The streaming service Hulu will premiere some must-watch series this week: Superhot, a taste of the truth about highly spiced food, and the closed-door mystery series Death and Other Details. There are also incredibly creepy cult documentary series Daughter of the Cult, Fargo, and more.
I’ve been fascinated with cults for a long time, so I can’t believe I had never heard of Ervil LeBaron until I watched Daughters of the Cult this week. LeBaron was a next-level-evil cult leader. Dubbed “The Mormon Manson” during his reign of terror in the 1970s and ’80s, Ervil ran a heretical, polygamist cult like a ruthless gang boss, straight up gunning down the leaders of rival polygamist groups. Daughters of the Cult tells this “wait, that actually happened?” story through interviews with some of his 50 children, who provide insider looks at a nightmarish religious cult that started with polygamy and ended up fully off-the-rails.
There’s been a resurgence of high-quality, closed-door Hollywood mysteries recently (Knife Out, Glass Onion, Haunting in Venice) and Death and Other Details takes aim at that rarefied air. According to many critics, it’s a flop and a flop, however, mystery dogs, like all enthusiasts of the genre, are forgiving. They can find anything to love in even the worst examples of their obsession, and Death and Other Details is far from the back of the mysterious barrel. Think of it like Agatha Christie-lite: there’s a homicide mystery, an exotic location (a glamorous cruise ship), rich suspects, and even a Wish. com edition of Hercule Poirot in the form of Mandy Patinkin’s super-sleuth, Rufus Cotesworth.
“Let’s look at people who like spicy food” might seem like a thin premise for a TV show, but these folks really like spicy food, and examining their subculture reveals an unseen world of inspiration, obsession, beauty, and controversy. Plus, you get to see people sweat a lot as they consume inhumanely spicy peppers. What’s not to like?
I’m not a big fan of game shows, but I do love Fox’s The Floor. It pits self-proclaimed experts on specific topics such as “grains” or “insects” opposed to each other in quick duels, giving the audience the ability to compare. their own wisdom to that of the “mavens” as they cheer (and bet) on their favorite geek-testing. A territory-taking metagame adds another point to The Floor, and host Rob Lowe helps keep it all going in combination with some amazing presentation skills from the game.
The Floor is streaming on FuboTV, Tubi, Sling TV, and YouTube TV.
The festival for a new streaming series is awesome. The new screens rival not only all existing shows, but also almost every series that will ever air on television. So it’s encouraging that Hulu’s This Fool has survived streaming’s ruthless variety procedure long enough to have a second season. Set in a working-class Latino community in Los Angeles, the second season of This Fool sees susceptible Julio (the titular fool), his former cousin Luis, and Julio’s eccentric ex-boss, Minister Payne, looking to open a café together. This Fool has been available on Hulu for a few months now, so it’s nothing new, but it’s one of the smartest and most fun TV screens right now.
Fargo’s fifth season mixes up a stew of evil criminals, oddball characters, slapstick humor, and extreme violence, seasons it with a touch of the supernatural, then sets it in the frozen wastelands of our forgotten central-northern states. The series has gotten a little “on-the-nose” in its maturity, but Fargo is still among the best shows on TV.
Fargo airs on FuboTV, YouTube TV, and Sling TV.
Stephen Johnson is a Staff Writer for Lifehacker where he covers pop culture, including two weekly columns “The Out of Touch Adults’ Guide to Kid Culture” and “What People are Getting Wrong this Week.” He graduated from Emerson College with a BFA in Writing, Literature, and Publishing.
Previously, Stephen was Managing Editor at NBC/Universal’s G4TV. While at G4, he won a Telly Award for writing and was nominated for a Webby award. Stephen has also written for Blumhouse, FearNET, Performing Songwriter magazine, NewEgg, AVN, GameFly, Art Connoisseur International magazine, Fender Musical Instruments, Hustler Magazine, and other outlets. His work has aired on Comedy Central and screened at the Sundance International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival, and Chicago Horror Film Festival. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.