The Best TV-MA Movies to Watch on The Roku Channel

You don’t necessarily need a lot of money to make a sci-fi series good, but it doesn’t hurt to have either. In Silo, high production value ballasts a solid script and committed acting to make an impressively detailed and astonishing future world set deep in the underground. No one knows why or how they got to […]

In Sweetpea, every element comes together to make an addictive watch. The premise is amusing on its own—a shy girl is pushed so far into the edge she sees murder as a viable option—but brought to life by stylish direction, witty lines, and an irresistibly endearing Ella Purnell, you get great TV. It’s not exactly […]

After the likes of The Favourite six years ago, modern historical portrayals have now become more interested in the salacious side of real life deceased nobles, focusing on the sex, gore, and violence, so it’s unsurprising that James I, who was unpopular in part due to his alleged homosexuality, would eventually be depicted. Mary & […]

Based on the bestselling book of the same name, Three Women is a ten-part series that tells the story of everyday small-town women facing their own problems with intimacy and sensuality. There’s Lina (Betty Gilpin) from Indiana, a sexually frustrated housewife whose conservative husband and friends shame her for her desires. There’s Sloane (DeWanda Wise) […]

Viewers of American Gangster might have wondered about the fate of heroine kingpin Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson, who dies in the movie’s opening scene (of natural causes, mind you). On par with Al Capone or Billy the Kid, Bumpy Johnson was, in fact, a cult criminal and an underworld legend, but known almost exclusively to the […]

Starting off as the 24th(!) overall season of this long-running TV franchise at the time of its release, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon understandably treads very familiar ground: general paranoia and distrust, humanity divided into survivalist factions, a search for a cure. In its early episodes, though, this series gets a boost from its uniquely […]

Even without doing the important and long overdue work of uplifting Native American voices, Dark Winds manages to be an intriguing mystery, layered with complex performances and bolstered by the majestic expanse of the American Southwest (in the ‘70s no less!). Finally released from the shackles of supporting roles, Zahn McClarnon shines here; he’s in […]

Hailed as one of the best shows of the year, Gangs of London is a big and brutal account of a gang war that takes place in modern-day London. It’s big both in terms of scale and budget, but also risk. Each episode runs a long 90 minutes, and the violence is truly exceptional. The […]

The simple premise of this series, about real couples going to therapy, shouldn’t feel as revolutionary as it does. And yet, Couples Therapy feels like radical reality-TV, a focused and coherent undertaking. Couples of different histories, ages, races, and sexual orientations walk into Dr. Orna Guralnik’s New York office. Their problems are as diverse and […]

There are layers to Dublin Murders that make it stand out from many others like it. It’s intriguing as a mystery to be sure, but it’s also a psychological thriller and a study of a town warped in its own twisted history. Initially, its breadth could seem like a flaw. In the first couple of […]

At first glance, those who enjoyed Hulu’s Ramy might be tempted to view this as the UK version of it. However, Man like Mobeen is a bit more street than Ramy and a lot more British. It’s also not so much about being a good Muslim. Mobeen (Guz Khan), Eight (Tez Ilyas), and Nate (Tolu […]

When there’s lives at stake, and there’s no one around, you know who to call. Not Ghostbusters– you call an emergency hotline. It’s exactly the high risk, high stakes job that makes for an excellent police procedural, and it’s why Korean drama Voice is so compelling– the premise necessitates that the ensemble is given a […]

Ray Romano and Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids) star in this dark comedy-thriller about a gangster who attempts a career as a Hollywood producer. It’s based on the novel that the 1995 John Travolta and Danny DeVito movie by the same name was also based on *catches breath*. There is something undeniably funny about people in crime […]

In one scene, the main character’s husband looks at her with disdain after she makes an inappropriate joke –  “you are somebody’s mother!” She looks back with the same disdain – “I’m sorry, I forgot, moms aren’t supposed to be funny.” Funny is a good word to use here, because this show is hilarious. Comedian […]

Dark and almost too realistic, Wentworth is the women’s prison drama that I’ve been waiting for. This Australian show might have the same set-up as Orange is the New Black — following a recently incarcerated woman as she discovers a new world — but the two series couldn’t be more different. Wentworth is more Breaking […]

This colossal-budget show ($90 million for the first season alone) never caught a break. Somehow it didn’t make it to the big audience it deserved. It tells the grand story of Marco Polo the explorer, and the years he spent with the Mongols, going back forth in their ranks between prisoner and leader. It was […]

Sixteen-year-old Rae Earl struggles with many things, among them: severe mental illness, a distorted body image, and less-than-ideal home life. In an attempt to redefine herself and pursue the teenage dream she’s always wanted, she reconnects with her estranged friend Chloe and the cool new people she’s met in Rae’s absence. As Rae gets to […]

This six-chapter British miniseries stars the ever-reliable Stellan Skarsgård as an erratic London police detective. He starts seeing visions or “manifests” of his recently murdered colleague and tries to solve her case even though he was excluded from it. River blends reality and illusion in a thoughtful and original police thriller.