Weekend Watchlist
This story is part of Weekend Watchlist, a series that showcases hidden gems and underrated films tucked away in your favorite streaming libraries.
Updated less than 39 minutes ago
If you are stuck with the same five prestige dramas everyone’s already talking about, here are three that got criminally overlooked. For this weekend, we have a yakuza thriller, a finance drama, and a televangelist saga that still delivers after four seasons. All three underrated shows are streaming right now on HBO Max, and deserve a spot on your watchlist. If you don’t have the time or the appetite to commit to multiple seasons, I have created a list of the best limited series on Netflix that’s worth checking out.
We also have guides to the best new movies to stream, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best free movies, and the best movies on Amazon Prime Video.
Tokyo Vice (2022-2024)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
IMDb:8.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Jake Adelstein (Ansel Elgort) talks his way onto a Japanese newspaper’s crime desk in the late ’90s, then keeps pulling threads until he’s tangled up with actual yakuza. Detective Hiroto Katagiri (Ken Watanabe) half mentors him, half tolerates him, and their partnership carries the whole show. Underneath the neon and the subtitles, this is really a story about how far someone can go for a byline.
Michael Mann directed the pilot, setting a gorgeous, moody, authentic tone that you can feel in every frame. The secret weapon here is Show Kasamatsu, who plays a rising mobster with incredible charisma. This show on HBO Max has two tight seasons, zero filler, and an ending that actually reaches a resolution.
You can stream Tokyo Viceon HBO Max
Genre: Drama
IMDb: 7.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes:91%
Harper Stern (Myha’la Herrold) and Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela) fight for a handful of permanent jobs at a London investment bank, and every day on the trading floor is an absolute knife fight for survival. They drown their grueling late-night hours in substance abuse, complex office politics, and deeply terrible relationship choices. The show is also about what ambition does to people who never learn to stop.
What got me hooked wasn’t the finance jargon; it was watching characters make self-destructive choices and finding myself still rooting for them. I’ve recommended this to friends who work in soul crushing jobs, and they texted me mid-season one saying, “this is too real.” Four seasons in and a fifth already confirmed, this thing keeps getting sharper instead of running out of ideas.
You can stream Industryon HBO Max
The Righteous Gemstones (2019-2025)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
IMDb: 8.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
Eli Gemstone (John Goodman) tries to keep his three deeply flawed adult children from tearing apart the megachurch empire he built. Jesse (Danny McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson), and Kelvin (Adam DeVine) spend four seasons scheming against each other and occasionally the whole family at once. It’s a dark comedy about how faith and greed end up looking identical once enough money gets involved.
I put off watching this for years, assuming it was just Danny McBride yelling for four seasons, but the show proved me wrong. He channels pure satirical genius here, delivering funny moments without dropping the narrative. There is also a real tenderness buried under all the chaos, which I liked. And this hidden gem on HBO Max wrapped up with a perfect critic score on the finale.
You can stream The Righteous Gemstoneson HBO Max
