Stream On This Week: Rose Byrne Is Doing Her Nathan Fielder Homework

Welcome to the latest issue of Stream On, the weekly newsletter from Consequence that answers the eternally confounding question: What films and TV shows should you be watching? (Subscribe here!) We’re looking at all the new and recent releases from Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Prime Video, Paramount+, Peacock, HBO Max, and more for ideas — not to mention a Blast From the Past and streaming recommendations from this week’s special guest: The Good Daughter stars Rose Byrne, Meghann Fahy, Harper Steele, and Olivia Williams!

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This Week’s Picks

Paper Trail (Short Film)

Directed by: Don Hertzfeldt
Streaming on: Vimeo

I don’t normally lead off Stream On with a short film, but this issue’s a bit topsy-turvy (just wait until you see what the One Last One Before Bed is), and this new piece from renowned animator Don Hertzfeldt is easily one of the best things I saw this week. It’s honestly a pretty amazing thing to experience with zero context, so feel free to skip reading the rest of this blurb if you want to go in blind. But if you want a little more context: This very simple hand-drawn shortie reveals the awakening of a mind, entirely through the marks they’ve made on paper. (The titular “paper trail.”) Simple in concept but powerful in execution, it’s beautiful work, with stellar sound design and music creating a shockingly emotional experience.

Alicia’s Law (TV)

Head Writer: Fernanda Eguiarte
Cast: Fernanda Castillo, Juan Manuel Bernal, Michel Brown, Karina Gidi, Yoshira Escárrega, Darío Yazbek, Karla Gaytán, Axel Madrazo, Patricia Bernal, María Penella, Francisco Rubio, Anita del Rey, Juliette Pardau
Streaming on: Netflix

Picking just one new release from Netflix this week was actually a real struggle, as Jenelle James’ very funny new comedy special and the pretty hilarious Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass were also serious contenders. But as a diehard Good Wife fan, I couldn’t resist this Mexican adaptation of the CBS legal drama, which takes plenty of liberties with the source material but still has a lot of similarities. I haven’t watched enough of it to say whether the full season follows the path of the original, but so far I’m fascinated by the changes made. (The Mexican equivalent for Kalinda is a wild shift, but I dig it.)

Phony (TV)

Created by: Nick Paley
Cast: Connie Britton, Sam Nivola, Grace Brennan, Maliq Johnson, Meera Syal, Colter Lee, Mahaela Park
Streaming on: Hulu

Thanks to one of our special guests, this isn’t the only mention of Phony you’ll be reading today — in fact, our special guest pushed me to finally check out this genre-defying new series starring Sam Nivola (The White Lotus Season 3) and Connie Britton (Coach’s Wife! Texas Forever!). The pair play a son and mother whose relationship has always been very close — until Sonny (Nivola) gets into a car accident, and afterwards becomes convinced that during the week he was in a coma, his mother was replaced by someone else. (Yes, the Avril Lavigne replacement conspiracy theory gets mentioned.) An unexpected mix of comedy, drama, thriller, and maybe even a little horror, Phony’s mysteries are fascinating. Definitely a show where I can’t wait to find out what the hell is going on.

Being Heumann (Film)

Directed by: Sian Heder
Cast: Ruth Madeley, Mark Ruffalo, Dylan O’Brien, Rob Delaney, Ray Fisher
Streaming on: Apple TV

This true-life story from CODA director Sian Heder isn’t subtle in its themes, but this underdog story does shine an important light on the struggle that led to the Americans with Disabilities Act. Starring the fantastic Ruth Madeley (an essential part of my beloved Years and Years, streaming on HBO Max), Being Heumann dramatizes the 1977 protests that pushed the government to finally grant certain rights already signed into law. Heder’s approach embraces the flawed humanity of all the film’s characters, especially Judy Heumann herself — it’s not a perfect movie, especially as Mark Ruffalo’s performance suffers from his role being “big bad bureaucrat,” but its crowd-pleasing nature is hard to ignore.

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Blast From the Past

The home screens of streaming services are always packed with the latest new releases, but we don’t spend enough time appreciating how much good library content is streaming across all of these platforms. Each week, Stream On will spotlight one less-than-new favorite (must pre-date the founding of Consequence, so 15 years or older) that deserves attention from modern-day eyes.

Wag the Dog (Film)

Directed by: Barry Levinson
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Anne Heche, Denis Leary, Willie Nelson, Andrea Martin, Kirsten Dunst, William H. Macy
Streaming on: Prime Video

For some reason, perhaps election-related, Prime Video is suddenly hosting a bunch of my favorite ’90s movies about politics, including Primary Colors and Dave. But oh, Wag the Dog! The punchy David Mamet dialogue! The perfect mix of political and Hollywood satire! The flat-out bonkers ensemble cast! The horrifying sensation that you are not watching a comedy but a documentary! The Willie Nelson cameo! God, Wag the Dog is so good. Legitimately surprised that I’ve never recommended it here before now, but it’s honestly not streaming all that often, making this a particularly nice surprise.

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A Special Guest Recommends!

Liz isn’t the only person in the world capable of suggesting stuff for people to watch… So each week, Stream On will now feature picks from a special guest! Said special guest could be literally anyone from the world of entertainment — actors, writers, directors, musicians, or anyone else Liz thinks might be watching something interesting.

This Week: The Cast of The Good Daughter!

Who Are They? Rose Byrne, Meghann Fahy, Harper Steele, and Olivia Williams are just four of the very cool people to appear in The Good Daughter, the new thriller series now streaming on Peacock! (The cast also includes Michael Dorman, Jake McDorman, Paula Malcomson, and Brendan Gleeson.) Rose and Meghann play estranged sisters and lawyers who reunite over an unsettling school shooting case in their small Georgia town, while Harper plays their father’s long-time secretary and Olivia plays their mother in flashbacks.

Created by novelist Karin Slaughter, directed by Steph Green, and shot by cinematographer Zoë White, it’s hard to ignore the strong female energy of the series, something both Rose and Meghann said during a recent junket interview they appreciated. “It was really an intentional thing, particularly with the story dealing with incredibly sensitive material at times,” Rose said, and Meghann agreed.

“It was so different in so many ways and so wonderful,” Meghann added. “And so now I always think about it. Because it’s so rare that that’s the setup.”

What Do They Recommend? All four women had incredible picks, first with Olivia admitting that she is a “complete addict” for The Celebrity Traitors UK (Peacock): “I couldn’t tear myself away, screaming at the TV, ‘He’s a traitor! Why can’t you see? It’s obvious!'” She added that on her flight to the U.S. to promote The Good Daughter, she watched the British film Good Boy (Prime Video, Hoopla, Kanopy, Tubi — not the one with the dog). The Jan Komasa-directed drama did not at all parallel their show, but Olivia called it out as “a lovely beautiful return to European-influenced cinema happening in the UK.”

As hinted at above, Meghann was the one who kicked my own butt into watching Phony (Hulu), calling it “tonally very interesting — kind of a comedy but also a thriller and kind of also sci-fi. It’s really interesting.” She also loves Furious (Hulu), shouting out Emmy Rossum’s “amazing” performance in that.

Rose, meanwhile, has not yet gotten to see You Can See Everything, but she says that she’s watching the Nathan Fielder Comedy Central series Nathan for You (HBO Max, Paramount+) in preparation for it: “It’s great — it’s so unusual and uncomfortable.” For the record, Meghann also has yet to catch You Can See Everything, and the two bonded over how “every room that I walk into, everyone’s like, ‘Have you seen it?'”

Finally, Harper mentioned the movie Tuner (Paramount+), a tight, well-made little thriller I also really enjoyed. What did the star of Will and Harper enjoy about it? “Well, the lead, Leo [Woodall], is one of the cutest guys in the world. How’s that?”

“I think we can universally agree on that,” Olivia said. “And a very nice chap. And we got to watch him buggering Tom Hollander in The White Lotus.” (Season 2, if you’ve forgotten.) Added Olivia, “I was at university with Tom Hollander, so I got to deconstruct that scene with him at some length.”

Thank you so much to Rose, Meghann, Harper, and Olivia for these picks! The Good Daughter is streaming now on Peacock.

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One Last One Before Bed

Finally, let’s spotlight a movie or TV show that’s not only great, but won’t take up too much of your time: Think of this section as the answer to the question “What’s something I can watch before hitting the hay, that won’t keep me up too late?” The only rule is that it has to be less than 95 minutes if it’s a movie, or less than 30 minutes an episode if it’s a TV show. Otherwise, sky’s the limit!

Avengers: Endgame Encore (Sorta) (Film)

Directed by: Joe and Anthony Russo
Cast: All those Avengers people, plus some new surprises!
Streaming on: Disney+

“But Liz!” you’re saying. “Avengers: Endgame Encore is almost 100 minutes longer than 95 minutes! Why are you mentioning it here?” Well, consider this less of a recommendation and more of a public service announcement: As you may or may not be aware, when Disney re-released Endgame in theaters this fall, it did so with a collection of new post-credits scenes (plus a new addendum to the original ending) that are intended to set up major plot developments in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. And now it’s all streaming on Disney+!

I still like Endgame, to be clear, but I am not suggesting that you watch the whole thing. Instead, I am saying that if you just want to see all the new material, you should skip forward to the timecode 2:48:00. I chose that time deliberately so that you get the full lead-in to the new ending; after that, just use the Disney+ “skip credits” feature to skip past the credits and see the new stuff. Maybe it’ll make you even more excited for Doomsday! Or maybe it’ll just be confusing. I know I’m a little confused by some of it. But it’ll all make sense in December! The Russos wouldn’t lie to us!

We’ll be back next week with more picks — in the meantime, stay safe out there, or better yet stay inside, where it’s definitely safe, and there’s so much film and TV to watch. Be sure to subscribe to the newsletter!