What to binge watch on Showmax and Netflix in August

If you fancy curling up on the couch and binge-watching through the last month of winter, your streaming service has you covered.

From Netflix’s latest animation sitcom, to award-winning shows coming to South Africa for the first time. If you don’t have a smart device you’re missing out. Here is a list of unmissable shows dropping this month.

Like Father

When a workaholic young executive (Kristen Bell), is left at the altar, she ends up on her Caribbean honeymoon cruise with the last person she ever expected: her estranged and equally workaholic father (Kelsey Grammer).

The two depart as strangers, but over the course of a few hilarious adventures, a couple of umbrella-clad cocktails and a whole lot of soul-searching, they return with a renewed appreciation for family and life.

• Out now on Netflix

Flavors Of Youth

Told in three chapters in three cities, Flavors of Youth explores the simple joys of life through sensual memories and how the beating heart of love cannot be defeated by the flow of time.

• On Netflix August 4th

Insatiable

Insatiable is a dark, twisted revenge comedy starring Debby Ryan, Dallas Roberts and Alyssa Milano. For years, Patty (Debby Ryan) has been bullied, ignored, and underestimated by those around her because of her weight. But now that she is suddenly thin, Patty is out for payback against anyone who has ever made her feel bad about herself.

Bob Armstrong (Dallas Roberts), a disgraced attorney whose true passion is coaching beauty pageant contestants, is the only one who sees Patty’s potential. He takes her under his wing – first as a legal client, and then as a pageant contestant whom he coaches to become the top pageant queen in the country. But Bob and his wife, Coralee (Alyssa Milano), have no idea how deep Patty’s rage is or how far she will go to exact revenge on anyone who has wronged her.

• On Netflix on August 11th

Disenchantment

From Matt Groening comes the 10-episode adult animated comedy fantasy series, Disenchantment, launching on Netflix, August 17. Viewers will be whisked away to the crumbling medieval kingdom of Dreamland, where they will follow the misadventures of hard-drinking young princess Bean, her feisty elf companion Elfo, and her personal demon Luci.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp_RnJcb8Ig

Along the way, the oddball trio will encounter ogres, sprites, harpies, imps, trolls, walruses and lots of human fools. The series will feature the voices of Abbi Jacobson (Bean), Eric Andre (Luci) and Nat Faxon (Elfo) with John DiMaggio, Billy West, Maurice LaMarche, Tress MacNeille, David Herman, Matt Berry, Jeny Batten and Rich Fulcher.

Succession

First on Showmax, the Roy family controls one of the biggest media and entertainment conglomerates in the world. But what will the future hold for them once their aging father (Emmy-winner Brian Cox) steps back from the company?

This hit HBO show was created by Oscar-nominee Jesse Armstrong, who was nominated for a Writers Guild of America award for his work on Veep and won a Bafta for Peep Show.

• On Showmax on August 6th

Reverie

Reverie is a virtual reality programme that lets you live your dreams – to the point that people don’t want to return to the real world. Enter Mara Kint, a former hostage negotiator, who’s brought in to save people from themselves.

From Extant creator Mickey Fisher, this sci-fi thriller stars Sarah Shahi (The L Word), Dennis Haysbert (24) and Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes).

• On Showmax on August 13th

Blood & Oil

Chace Crawford (Gossip Girl) was nominated for a People’s Choice Award for Favourite Actor In A New Series as Billy LeFever, a newly married man trying to cash in on the modern-day oil boom in North Dakota.

Don Johnson co-stars as an oil baron.

• On Showmax on August 20th