What to Watch This Week: June 25 to 30

From a new season of The Bachelorette to Idris Elba’s new high-flying thriller, we round up our top 10 shows to watch this week

1. The Freak Brothers – Sunday, June 25, Tubi | Season Premiere

The titular 1970s hippies and their “outspoken cat” continue bumbling their way through the ultimate trip, adjusting to life in the 2020s after smoking some magical mystery weed. In season two, things only get trippier, as they cross paths with Mitch McConnell, Mark Zuckerberg and enter a pot brownies bakeoff against Seth Rogen.

2. The Bachelorette – Monday, June 26, City & ABC | Season Premiere

During its lengthy run, the Bachelor-verse has been slow to embrace diversity, but the last few years have seen TV’s most iconic romantic competition trending in the right direction. And in the most recent “Women Tell All” episode, that trend continued when host Jesse Palmer surprised Bachelor Zach Shallcross’ ex, Charity Lawson, with news that producers wanted her to be the next face of The Bachelorette. She’s the show’s fourth Black lead in its 20-year history.

“It is a yes! Absolutely! 100 per cent… like, absolutely,” she cried on-air after realizing what was happening. “Wait, I’m gonna cry. I’m shaking right now.”

“I’ve waited forever to find the love of my life, and it blows my mind that I could meet my person and be engaged and literally have my happily ever after,” our new leading lady continued. “I can’t wait to show little girls that look like me [that] being in a position like this is possible. I know that I’ll be making a lot of people proud.” 

As far as strategy, when her 25 suitors come knockin’ on that mansion door, Charity knows just what she’ll be looking for. The family therapist revealed during an interview with Good Morning America that she wants to be with a man who is compassionate, as well as someone who is kind and treats others well. (Charity is a big fan of charity, it seems.) “But also, I love to laugh and have a good time, so a sense of humour, I think that’s huge. So, anyone who can come up with a good joke or two is a winner.” 

(And here these fellas thought their perfect cheekbones and washboard abs would be enough!)

3. Delete – Wednesday, June 28, Netflix | Series Premiere

The inhumanity of social media is chillingly manifested in this Thai thriller. When a group of friends stumble on a phone with a button that can delete people not just from your contacts, but from your life, they grapple with who to keep, who to banish and who should be in charge. 

4. Run Rabbit Run – Wednesday, June 28, Netflix

In this unsettling horror movie, Succession’s Sarah Snook stars as a single mother who grows increasingly unnerved when her young daughter (Lily LaTorre) persistently claims that she has vivid memories of another life, which ultimately stirs up their family’s dark and painful past.

5. Hijack – Wednesday, June 28, Apple TV+ | Series Premiere

It may not be the James Bond role everyone seems so very desperate for him to play, but Idris Elba is about to charge headlong into some international intrigue this week. Sam Nelson is an experienced corporate negotiator, deftly facilitating big-business mergers and acquisitions. But he’ll learn just how valuable those skills can be outside the boardroom after hopping on an ill-fated seven-hour plane ride from Dubai to London. 

When Flight KA29 is hijacked by terrorists, it falls to Sam to defuse the situation. Meanwhile, on the ground, authorities scramble to figure out exactly what’s going on when the plane veers off-course, leading them to a tangled conspiracy. Heading up the investigation: savvy counter-terrorism specialist Zahra Gahfoor, played by The Good Wife Emmy-winner Archie Panjabi. Already drawing comparisons to 24, the crisis unfolds in real-time across seven pulse-pounding episodes. 

The series hails from George Kay, creator of invigoratingly offbeat Netflix thrillers Criminal and Lupin, and it’s directed by Jim Field Smith, late of PBS’s Endeavour.

6. The Witcher – Thursday, June 29, Netflix | Season Premiere

Henry Cavill’s final outing as monster-hunting mutant Geralt or Rivia is upon us. Luckily, season three marks the end for Cavill but not the series itself, as Liam Hemsworth has already been cast to replace him in season four. First, however, Cavill’s version of the master swordsman must spar with his own inner demons, coming to terms with the realization that Yennefer and Ciri are his family and his destiny. “Over the years, their relationship has been equal parts elation and heartbreak, coming together and being ripped apart, dreaming of a future and accepting that it’s never that easy,” said creator Lauren Schmidt Hissrich. “This season is no different. Our family wants nothing more than to finally be together. Will that happen? Yes. Will it last? Stay tuned.” (Note: this third season will be split in half, with part two dropping in July.)

7. Secret Chef – Thursday, June 29, Disney+ | Series Premiere

MasterChef meets The Circle in a new cook-off that drops in full on Disney+ Thursday. The series hails from restaurateur David Chang (the man who founded culinary brand Momofuku) and features 10 contestants from all walks of life and levels of culinary experience. We’ve got professional chefs, home cooks and social media influencers. However, they’re all isolated from one another in a secret underground kitchen. (See what we mean about The Circle?) There, they’re tasked with a slew of offbeat culinary challenges (assigned by an animated talking hat, no less)—their work evaluated not by judges, but by each other in a blind taste test. 

Even from a purely aesthetic standpoint, it’s a fun twist on your classic kitchen battle, but on the gameplay end of things, it also ensures the only thing that truly matters is the food on the plate. 

8. El Dorado: Everything the Nazis Hate – Wednesday, June 28, Netflix

As dramatized in Cabaret, Berlin in the 1920s was experiencing sexual freedom on a level unheard of before then, and this documentary uses stirring recreation scenes and moving archive footage to show the dazzling but brief heyday of the world’s first visible queer community at the tail end of the ’20s. The hub of the gay, lesbian and trans scene in Berlin at the time was the Eldorado club. Guests travelled from all over the world to experience the Eldorado’s particular brand of freedom, as did famed sex researcher Magnus Hirschfeld and Hollywood movie star Marlene Dietrich—along with several future senior officials of the Nazi party.

9. The Renovator – Friday, June 30, HGTV | Series Premiere

For years, Marcus Lemonis has helped businesses make big adjustments on CNBC’s The Profit, and in his new HGTV series he’s tackling the most-important business of all—the home. Using design to change people’s lives, he’ll renovate houses, transform families and build generational wealth.

10. Jack Ryan – Friday, June 30, Prime Video | Season Premiere

John Krasinski returns for his fourth season as author Tom Clancy’s titular CIA agent, which is also the series’ swan song. While Jack was a rookie desk jockey in the first season, by the fourth he’s become the agency’s deputy director, tasked with unearthing internal corruption within the CIA. Jack winds up discovering a slew of suspicious black ops that could expose the vulnerability of the country and place a bullseye on the United States of America. As Jack and the team investigate how deep the corruption runs, he discovers a far-worse reality—the convergence of a cutthroat drug cartel with a notorious terrorist organization—that reveals a conspiracy that’s far closer to home. 

Through it all, the experience puts Jack’s belief in the system that he has always fought to protect to the ultimate test. Krasinski is joined by returning co-stars Wendell Pierce, Michael Kelly, Betty Gabriel and Abbie Cornish, along with final-season newcomers Michael Peña and Louis Ozawa.