While the FIFA World Cup and Wimbledon will be television staples for the first half of July, we have eight promising new series that will keep us company long after the athletes have taken their last shot. Here are our picks of the new scripted shows worth your time.

The Five-Star Weekend

American author Elin Hilderbrand is known for her Nantucket-set beach reads peppered with humour, romance and realism. As its big summer series, Peacock adapts her 2023 novel with Jennifer Garner as Hollis, a widowed Ina Garten-type cookbook and a TV celebrity trying to reconnect with community and move on. The title refers to Hollis gathering friends old and new from each stage of her life (Chloë Sevigny, Regina Hall, Gemma Chan and D’Arcy Carden) to her Nantucket home over glasses of chilled Sancerre and cashmere throws to ward off the chilly coastal nights: this is aspirational luxury-lifestyle viewing. It’s also a heartfelt exploration of grief, friendship and self-discovery sure to inspire conversations – including in an official podcast hosted by the bestselling author with cast and crew unpacking each episode.

Where to Watch: Streaming on W Network/StackTV starting July 9 (8 episodes)

Prisoner

On her first day back from maternity leave, transport officer Amber (Izuka Hoyle) is tasked with delivering contract killer Tibor (Tahar Rahim) to the Old Bailey so he can testify. Naturally, their convoy is ambushed – his former employers (a dangerous crime syndicate!) are trying to silence Tibor before he makes it to court. Cue the prison guard and witness handcuffed together on the run – emphasis on the running, and fun action setpieces, as they figure out if and how much to trust one another. It’s an entertaining action thriller and, thanks to production designer Arwel Jones (Dracula, BBC’s Sherlock), looks great too.

Where to Watch: Streaming on Showcase/StackTV starting July 9 (6 episodes)

Little House on the Prairie

Netflix calls their new adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s autobiographical novels (filmed in and around Winnipeg) one of connection and optimism in their slate of “feel-good, heartland-rooted comfort programming.” The legendary original series, which ran 1974-1983 (and seemingly forever in syndicated reruns), remains one of television’s most beloved classics. Following the weekly domestic life and adventures of the Ingalls family homesteading in the 19th-century American midwest, whole families bonded over the award-winning episodes and the drama’s sentimental legacy lives on across several generations. Michael Landon guided the show and played patriarch Charles “Pa” Ingalls as the strong, tender heart of supportive family life onscreen; Luke Bracey dons those big suspenders here, while emerging actor Alice Halsey is the young, strong-willed Laura (Melissa Gilbert’s indelible role). Last year, when conservative host Megyn Kelly pleaded with Netflix not to “wokeify” the reboot, Gilbert clapped back, insisting the 1970s original was already progressive on social issues. This new take adds an Osage family and there are hopes it will be a grittier look at the realities of hardscrabble survival for more than just the main white settler family –  and not idealizing or erasing the grim reality of frontier narratives. 

Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix starting July 9 (8 episodes)

Lucky

The only thing better than a heist story is a heist-gone-awry. Con artist Luciana “Lucky” Armstrong (Anya Taylor-Joy, The Queen’s Gambit) was raised in a life of crime. Her latest job was supposed to be her last, but now her husband has gone missing – and so has the money. When our plucky anti-heroine discovers a lottery ticket bought on a whim is worth enough to change her future, the fugitive has to figure out a way to cash it without getting caught. Annette Bening is a coolly calculating mob boss (and Lucky’s mother-in-law) and Timothy Olyphant is John, the father who taught her the grift, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor is the FBI agent in relentless pursuit in this fun, pacy adaptation of Canadian Marissa Stapley’s bestselling 2021 novel that probes truth, personal redemption and the complexity of being good.

Where to Watch: Streaming on AppleTV+ starting July 15 (7 episodes)

Ride or Die

Best friends Debbie and Judith, Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer (The Help) and Emmy winner Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso), respectively, have incredible chemistry and a believable lived-in friendship in this comedic series. Spencer is a character actress grounded in realism with impeccable comic timing – and anyone who watched Waddingham host Saturday Night Live UK in May knows the statuesque British triple-threat is game, with a side of camp. They prove to be a killer combination when it’s revealed that Judith has a secret day job – which comes to light when criminals set out to get Debbie. Expect international intrigue complete with disguises, runaway trains and Bill Nighy as Judith’s shadowy boss. The answer to who should be the new James Bond is right here on the screen (and she can sing, too). 

Where to Watch: Streaming on Prime starting July 15 (8 episodes)

The Hawk

Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins was once the No. 1 tournament golfer – but that was 2004. Now, his son Lance is the new favourite – and Lonnie’s body hurts. Will Ferrell tees off in brash golf attire to play the titular washed-up legend of this underdog feel-good comedy, produced by Knives Out creator Rian Johnson. The series is stacked with a comedy A-Team and reunites Ferrell with SNL alum castmates from his iconic 1990s tenure: Molly Shannon (as Lonnie’s estranged wife Stacy) and Chris Parnell (as a golf executive). The Hawk’s final attempt at a comeback to career glory – while deciphering the sport’s new landscape (social media influencers, et al.) – should make for absurd humour.

Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix starting July 16 (10 episodes)

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe

The Big Bang Theory creator Chuck Lorre is back with a third spinoff, this time featuring comics shop owner Stuart Bloom (Kevin Sussman), a peripheral character in the original sitcom. After tinkering with one of Sheldon’s contraptions and inadvertently triggering a multiverse, he’s got main character energy. In this swashbuckling, self-deprecating celebration of nerd culture and misfits, Stuart and his pals romp through various elaborate universes, each an affectionate homage to the world-building of Star Wars, Alien, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman and other science fiction pillars. It’s meta on meta – more or less what you’d get by crossing The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with Canada’s own recent low-fi hit Nirvanna the Band the Show. Watch for guests and cameos, including Johnny Galecki, Wil Wheaton, Jon Cryer, Miles Teller and Christine Baranski.

Where to Watch: Streaming on Crave starting July 23 (10 episodes)

Furious

Details are scarce for Hulu’s big new dark crime thriller. Emmy Rossum (Shameless) plays FBI agent Alice in pursuit of a cunning female serial killer that she becomes personally drawn to as the case progresses. “Their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur,” declares the mysterious official logline. So far, so Killing Eve – except we’re intrigued by the prospect of this particular cat and mouse because it’s from Elizabeth Meriwether, the award-winning creator of nuanced, female-driven series New Girl, The Dropout and Dying for Sex. Now that’s range!

Where to Watch: Streaming on Disney+ starting July 27 (8 episodes)

Elle

Set in 1995 Seattle, Elle the series leans into nostalgic needle-drops (B-52s, Garbage, Radiohead) and designer fashion as the titular perky teen navigates peak-grunge-era high school while balancing burgeoning social justice activism with her abiding interest in style and beauty; her socialite mother (Grace and Frankie scene-stealer June Diane Raphael) is also trying to figure out her place in this fish-out-of-water prequel series to the 2001 film comedy Legally Blonde – although, this feels more like a long-lost cousin to Clueless.

Where to Watch: Streaming on Prime starting July 1 (8 episodes) 

The Bombing of Pan Am 103

After airing in the U.K. last year, this BBC/Netflix co-production – dramatizing the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people – finally lands and goes global on the streamer. Phyllis Logan (Downton Abbey), Merritt Wever (Nurse Jackie) and Eddie Marsan (Ray Donovan) star in the recounting of the aviation disaster’s long tragic aftermath, bringing the timeline up to recent developments such as the 2022 indictment of another conspirator. 

Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix, starting July 30 (6 episodes)