, coming off the surprise success of Netflix's "Baby Reindeer" a couple of years back, creator Richard Gadd is back with a new miniseries, "Half Man" (April 23). Gadd co-stars with Jamie Bell as estranged friends in this drama exploring the fragility of male relationships. Expect a dark, deep and vaguely disturbing ride.

There's also the streaming premiere of Oscar nominee "Marty Supreme" (April 24) and "Alien: Romulus" (April 3); "The Dark Wizard" (April 14), a docuseries about the late extreme climber Dean Potter; and a yet-to-be-titled standup-comedy special by Ramy Youssef (date TBA). There'll also be new episodes of the weird but oddly compelling "DTF St. Louis" (season finale April 12), the affable campus comedy "Rooster," plus "The Comeback," "The Pitt" and "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver."

On the sports side, March Madness concludes with the men's Final Four and championship game (April 4 and 6). There's also a full slate of NHL games (including playoffs, starting April 19); Major League Baseball (every Tuesday night starting April 7); and a trio of U.S. women's soccer matches against Japan (April 11, 14 and 17).

Play, pause or stop? Play. Great comedies, great dramas, a deep library and a solid sports lineup. What more can you ask for?

Apple TV ($12.99 a month)

Apple's $(AAPL)$ gearing up for another busy month, at least by its standards.

Jon Hamm returns as a wealthy suburban cat burglar in Season 2 of "Your Friends and Neighbors" (April 3), facing a new foil, played by James Marsden. Season 1 was wildly uneven with mostly unsympathetic characters, but the cast (including Amanda Peet, Olivia Munn and Hoon Lee) is great, and you can see the bones of a good show in there somewhere - but it tends to take itself too seriously, when all it needs to be is a breezy heist comedy.

Keanu Reeves stars in "Outcome" (April 10), a dark comedy movie about a Hollywood star who gets blackmailed, and tries to make amends with those he's wronged in hopes of identifying his blackmailer. Cameron Diaz, Matt Bomer and Jonah Hill costar.

There are more big names in "Margo's Got Money Trouble" (April 15), a family dramedy series starring Elle Fanning as a young college dropout with a new baby who turns to OnlyFans to pay her mounting bills. Michelle Pfeiffer pays her mother, an ex-Hooters waitress, and Nick Offerman plays her dad, a former pro wrestler. There's a good bit of buzz around this one, coming from superproducer David E. Kelley and adapted from the novel by Rufi Thorpe.

And then there's "Widow's Bay" (April 29), a horror/comedy series starring Matthew Rhys as the new mayor of a small New England town that is supposedly cursed. And as he tries revitalizing it to draw tourists, very bad things start happening. Rhys is always good, and the show sounds promising. Finally, the British police drama "Criminal Record" (April 22), starring Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo, is back for its second season.

Apple's also got weekly episodes of "Shrinking" (season finale April 8), "The Last Thing He Told Me" (season finale April 10), "Imperfect Women" (season finale April 29), "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" (season finale May 1) and "For All Mankind." And don't forget Formula 1 racing, Major League Baseball every Friday night, and a full slate of Major League Soccer.

Play, pause or stop? Play. Apple TV+ still feels like a luxury, not a necessity, but there are a lot of really good - and potentially good - shows here. Plus, it's a relative bargain these days.

Amazon's Prime Video ($14.99 a month with ads, $8.99 without Prime membership, both +$4.99 to avoid ads)

While other streamers offer a discount to see ads, Amazon (AMZN) makes you pay more to avoid them. And that consumer-unfriendly policy is getting even more off-putting, as Prime Video is raising the price of its ad-free tier - now called "Prime Video Ultra" - to an extra $4.99 a month, starting April 10.

Still, if you're already paying for Prime for the shipping, there's actually a lot to watch.

The hardcore superhero hit "The Boys" (April 8) returns for its fifth and final season. With all-powerful psychopath Homelander (Antony Starr) in control of the country and seeking literal immortality, Butcher (Karl Urban) reappears with a virus that can wipe out all Supes. Expect things to come to a very violent head.

There's also "Balls Up" (April 15), a raunchy comedy movie starring Mark Wahlberg and Paul Walter Hauser as marketing execs who push a condom sponsorship with the World Cup in Brazil; "Jerry West: The Logo" (April 16), a documentary about the iconic former Lakers superstar and executive; a new season of "American Gladiators" (April 17); "Kevin" (April 20), an animated comedy about a New York housecat who moves into a pet rescue and makes friends with the misfit pets there; and the Spanish-language miniseries "The House of the Spirits" (April 29), a sprawling family saga set in South America, based on the popular book by Isabel Allende.

Amazon's also got a full slate of NBA games, including the play-in games (starting April 14) and playoffs (starting April 18); NWSL; and bonus coverage of The Masters (April 9-10), including a special "Amen Corner" feed. Viewers in the New York metro area will also get Yankees games most Wednesday nights.

More: Want to watch all of the Yankees' games on TV this season? It'll cost you over $1,200.

There are also new episodes of "Jury Duty: Company Retreat" (season finale April 3) and "Invincible" (season finale April 22).

Catch up: The offbeat Australian comedy/mystery "Deadloch" is even sharper in its second season, as its "Odd Couple" detective duo investigate a murder in the country's tropical Top End, populated by rednecks, crocodiles and a Hemsworth (that would be Luke, playing a "Crocodile Hunter"-like nature-park mogul). It pulls off an amazing balancing act, with creatively profane, consistently laugh-out-loud banter that somehow never undermines the grisly crimes at the center of the action. Meanwhile, "Company Retreat" is a nice, light diversion, a solid follow-up to the surprise hit "Jury Duty," and "Bait," a surreal showbiz satire starring Riz Ahmed as an actor poised to win the role of the next James Bond, has drawn critical raves.

Play, pause or stop? Pause and think it over. It doesn't happen often, but Prime Video actually has a lot to offer this month. Skip the ad-free tier, though - it's still not worth $20.

Hulu ($11.99 a month with ads, or $18.99 with no ads)

First, the fun stuff. After a two-decade hiatus, America's second-favorite dysfunctional family (come on, the Simpsons are No. 1) are back with "Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair" (April 10), a four-episode revival that includes almost all the original cast (save Dewey's Erik Per Sullivan, who's out of acting and is reportedly off getting his master's at Harvard). The plot revolves around Malcolm (Frankie Muniz) - now a single dad and estranged from his family - getting roped into attending his parents' (Bryan Cranston and Jane Kaczmarek) 40th wedding anniversary. Hilarity presumably ensues. Revivals are always iffy, but with a simple story and just four episodes, this one seems primed for success, and a ton of fun.

MW Here's what's worth streaming in April 2026 on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max and more

By Mike Murphy

Prices are rising at Netflix and Amazon, while Hulu revives 'Malcolm in the Middle' and HBO Max has new seasons of 'Hacks' and 'Euphoria'

Zendaya stars in Season 3 of HBO's "Euphoria," coming April 12.

Are you ready to spend $20 a month for a streaming plan?

You soon may have to, as Netflix and Amazon's Prime Video are raising prices by up to $2 a month in April, putting Netflix's most popular ad-free tier at $19.99, and Prime Video's ad-free tier at $19.98.

Those price hikes are especially rough as gas prices are skyrocketing, along with the price of pretty much everything else.

But with a bit of strategic churning - that is, adding and dropping services month to month - you can still catch the best shows while keeping your monthly streaming budget around $50. Keep in mind that a billing cycle starts when you sign up, not necessarily at the beginning of the month. And it's always worth watching out for time-sensitive deals and money-saving bundles.

Each month, this column offers tips on how to maximize your streaming and your budget - rating the major services as "play," "pause" or "stop," similar to investment analysts' traditional ratings of buy, hold and sell - and picks the best shows to help you make your monthly decisions.

Here's a look at what's coming to the various streaming services in April 2026, and what's really worth the monthly subscription fee:

HBO Max ($10.99 a month with ads, $18.49 with no ads, or $22.99 'Ultimate' with no ads)

HBO has its eyes solidly on awards season with this month's prestige-ey lineup.

The Emmy-winning comedy "Hacks" (April 9) is back for its fifth and final season, with Deborah (Jean Smart) looking to seal her legacy in the wake of erroneous reports of her death, with the help of her right-hand woman Ava (Hannah Einbinder). "Hacks" has been one of the best comedies of the past decade, and it's nice to see it going out on its own terms, as the show's central Deborah-Ava conflicts can only be repeated so many times.

Meanwhile, after a four-year layoff, creator Sam Levinson's provocative and divisive coming-of-age drama "Euphoria" (April 12) is back for its long-awaited third season. The multiple Emmy winner will pick up with a time jump and its characters living as young adults, five years after high school, and things look completely out of control. In real life, the show's stars - Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi - have become Hollywood superstars, and they'll be joined this season by top-notch guest stars including Sharon Stone, Natasha Lyonne and Marshawn Lynch. While definitely not for everyone, "Euphoria" may be the buzziest show of the spring.

Speaking of buzz, coming off the surprise success of Netflix's "Baby Reindeer" a couple of years back, creator Richard Gadd is back with a new miniseries, "Half Man" (April 23). Gadd co-stars with Jamie Bell as estranged friends in this drama exploring the fragility of male relationships. Expect a dark, deep and vaguely disturbing ride.

There's also the streaming premiere of Oscar nominee "Marty Supreme" (April 24) and "Alien: Romulus" (April 3); "The Dark Wizard" (April 14), a docuseries about the late extreme climber Dean Potter; and a yet-to-be-titled standup-comedy special by Ramy Youssef (date TBA). There'll also be new episodes of the weird but oddly compelling "DTF St. Louis" (season finale April 12), the affable campus comedy "Rooster," plus "The Comeback," "The Pitt" and "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver."

On the sports side, March Madness concludes with the men's Final Four and championship game (April 4 and 6). There's also a full slate of NHL games (including playoffs, starting April 19); Major League Baseball (every Tuesday night starting April 7); and a trio of U.S. women's soccer matches against Japan (April 11, 14 and 17).

Play, pause or stop? Play. Great comedies, great dramas, a deep library and a solid sports lineup. What more can you ask for?

Apple TV ($12.99 a month)

Apple's (AAPL) gearing up for another busy month, at least by its standards.

Jon Hamm returns as a wealthy suburban cat burglar in Season 2 of "Your Friends and Neighbors" (April 3), facing a new foil, played by James Marsden. Season 1 was wildly uneven with mostly unsympathetic characters, but the cast (including Amanda Peet, Olivia Munn and Hoon Lee) is great, and you can see the bones of a good show in there somewhere - but it tends to take itself too seriously, when all it needs to be is a breezy heist comedy.

Keanu Reeves stars in "Outcome" (April 10), a dark comedy movie about a Hollywood star who gets blackmailed, and tries to make amends with those he's wronged in hopes of identifying his blackmailer. Cameron Diaz, Matt Bomer and Jonah Hill costar.

There are more big names in "Margo's Got Money Trouble" (April 15), a family dramedy series starring Elle Fanning as a young college dropout with a new baby who turns to OnlyFans to pay her mounting bills. Michelle Pfeiffer pays her mother, an ex-Hooters waitress, and Nick Offerman plays her dad, a former pro wrestler. There's a good bit of buzz around this one, coming from superproducer David E. Kelley and adapted from the novel by Rufi Thorpe.

And then there's "Widow's Bay" (April 29), a horror/comedy series starring Matthew Rhys as the new mayor of a small New England town that is supposedly cursed. And as he tries revitalizing it to draw tourists, very bad things start happening. Rhys is always good, and the show sounds promising. Finally, the British police drama "Criminal Record" (April 22), starring Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo, is back for its second season.

Apple's also got weekly episodes of "Shrinking" (season finale April 8), "The Last Thing He Told Me" (season finale April 10), "Imperfect Women" (season finale April 29), "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" (season finale May 1) and "For All Mankind." And don't forget Formula 1 racing, Major League Baseball every Friday night, and a full slate of Major League Soccer.

Play, pause or stop? Play. Apple TV+ still feels like a luxury, not a necessity, but there are a lot of really good - and potentially good - shows here. Plus, it's a relative bargain these days.

Amazon's Prime Video ($14.99 a month with ads, $8.99 without Prime membership, both +$4.99 to avoid ads)

While other streamers offer a discount to see ads, Amazon (AMZN) makes you pay more to avoid them. And that consumer-unfriendly policy is getting even more off-putting, as Prime Video is raising the price of its ad-free tier - now called "Prime Video Ultra" - to an extra $4.99 a month, starting April 10.

Still, if you're already paying for Prime for the shipping, there's actually a lot to watch.

The hardcore superhero hit "The Boys" (April 8) returns for its fifth and final season. With all-powerful psychopath Homelander (Antony Starr) in control of the country and seeking literal immortality, Butcher (Karl Urban) reappears with a virus that can wipe out all Supes. Expect things to come to a very violent head.

There's also "Balls Up" (April 15), a raunchy comedy movie starring Mark Wahlberg and Paul Walter Hauser as marketing execs who push a condom sponsorship with the World Cup in Brazil; "Jerry West: The Logo" (April 16), a documentary about the iconic former Lakers superstar and executive; a new season of "American Gladiators" (April 17); "Kevin" (April 20), an animated comedy about a New York housecat who moves into a pet rescue and makes friends with the misfit pets there; and the Spanish-language miniseries "The House of the Spirits" (April 29), a sprawling family saga set in South America, based on the popular book by Isabel Allende.

Amazon's also got a full slate of NBA games, including the play-in games (starting April 14) and playoffs (starting April 18); NWSL; and bonus coverage of The Masters (April 9-10), including a special "Amen Corner" feed. Viewers in the New York metro area will also get Yankees games most Wednesday nights.

More: Want to watch all of the Yankees' games on TV this season? It'll cost you over $1,200.

There are also new episodes of "Jury Duty: Company Retreat" (season finale April 3) and "Invincible" (season finale April 22).

Catch up: The offbeat Australian comedy/mystery "Deadloch" is even sharper in its second season, as its "Odd Couple" detective duo investigate a murder in the country's tropical Top End, populated by rednecks, crocodiles and a Hemsworth (that would be Luke, playing a "Crocodile Hunter"-like nature-park mogul). It pulls off an amazing balancing act, with creatively profane, consistently laugh-out-loud banter that somehow never undermines the grisly crimes at the center of the action. Meanwhile, "Company Retreat" is a nice, light diversion, a solid follow-up to the surprise hit "Jury Duty," and "Bait," a surreal showbiz satire starring Riz Ahmed as an actor poised to win the role of the next James Bond, has drawn critical raves.

Play, pause or stop? Pause and think it over. It doesn't happen often, but Prime Video actually has a lot to offer this month. Skip the ad-free tier, though - it's still not worth $20.

Hulu ($11.99 a month with ads, or $18.99 with no ads)

First, the fun stuff. After a two-decade hiatus, America's second-favorite dysfunctional family (come on, the Simpsons are No. 1) are back with "Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair" (April 10), a four-episode revival that includes almost all the original cast (save Dewey's Erik Per Sullivan, who's out of acting and is reportedly off getting his master's at Harvard). The plot revolves around Malcolm (Frankie Muniz) - now a single dad and estranged from his family - getting roped into attending his parents' (Bryan Cranston and Jane Kaczmarek) 40th wedding anniversary. Hilarity presumably ensues. Revivals are always iffy, but with a simple story and just four episodes, this one seems primed for success, and a ton of fun.

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

March 31, 2026 10:00 ET (14:00 GMT)

MW Here's what's worth streaming in April 2026 on -2-

There's also the stoner comedy "Pizza Movie" (April 3), starring Gaten Matarazzo of "Stranger Things" fame, and the standup comedy special "Nikki Glaser: Good Girl" (April 24).

OK, now for the not-fun stuff. If "The Handmaid's Tale" didn't bum you out enough, here comes its sequel, "The Testaments" (April 8), following a new generation of young women in Gilead, and set at a finishing school for future wives. Chase Infiniti ("One Battle After Another") and Lucy Halliday star, along with Ann Dowd, whose Aunt Lydia is the school's headmistress. Like its predecessor, it looks unrelentingly bleak.

There's also the documentary "#SKYKING" (April 14), about the airport worker who stole a plane and crashed it on an island in Puget Sound in 2018, while also delving into mental-health issues among the working class.

Catch up: The post-apocalyptic drama "Paradise" just ended its second season with another wild twist that should leave viewers eager for the third and final season next year. While not as good as Season 1, it's still bingeable, ridiculous fun, basically TV's version of a beach read. Meanwhile, "Sunny Nights" had almost no advance press, but turned out to be surprisingly watchable. Will Forte and D'Arcy Carden star in the black comedy/crime thriller set in Australia as co-dependent siblings willing to do anything to get their spray-tan business off the ground. It deftly balances legit laughs with shocking violence, with shades of the terrible decision-making of "Ozark" and the gritty Sydney underworld of "Mr. Inbetween."

Hulu also has new episodes of "Scrubs" (season finale April 15) and other ABC and Fox shows like "RJ Decker," "High Potential" (season finale April 7), "Best Medicine" (season finale April 7) and "Bob's Burgers."

Play, pause or stop? Pause. It's not worth a subscription just for "Malcolm in the Middle," but when you add "Paradise," "Scrubs" and "Sunny Nights," there's a convincing argument. Bonus: Hulu also now has the Oscar-nominated international movies "The Secret Agent" and "It Was Just an Accident."

Disney+ ($11.99 a month with ads, $18.99 with no ads)

Darth Maul has had a pretty good career since getting killed off (almost) in "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" more than 25 years ago. The fan-favorite Sith lord is finally getting his own 10-episode animated series, with "Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord" (April 6), which will see the villain plotting to rebuild his criminal empire following the events of "The Clone Wars." If it's anywhere near as good as "The Clone Wars" was, it'll be worth a watch. Well, for "Star Wars" fans at least.

Disney+ will also have weekly episodes of "Daredevil: Born Again," which had gotten mixed reviews for its second season; the "Inside Out Classic" (April 5), an animated real-time version of an NHL game between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers, featuring the Pixar characters skating alongside players; and an assortment of ABC, Hulu and ESPN programming, including live episodes of "American Idol," Savannah Bananas baseball and more.

A surprise second act: In an unexpected move, Disney $(DIS)$ has renewed Marvel's "Wonder Man" - the comedy starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley - for a second season. That's a rarity at Disney+, where Marvel shows have mostly been one-and-done. But it's good news for an entertaining, low-stakes show that was more Hollywood satire than superhero blockbuster.

Play, pause or stop? Pause. "Wonder Man" is worth catching up on, "Daredevil" is watchable, and "Maul" should be cool.

Netflix ($8.99 a month for standard with ads, $19.99 standard with no ads, $26.99 premium with no ads)

Netflix $(NFLX)$ is jacking up prices by $1 to $2 a month, with the ad-supported tier now $8.99 a month, and the most popular plan - standard with no ads - now $19.99. Netflix last hiked prices in January 2025, and current subscribers should see the change on their next bill. If it makes you feel any better, prices certainly would have risen anyway if Netflix had been successful in its bid to acquire Warner Bros. $(WBD)$. Still, ugh.

Read more: Netflix's second price hike in just over a year came sooner than expected, but don't expect subscribers to jump ship

Meanwhile, there's a lot coming in April, but not much of it is very impressive.

The one to watch may be Season 2 of Emmy winner "Beef" (April 16). Going the anthology route with a whole new cast, this season involves a pair of country-club employees (Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny) who film a nasty fight between their boss and his wife (Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan), igniting a self-destructive blackmail war.

There's also Season 3 of the "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" teen-romance spinoff "XO, Kitty" (April 2), which will include a guest appearance by "To All the Boys" star Lara Condor; "Big Mistakes" (April 9) a comedy series about disorganized siblings who get caught up in organized crime, starring Daniel Levy, Taylor Ortega and Laurie Metcalf; "Unchosen" (April 21), about a young mother (Molly Windsor) in a cult with a domineering husband (Asa Butterfield) who starts an affair with a mysterious stranger (Fra Fee); Season 2 of the basketball comedy "Running Point" (April 23), starring Kate Hudson; "Stranger Things: Tales from '85" (April 23), an animated anthology spinoff of the hit sci-fi drama; and "Man on Fire" (April 30), a series adaptation of the movie and novels about a haunted former Special Forces soldier (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) on his violent road to redemption in Rio de Janeiro.

On the reality side, there's Season 4 of "Love on the Spectrum" (April 1); "Untold: Chess Mates" (April 7), a documentary about a bizarre scandal among chess grandmasters; Season 2 of "Temptation Island" (April 10); a fight between Tyson Fury vs Arslanbek Makhmudov (April 11), live from London; Season 2 of the "Traitors"-like reality competition "Million-Dollar Secret" (April 15); the standup-comedy competition "Funny AF with Kevin Hart" (April 20); and "This Is a Gardening Show" (April 22), a light and whimsical and oddly sincere show about, well, gardening, with Zach Galifianakis.

And in movies, Netflix has the hurricane-plus-sharks survival thriller "Thrash" (April 10), basically inspired by a meme (and hey, every generation needs its own "Sharknado"); "Roommates" (April 17), a college comedy about a passive-aggressive war between dorm roommates, starring Sadie Sandler and Chloe East; and "Apex" (April 24), starring Charlize Theron as a kayaker fighting for her life in the Australian wilderness as she's hunted by a maniac (Taron Egarton).

Netflix is also adding the first seasons of the NBC comedies "Happy's Place" and "St. Denis Medical" (both April 1), and will say goodbye to its collection of 20 James Bond movies (all leaving April 21).

Play, pause or stop? Stop. "Beef" looks good, but everything else is extremely meh. Factor in the price hike, and it's a good month to drop Netflix without missing much.

Peacock ($10.99 a month with ads, or $16.99 with no ads)

It's been a while since we've had a decent "Honey, I Shrank the ___" comedy. "The Miniature Wife" (April 9), based on the short story by Manuel Gonzalez, may or may not scratch that tiny itch, as it's being hyped as more of a dramedy, and an allegory about the power imbalances between spouses. Matthew Macfadyen plays a scientist who - oops! - accidentally shrinks his author wife, played by Elizabeth Banks, to a few inches tall, and has to figure out a way to get her back to the right size. All 10 episodes will drop at once.

Comcast's $(CMCSA)$ Peacock's also got the streaming premiere of the horror/comedy movie "Five Nights at Freddy's 2" (April 3); the domestic thriller series "If I Can't Have You" (April 10); and "Love Island: Beyond the Villa" (April 15), following favorite Season 7 cast members after the show's conclusion.

There are also new episodes of network and cable shows including the consistently silly sitcom "The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins" (season finale April 13), Bravo's venerable "Top Chef," "Chicago Fire," "Below Deck," "Jeopardy," "Real Housewives" and "Saturday Night Live."

On the sports side, there's a full slate of MLB, NHL and NBA games, including the NBA playoffs (starting April 19), Premier League soccer, PGA golf and the Kentucky Derby (April 4).

Play, pause or stop? Stop. The lineup actually isn't bad, but nothing rises to the top either.

Paramount+ ($8.99 a month with ads, $13.99 a month Premium with no ads)

It's an extremely light schedule for Paramount $(PSKY)$ this month, with not a whole lot new, aside from live sports and sports docuseries.

That'll be capped by CBS's traditional coverage of The Masters, live from Augusta, Ga. (April 9-12), the golf tournament that's so telegenic that it convinced my grandfather to buy a color TV back in the day (true story).

And while CBS doesn't have the men's Final Four this year, Paramount will have "Made for March" (April 4), a four-part, behind-the-scenes docuseries tracking the Kansas and Michigan men's basketball programs throughout the season and NCAA tournament. There's also the soccer docuseries "You Don't Know Where I'm From, Dawg" (April 14), about former U.S. star Clint Dempsey's rise from a Texas trailer park to the World Cup.

The live-sports lineup includes EFL Championship matches (aka Wrexham games), UEFA Champions League quarterfinals and semifinals, Serie A, NWSL and PGA golf.

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

March 31, 2026 10:00 ET (14:00 GMT)

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