The streaming wars have taken an unexpectedly nostalgic turn this summer, serving up a peculiar mix of piano men, superheroes, and space cowboys that somehow feels both refreshingly new and comfortably familiar.
HBO Max’s latest offering, “Billy Joel: And So It Goes,” arrives at an oddly perfect moment — when authenticity in the music industry seems increasingly rare. The two-part documentary peels back layers of the Piano Man’s carefully guarded private life, and boy, does it deliver. Rather than the usual greatest-hits retrospective, viewers get treated to a surprisingly raw portrait, complete with unvarnished commentary from Joel’s inner circle. Christie Brinkley and Katie Lee (both ex-wives) don’t pull punches, while heavyweights like Springsteen, Sting, and McCartney add gravitas to an already weighty narrative.
Speaking of unexpected comebacks — Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel” has somehow muscled its way back into HBO Max’s global top 10. The timing couldn’t be more ironic, what with James Gunn’s DC reboot looming on the horizon. Yet here’s Henry Cavill’s Superman, still drawing eyes and splitting opinions nearly a decade later. That 75% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes? Maybe there’s something to Snyder’s chrome-and-thunder aesthetic after all.
Paramount+ seems dead set on proving that the final frontier still has some unexplored corners. “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” got the green light for a fifth (and final) season — bittersweet news for Trekkies who’ve embraced this throwback to episodic storytelling. The show’s managed to thread that impossible needle between fan service and fresh narratives, though some diehards still grumble about the uniforms.
Over at Prime Video, “The Summer I Turned Pretty” wraps up its run with all the teen drama you’d expect from a Jenny Han adaptation. The series has carved out its niche in the crowded coming-of-age space, largely because it treats young love with the gravity its target audience craves. Not exactly groundbreaking stuff, but in an era of increasingly dark teen content, there’s something refreshing about its earnestness.
Netflix continues its true-crime obsession with a double feature that’d make any documentary programmer salivate. “Her Last Broadcast” dives into the haunting disappearance of Jodi Huisentruit, while their “Trainwreck” series revisits that bizarre “balloon boy” incident — remember that mess? Both prove that truth remains stranger than fiction, especially when filtered through Netflix’s distinctive documentary lens.
Disney+ and Hulu aren’t sitting on their hands either. Chris Hemsworth’s immortality quest continues (though maybe someone should tell him about the law of diminishing returns), and Noah Hawley’s taking a crack at the “Alien” franchise. Set in 2120, this new series imagines a corporate-controlled dystopia that feels a bit too close to home — especially after last year’s AI regulation debates. The addition of Wendy, a consciousness-enhanced robot, adds another layer to the already complex “Alien” mythology.
This scattered buffet of content — from aging rock stars to teen romance, from corporate dystopias to true crime — reflects the increasingly desperate attempts by streaming services to be all things to all viewers. It’s a high-wire act that occasionally pays off, even if the platforms’ algorithms sometimes seem more confused than their audiences.
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