Cool TV for a smoking hot summer

Sure it’s summer, our short, short summer, but when it hurts to breathe, TV is always there to help. Here are five viewing suggestions that run from cosy to crazy, with a little animated courage in the middle.

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● Leanne

Series premières the full season on Thursday, July 31 on Netflix

Google “reinvented the sitcom” and you will not find the name Chuck Lorre, who is responsible for a lot of shows that run long and familiar, usually built around a sharp-tongued central character supported by a kooky cadre of family (Two and a Half Men), roommates (Big Bang Theory) or the like.

So the offer here is cosy comfort TV and a lot of it: all 16 episodes at once! Leanne looks and sounds a lot like Lorre’s long-running hit Mom, with an older single woman refusing to give up.

Standup Leanne Morgan takes the title role, newly single after her husband of 33 years leaves her for another woman.

Her “ride or die” sister is played by Kristen Johnston (The Righteous Gemstones). Their mom is played by Celia Weston (The Blacklist). Ryan Stiles (Drew Carey Show) is the errant husband.

Let the binge — and pelvic-floor jokes — begin.

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● Chief of War

Series premières the first two of nine episodes on Friday, Aug. 1 on Apple TV+

Jason Momoa is the star, executive producer and even director (of the final episode: airdate Sept. 19) of this series about the battle to colonize Hawai’i at the turn of the 18th century.

It features a predominantly Polynesian cast that includes Cliff Curtis (Avatar: The Way of Water), Temuera Morrison (The Mandalorian), Luciane Buchanan (The Night Agent) and a raft of new-to-us faces.

Looks spectacular.

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● Marc Maron: Panicked

Comedy special premières on Friday, Aug. 1 on HBO Crave

Stephen Colbert’s Late Show isn’t the only farewell unsettling comedy lovers (in case you missed it, CBS is axing that late-night stalwart entirely in May 2026).

As well, Marc Maron is ending his long-running, quite excellent interview podcast, WTF, “sometime in the fall,” he told NPR.

He says he’s burned out, he’s been busy acting (Stick, just renewed for a second season) and who knows what else is on the horizon. Maybe even another podcast, he says.

In the meantime, here’s his second comedy special for HBO to help quell your comedy-news panic. Or his panic, with his trademark “intrusive catastrophic thinking.”

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● Eyes of Wakanda

Animated prequel series premières all four episodes Friday, rescheduled from late August, on Disney+

I’m utterly overwhelmed and unmoored from the global timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I did love Black Panther so much back in 2018 that I might try this new series, which “follows the adventures of brave Wakandan warriors throughout history.”

Plus it’s four episodes. I can do it!

If you are keeping track, this is a Black Panther prequel and first TV entry into the MCU’s Phase 6 — which was launched by the new movie reboot of Fantastic Four, in theatres now. Phew!

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● The Pickup

Movie premières Wednesday, Aug. 6 on Prime Video

Prime Video is having a moment with its comedy-action movies. Following on the great success of the very fun Heads of State, which premièred July 2 with John Cena and Idris Elba playing world-leader action heroes, comes The Pickup.

The storyline is immaterial with a cast including Eddie Murphy, Pete Davidson, Eva Longoria, Andrew Dice Clay and Keke Palmer.

But if pressed, here is the one-liner: regular-guy armoured-truck drivers bicker but eventually rise to the challenge after being ambushed by “ruthless criminals.”

Pass the popcorn and keep it coming.

Broadcast dates subject to change. Questions, comments to denise.duguay@winnipegfreepress.com.