The days of cable are numbered. Streaming has become the most efficient and popular way for millennials to enjoy several forms of entertainment. Movies, television shows, music, and radio have all gone digital, and there are even streaming services for books. While cable is still home to a long list of popular shows (Game of Thrones, Family Guy, Power) most of those series can also be accessed online. With more and more people turning to the internet for their shows, the market for new series continues to grow. Unlike television, which is burdened with weekly time slots, streaming sites can release entire seasons that fans can watch at any time they please. Most cable stations have a streaming platform now as well, where fans can watch the entire season of shows after they have finished airing on television. Remember the days when you had to wait until a show was airing again, or when you had to clear more space on your recorder? Those days are behind us.
Although Netflix is the go-to streaming site for most millennials, HBONOW and Hulu have extensive catalogs as well. Just last month, I re-watched Entourage and The Wire in their entirety. Not in the market to rewatch shows from a decade ago? Both HBONOW and Hulu have a lengthy list of original shows that range from gossip dramas to sci-fi epics. With so many options at your fingertips, why settle for a catalog of just one streaming service? Diversify your entertainment. From The Duce to The Handmaid’s Tale, these are the best shows to stream on HBO and Hulu.
Westworld
Jonathan Nolan is one-half of the Nolan brothers. You know, the sibling team that brought the world The Dark Knight, Memento, and Interstellar. Nolan along with his wife Lisa Joy decided to recreate the 1970's western sci-fi horror flick Westworld and its sequel Futureworld. The couple combined both movies and created the genius and chilling series Westworld. Starring Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, James Marsden, and Jeffrey Wright, the less you know about this series going into it, the better.
The Deuce
David Simon, who was the mastermind behind The Wire, is also the brain behind this drama. The Deuce stars James Franco as twin brothers Vincent Martino and Frankie Martino (he plays both of them) and Maggie Gyllenhaal and is based on the decline of prostitution and the rise of pornography. Method Man plays a pimp on the show, and the series places an interesting take on the dynamic between porn and pimping.
Game of Thrones
At this point, does this show really need any introduction? If you don't watch Game of Thrones, you must have seen the millions of tweets or Facebook statuses from screaming fans that cannot believe they just watched their favorite character get killed. The number one rule of Game of Thrones is, don't have a favorite character. Just sit back and enjoy the most popular show in the world in all of its sexy, gory, backstabbing, incestuous, and brutal madness.
The Wire
The Wire is heralded as one of the best shows of all time. Each season of this gritty crime drama focuses on a different aspect of Baltimore. From the offices of the press, to the halls of public schools, The Wire is one of the most gripping series to ever be produced. This gem of a show launched the careers of several of today's most famous actors, most notably Michael B. Jordan and Idris Elba. If you need a new show to watch, this should be at the top of your binge-worthy list.
The Leftovers
The creator of Lost, Damon Lindelof, brought this eerie and enthralling series to HBO. The Leftovers begins years after an event called "Sudden Departure" takes 2% of the world's population away. The 140 million missing people simply vanished one day, and no one knows why. Commercialized religion fails to give humanity the answers they yearn for and cults rise to dominance in their wake. If you love shows filled with mystery and existential crises that never really get answered fully, this show is for you.
The Path
Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul stars in The Path, a series about a religious group called Meyerism. Meyerism was created by Dr. Stephen Meyer, who climbed a ladder of light to the sky and brought back a set of teachings for people to follow. Paul starts to question the faith that he and his family are completely committed to, leading him on a whole new path of enlightenment.
11.22.63
James Franco made our list twice. Franco is amazing in 11.22.63, a series based on a Stephen King book of the same name. Executive-produced by J. J. Abrams, 11.22.63 follows the story of Franco's character Jake Epping, who discovers that he can travel back to the date of the show. Epping is tasked with preventing the assassination of JFK, and must spend years in the past to construct his plan. The only catch is, when Epping returns to the present he cannot go back to the past without resetting everything he's already done.
Marvel's Runaways
Runaways is set in Marvel's Cinematic Universe, adding to a growing list of series like The Punisher and Luke Cage that all coexist with the Avengers, even if we never see them. The show is based on a comic series of the same name. A group of teenage children find out that their parents belong to a criminal organization called The Pride. Once the kids discover their parents are mutants, aliens, mad scientists, or witches and wizards, they use their inherited powers to battle their families and make up for all the evil they spread.
The Handmaid’s Tale
Based on a novel of the same name, The Handmaid's Tale is about a dystopian society that exists after a second Amerian Civil War. After the war, STD's and genetic anomalies lead to only a few women being fertile. These fertile women are forced into childbearing duties, and are raped by members of elite families who own them and want to have children. All women are restricted from having jobs, handling money, or furthering their education. The Handmaid's Tale shines a light on misogyny and how power and money can stifle individualism.
Future Man
Future Man is about a loser janitor who spends his free time playing the hardest video game in the world. Almost the entire world has given up on the game, calling it unbeatable. Somehow, the loser janitor, played by Hunger Games' Josh Hutcherson, beats the game which prompts warriors from the future to visit him. These future warriors claim that the video game was sent back in time as a training program to help them discern who would be the mightiest fighter to help them defeat their enemies. This dark-comedy adult sci-fi action series sounds ridiculous, and it is. In a good way.