
THE FIVE-STAR WEEKEND
- Binge
Jennifer Garner leads a starry cast in this dramedy series that'll just hit the spot for fans of female friendship stories.
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Garner plays Hollis Shaw, a food influencer whose life is turned upside down when her husband tragically dies in an accident.
Months later, trying to get out of her grief-fuelled funk, she invites four friends from different periods of her life together for a weekend at her Nantucket (read: fancy schmancy) beach house.
There's Tatum (Chloe Sevigny), her childhood best friend/borderline sister; Dru-Ann (Regina Hall), her college bestie; Brooke (D'Arcy Carden), her mum friend; and Gigi (Gemma Chan), a follower she's connected with virtually since her husband's death.
Hollis is trying to reconnect with the person she used to be, and hopes that spending time with all these women together will remind her of the times they shared and help her find her old self again.
Tatum still lives on Nantucket, and when she arrives for the weekend she gets a lift with Jack (Timothy Olyphant), Hollis' high school boyfriend. His appearance during the weekend adds another layer to the nostalgia journey.
There's plenty of interpersonal drama at play in the first two episodes to arrive (the rest are dropping weekly). There's also some stunning food photography and delightful costuming to really invite you into The Five-Star Weekend.
The series is adapted from a book of the same name by Elin Hilderbrand.

PROJECT RUNWAY
- Disney+
The new season of Project Runway has arrived and if the first episode is anything to go by, this season is going to be all drama.
That's probably fine for people who tune into TV looking for that - the type of drama you get on Real Housewives or MAFS or Love Island - but if you look to Project Runway for the craft, you're probably not going to stick around to find out who wins this season.
In fact, the first episode doesn't even have the contestants - of which there are 22, to align with the show's 22nd season - making any new garments, which one would think is the entire purpose of this show. Instead they've all been told to bring in a garment they created at home for the first runway, and they've got a bit of time in the workshop to make any adjustments under the guidance of mentor (and former winner) Christian Siriano.
There's quite a bit of stunt-casting at work here too, with two former RuPaul's Drag Race stars among the 22 designers, as well as former contestant Joseph McRae who has returned to cause a stir again. There's also a former Miss Universe contestant, a designer who previously competed on Netflix's Next in Fashion program, and a drag costume designer, among others.
The criteria for making it into this season seems to be only the ability to make outlandish statements and exude unearned bravado.
Amazingly, given there's no crafting happening in the opening episode, this season 22 premiere is still - agonisingly - more than an hour long.
And the drama continues in the judging arena, with Tyra Banks - creator of America's Next Top Model, the competition series that was recently the subject of a scathing docuseries - joining host Heidi Klum, Elle Magazine editor Nina Garcia and Zendaya's stylist Law Roach on the panel.
Episodes drop weekly, so time will tell if anyone actually tunes in for this one.

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE
- Netflix
Aussie actor Luke Bracey is the head of the Ingalls family in this new adaptation of the famous children's books inspired by author Laura Ingalls Wilder's own childhood in mid-to-late-1800s.
Already a TV series from the 1970s, the story is adapted again here for Netflix, with the family facing all the trials and tribulations of moving across the US.
The story is very much part of the fabric of mythology of America, and even though this version may be less sappy than its predecessor, it's still got something of a saccharine nature that will turn off some viewers.
We meet the Ingalls family as they're travelling with all their goods in search of a new place to live. Father Charles (Bracey) has heard there is land just waiting to be claimed and, with some sort of family drama behind them, they set off to start their new lives away from any sort of city.
The show gets right into the hardships of this time period, with the family struggling to make a crossing in a rushing river, running out of funds, and losing their beloved dog all within the first episode.
There's a survival thriller element to this iteration of Little House on the Prairie, but for viewers used to a bit more grit and nastiness it still comes off very lightly.
The show is costumed well and evocative of the period but might struggle to find a non-American audience to really appreciate it.

ALSO STREAMING
Head to 1980s New York in crime drama The Westies, from the creators of Narcos and Godfather of Harlem. The series follows the head of the Westies gang in Hell's Kitchen (J.K. Simmons), and his childhood pal (Titus Welliver), who works with the NYPD. Two episodes have landed to kick things off, with new episodes arriving weekly. Also on Stan you'll find the new season of sports drama All American, which is somehow still going. Over on Netflix you can catch documentary film Shipwrecked: Nightmare At Sea, which follows the shipwreck of a luxury cruise in 2012. On Disney+, our own Robert Irwin (the man is everywhere) hosts US competition series Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro, where 12 dancers compete to become a new pro dancer on the long-running series. Episodes arrive weekly.

