What's worth streaming in June 2024: 'House of -2-

The satirical and hyper-violent superhero series "The Boys" (June 13) returns for its fourth season, with Homelander (Antony Starr) consolidating his power and Butcher (Karl Urban) on the outs with his team. Jeffrey Dean Morgan ("The Walking Dead") is joining the cast, which is appropriate since it feels like the crossover audience for "The Boys" and "The Walking Dead" is substantial. Three eps drop on the 13th, with a weekly release after that. It still has way too many exploding heads for some people (cough cough me), but if that doesn't bother you, enjoy!

Prime Video also has the standup comedy special "Marlon Wayans: Good Grief" (June 4); the documentary "Federer: Twelve Final Days" (June 20), as the tennis legend says goodbye to the game; "I Am: Celine Dion" (June 25), a behind-the-scenes look at the pop icon's struggle with a life-changing illness; and "My Lady Jane" (June 27), a historical rom-com fantasy series based on the hit YA novels. It'll also add last year's Oscar winner "Oppenheimer" (June 18).

There's also a live sports lineup that includes New York Yankees games every Wednesday night, WNBA games every Thursday and NWSL matches every Friday.

Summer binge: Amazon (AMZN) recently picked up all four seasons of "Battlestar Galactica," the brilliant 2004 reboot of the 1978 sci-fi series that had been unavailable to stream after Peacock yanked it nearly a year ago. At once a tense conspiracy thriller, a "West Wing"-esque political drama and an outer-space war story, "BSG" offered an insightful take on post-9/11 America and all of its moral dilemmas. Don't let the nerdy name fool you - it's one of the best TV shows of the 21st century, and worth revisiting. (If you do, be sure to start with the miniseries, which preceded Season 1.)

Play, pause or stop? Pause. Prime Video has more to offer than in recent months, but it's still pricey, especially if you want to go ad-free.

Apple TV+ ($9.99 a month)

Apple (AAPL) has a lot of shows that sound great in an elevator pitch (Michael Douglas as Benjamin Franklin! The manhunt for Lincoln's assassin!) but end up falling flat and quickly disappearing from public consciousness.

Can "Presumed Innocent" (June 12) avoid that fate? The eight-part miniseries stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a lawyer accused of murder, and is based on Scott Turow's 1990 novel, which itself was turned into a very serviceable movie starring Harrison Ford. But is this a story that screams to be remade in 2024, and told over eight hours? The jury's still out.

Apple's also got the dramedy "Land of Women" (June 26), starring Eva Longoria as a mother who finds herself a fugitive and flees to Spain with her daughter and her mother; "WondLa" (June 28), an animated kids sci-fi adventure series; and "Fancy Dance" (June 28), a Native-American family drama starring Lily Gladstone.

Post-mortem: The fact that "Sugar," the recently concluded mystery series starring Colin Farrell, had a game-changing twist was well-known going into the series. And no spoilers here, but wow, was it unveiled in the clunkiest, most frustrating way possible. It's a shame, because before that, "Sugar" worked fairly well as a stylish, L.A. noir story in the vein of "Chinatown." It even sort of still worked afterward. The mistake wasn't so much the twist itself (which was telegraphed fairly heavy-handedly), but in putting it in the sixth episode, dropping like an anvil on viewers and overshadowing the main plot, rather than in the first or second episode, where it could have been incorporated better. It's somehow still worth a watch, if only for a handful of fun early episodes and, later, a lesson in how not to structure a series.

Play, pause or stop? Stop. There's nothing that's a must-watch.

Disney+ ($7.99 a month with ads, $13.99 with no ads)

It's understandable that "Star Wars" fans are feeling gun-shy, since pretty much every one of the franchise's live-action series in recent years - with the notable exception of "Andor" - has proved disappointing. But there's good buzz around the latest offering, "The Acolyte" (June 4). Lee Jung-jae ("Squid Game") and Amandla Stenberg ("Bodies Bodies Bodies") star in what's best described as a Jedi murder mystery. It appears well-removed from what we've seen of the "Star Wars" universe, which is encouraging from a creative perspective at least. The first two eps drop on the 4th, with new ones coming every Tuesday.

Disney (DIS) also has new episodes every Friday of the latest - and refreshingly fun - "Doctor Who," but not much else new.

Play, pause or stop? Stop. Recent history demands viewers take a wait-and-see approach to "The Acolyte." But even if it's good, there's just not enough else on right now to justify a subscription.

Paramount+ ($5.99 a month with ads, $11.99 a month with Showtime and no ads)

The dour crime drama "The Mayor of Kingstown" (June 2) returns for a third season. The series is nothing special, but it's worth pointing out the remarkable comeback by star Jeremy Renner - this marks his return to acting following his horrific 2023 snowplow accident.

Paramount (PARA) also has a new season of "Criminal Minds: Evolution" (June 6) and new episodes every week of the clever and creepy supernatural drama "Evil."

Sports-wise, there's the UEFA Champions League final (June 1) between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, along with a full slate of golf, women's soccer and WNBA games. There's also the 77th annual Tony Awards (June 16).

Catch up: Paramount doesn't have much new Pride programming, but it does have one of last year's best miniseries, Showtime's "Fellow Travelers," starring Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey as two gay men facing challenges both personal and professional as they navigate their love affair from the 1950s to the '80s. It's complex, heartfelt and heartbreaking, and well worth a watch.

Play, pause or stop? Stop. Once again, there's not enough new stuff to justify a subscription.

Peacock ($5.99 a month with ads, or $11.99 with no ads)

There's not a lot going on at Peacock in June, with the biggest premieres being Season 6 of "Love Island USA" (June 11), the nature documentary "Queer Planet" (June 6) and the season finale of the reality show "The Valley" (June 5).

There are also new weekly episodes of "Top Chef" until its season finale on June 20, as well as new eps of reality shows like "Summer House," "Real Housewives of New Jersey" and "Below Deck: Mediterranean." And don't forget Season 2 of the excellent punk-rock comedy "We Are Lady Parts" dropped in late May.

The sports lineup is better, with U.S. Olympic Trials (swimming and diving starting June 16, track and field starting June 22 and gymnastics starting June 27), IndyCar racing, a full lineup of golf, and daily coverage of the Tour de France starting June 29 (which is totally worth watching, though more in July).

To bundle or not? You've probably heard of the recently announced $15-a-month bundle for Peacock, Apple TV+ and Netflix. But pump the brakes. For starters, it's only available for Comcast (CMCSA) cable or internet customers. Secondly, most Comcast cable subscribers can get Peacock for free anyway, meaning they'd only be saving about $2 a month for Apple and Netflix. Thirdly, bundling makes it harder for you to churn subscriptions - which is what Peacock and Apple are counting on. Both of those services have fallow months that really aren't worth paying for, so for most consumers, the bundle is probably not worth it.

Play, pause or stop? Stop. If you already have Peacock, watch the new season of "We Are Lady Parts" immediately." Otherwise, hold off until July and the Summer Olympics. Be advised that if you're planning on subscribing just for the Olympics, Peacock is raising prices by $2 starting July 18.

Need more? Catch up on previous months' picks at What's Worth Streaming.

-Mike Murphy

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06-04-24 1722ET

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