Spring TV preview: 'Malcolm in the Middle' returns, 'Hacks' ends, another 'Yellowstone' spinoff and 22 more shows to watch

Spring has arrived, along with a remarkable bounty of new (and a few returning) series. How remarkable? The Duffers are back, "Hacks" wraps, "Malcolm in the Middle" unwraps, "Beef" has returned, Nicolas Cage joins the streaming revolution, and "The Boroughs" just might make you think twice about sending grandma and grandpa to a retirement community.

Here's are 25 must-sees: 

APRIL 8

THE BOYS (Prime)

The final (and dare we guess exceedingly violent) 8-part showdown between Homelander (Antony Starr) and Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) is nigh, but who will prevail? With some of his "Boys" imprisoned in "Freedom Camp" — Mother's Milk (Laz Alonso), Frenchie (Tomer Capone), and Hughie (Jack Quaid) — advantage Homelander, for the moment anyway. This 5th season marks the end to one of Prime's most successful series. 

THE TESTAMENTS (Hulu)

Think of this as a teen-focused sequel to "A Handmaid's Tale" — still set in Gilead, five years later, with Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) applying her unique charms to a younger, more pliant crowd. Meanwhile, everyone is listening (or spying) at Lydia's version of Hogwarts, where danger lurks. Based on Margaret Atwood's 2019 novel of the same name, this follows dutiful (for now) June's daughter, Agnes (Chase Infiniti, "One Battle After Another"), and her close friend Daisy (Lucy Halliday).

APRIL 9

HACKS (HBO Max)

The fifth and final season finds Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) deceased — and of course news reports citing her early demise are in fact premature. (Besides, she looked fine by the end of the fourth season when she quit her late night talk show.) That fake news has got Deborah and Ava (Hannah Einbinder) to think about her legacy.

BIG MISTAKES (Netflix)

While Grandma is dying, her daughter, Linda (Laurie Metcalf) decides to hold one final birthday party for her, and tells her own adult children Nicky (Dan Levy) and Morgan (Taylor Ortega) to get her a nice gift. Morgan steals a necklace from a local store — big mistake for all sorts of reasons. Nicky, a pastor, gets drawn in, and soon, they're drawn into the underworld, where more mistakes pile up. This eight-parter was cocreated by Levy ("Schitt's Creek") and Rachel Sennott ("I Love LA").

THE MINIATURE WIFE (Peacock)

Dix Hills native Greg Mottola, a veteran comedy director, is at the helm of this funky body horror dramedy about a bestselling novelist (Elizabeth Banks) whose inventor husband (Matthew Macfadyen) accidentally  miniaturizes her with his latest invention that's supposed to be used to shrink corn. Good supporting cast (including O-T Fagbenle and Ronny Chieng). From the little that I've seen, this could be big.

APRIL 10

MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE: LIFE'S STILL UNFAIR (Hulu) 

The old gang from "Malcolm" (2000-06) is back to celebrate the 40th wedding anniversary of Hal (Bryan Cranston) and Lois (Jane Kaczmarek.) While much has changed, nothing has: Malcolm (Frankie Muniz, who is now a professional stock car racer) has tried to shield his tween daughter Leah (Keeley Karsten) from his family, which tends to trigger him. The entire cast has returned for this Very Special TV Occasion, with one exception (Erik Per Sullivan, who played Malcolm's younger brother, Dewey, has been replaced by Caleb Ellsworth-Clark).

APRIL 12

THE AUDACITY (AMC, 9 p.m.)

A little like "Halt and Catch Fire," and even more like the 2025 tech lord takedown, "Mountainhead," this satire also takes aim at Silicon Valley (and has also been compared to HBO's "Silicon Valley"). Duncan Park's (Billy Magnussen) data mining company is in trouble after an aborted takeover by a much bigger company. He confides in his therapist, Jo Felder (Sarah Goldberg, "Barry") who does a little insider trading on the side. Dark and densely plotted, this show — which co-stars Zach Galifianakis, Simon Helberg and Rob Corddry — could be more tragedy than satire.

EUPHORIA (HBO, 9)

Four years after the second season, "Euphoria" at long last returns, unfolding in a post-high school world, with Rue (Zendaya) in Mexico, while Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) and Nate (Jacob Elordi) are engaged. Meanwhile, Jules (Hunter Schafer) is in art school, and Maddy (Alexa Demie) at a talent agency. "Noir" seems to be the favored word by fan sites to describe the third.

APRIL 15

MARGO'S GOT MONEY TROUBLES (Apple TV)

Margo (Elle Fanning) has money troubles because her college literature professor got her pregnant, then she starts an Only Fans site to help pay for the baby. Her mom (Michelle Pfeiffer) and father, a former pro wrestler (Nick Offerman) are nonplussed. This comedy — based on the 2024 Rufi Thorpe bestseller and written by David E. Kelley — is a lively if not quite R-rated take on hustle culture.

APRIL 16

BEEF (Netflix)

The beef in this second season is between Joshua Martín (Oscar Isaac), and his wife, Lindsay Crane-Martín (Carey Mulligan). A near-violent fight between both is witnessed by a pair of employees at the elite country club that Martin runs. The newly engaged lovebirds, Ashley Miller (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin Davis (Charles Melton) are shocked. Meanwhile, the club has been bought by a mercurial, authoritarian Korean billionaire, exquisitely named Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh Jung). This anthology from Lee Sung Jin (eight episodes drop today) picked up a pair of prestigious Emmys in 2023, for writing and directing.

APRIL 20

KEVIN (Prime)

A cat (voiced by Jason Schwartzman) happily leaves his feuding owners for an animal shelter. Co-creator Aubrey Plaza also stars (or "voices"), and so does John Waters (a Persian cat) and Whoopi Goldberg (a feral hairless one) in this animated comedy.

APRIL 23

STRANGER THINGS: TALES FROM '85 (Netflix)

This 10-episode animated spinoff is set just after season two's Snow Ball, and just before Season 3's Starcourt Mall storyline (that infamous "mall" which served as a Soviet entry point to the Upside Down). It's a more innocent moment in the lives of Eleven, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will and Max. (There will be a new voice cast for the characters.) Meanwhile, the first two episodes will get a theatrical screening on April 18 at many AMC theaters nationwide, including the Raceway 10 in Westbury.

HALF MAN (HBO Max)

"Baby Reindeer's" Richard Gadd is back as both star and writer of this six-parter, about someone who turns up at his longtime friend's wedding in Scotland which (per HBO) leads "to an explosion of violence that triggers a flashback-heavy exploration of their lives."

APRIL 29

WIDOW'S BAY (Apple TV)

Widow's Bay mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) wants to bring tourists to the quaint New England island where he's mayor, and invites a reporter to write a puff piece. Worst possible timing. The locals insist the island's "curse" has returned. This 10-parter does sound like a Stephen King adaptation, but it was created by veteran comedy writer Katie Dippold ("Parks & Rec").

THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS (Prime)

Eight-part adaptation of Chilean-American author Isabel Allende's first (and best-known) novel from 1982 — a novel that was also made into the 1993 movie starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons. The key difference here — this is all in Spanish. Prime calls this "a multi-generational saga following the Trueba family, focusing on women navigating love and political upheaval in Chile." Those women: Clara (Dolores Fonzi), Blanca (Fernanda Urrejola) and Alba (Rochi Hernandez).

APRIL 30

MAN ON FIRE (Netflix)

This violent revenge-quest thriller revisits John Creasy, the Special Forces mercenary (Denzel Washington played him in the 2004 movie). Yahya Abdul-Mateen II ("Watchmen," "Wonder Man") does the honors here. The through-line: "While attempting to rebuild his life, a tragic incident involving his only friend forces [Creasy] back into a world of violence." Bobby Cannavale also stars.

MAY 4

LORD OF THE FLIES (Netflix)

A group of English schoolboys are marooned on a tropical island (this was filmed in Malaysia), and ... well, you know the rest (it does not end well for Piggy, played by David McKenna). This four-part adaptation of William Golding's 1954 dystopia-Palooza was created by the prolific (and esteemed) British writer Jack Thorne, who had one of the sensations of 2025 in "Adolescence."

MAY 7

M.I.A. (Peacock)

Down in the Florida Keys, Etta Tiger Jonze (Shannon Gisela) heads to Miami "when her family’s drug-running business shatters in tragedy." This nine-episode crime thriller comes from Bill Dubuque, creator and showrunner of "Ozark."

THE TERROR: DEVIL IN SILVER (AMC+)

The long-awaited third installment of the anthology stars Dan Stevens ("Downton Abbey") as Pepper, committed to a Queens psychiatric hospital where he battles a half-man/half-buffalo monster that attacks the patients. (Quite the cast too: Judith Light, CCH Pounder, Aasif Mandvi, Stephen Root, John Benjamin Hickey and Marin Ireland.) Based on a novel by Victor LaValle (one of this season's showrunners), this streams in six parts.

MAY 8

UNCONDITIONAL (Apple TV)

There have been a handful of outstanding Israeli series — "Tehran," "Fauda," "Shtisel." Will this latest, in eight parts, join the crowd? It starts off at Moscow's airport, when a mother, Orna (Liraz Chamami) and daughter, 23-year-old Gali (Talia Lynne Ronn), are detained for drug smuggling. Daughter is arrested, and mom begins a wild, international spy thriller chase to exonerate her.

MAY 15

DUTTON RANCH (Paramount+)

They're back! After offing her corrupt brother in the season finale of "Yellowstone," Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) are ready to settle down to a nice quiet life on the ranch, this time in Texas. And then ... they get to rumble instead: Both "collide with brutal new realities and a ruthless rival ranch that will stop at nothing to protect its empire…" This nine-episode "Yellowstone" sequel from Taylor Sheridan — two episodes drop — co-stars Ed Harris and Annette Bening.

MAY 20

MAXIMUM PLEASURE GUARANTEED (Apple TV)

Recently divorced mom and magazine editor Paula Sanders ("Orphan Black's" Tatiana Maslany) witnesses an assault while visiting a livestream porn site. What to do? The cops think it's a scam — a setup to extort Paula — but she thinks otherwise, and "falls down a dangerous rabbit hole of blackmail, murder and youth soccer." That's right — "MPG" also explores the homicidal parental intensity of U10 soccer. Sounds terrifying. Also starring Jake Johnson, in 10 episodes.

MAY 21

THE BOROUGHS (Netflix)

We're back in Dufferworld — the Duffer Brothers of "Stranger Things" — albeit the extreme opposite end of the demographic spectrum. Sam (Alfred Molina) is a recent widower who reluctantly moves into a retirement community in the high desert of New Mexico. Soon, he gets to meet his neighbors — Judy (Alfre Woodard), Art (Clarke Peters), Renee (Geena Davis), Wally (Denis O'Hare) and Jack (Bill Pullman). Each eccentric and fun in their own way, they are about to enter the twilight zone, in this eight-parter. from the Duffers, Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews (the excellent "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance" from 2019). This is possibly the most anticipated series of the spring season — and based on a preliminary glance, the excitement is merited.

MAY 27

SPIDER-NOIR (Prime)

Nicolas Cage, in his first live-action TV series, is 1930s private detective Ben Reilly, who was once a superhero called the Spider. (He voiced the character in the 2018 animated hit, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.") Fans already know a bit about Ben — that he's a noirish type, a bit like Humphrey Bogart, and is obsessed with Rubik's Cube. This 8-part Spidey series will be released in both color and black-and-white, so "noir" indeed.

MAY 29

STAR CITY (Apple TV)

"For All Mankind" — the alternate history space race series — gets a companion in this eight-parter that explores the Soviet side of the race — the one where the Russians are first to land a human being on the moon. It's set at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, AKA Star City.