Every Monday and Friday, Margaret offers hyper-specific viewing recommendations in our Watching newsletter. Read her latest picks below, and sign up for the Watching newsletter here.
This weekend I have … a half-hour, and I want a comedy
‘Black Monday’
When to watch: Sunday at 10 p.m., on Showtime.
The Wall Street satire “Black Monday” returns this weekend for its 10-episode third season, as fast and silly and jazzy as any contemporary comedy and twice as fun. Beyond its goofiness, “Black Monday” has real narrative momentum. And while you could just start watching this season and still get plenty of pleasure from the show’s performances alone (particularly that of Don Cheadle), the story is increasingly involved, and you’ll get more out of it if you start at the beginning. If you want something between the zaniness of “Ted Lasso” and the recreational sleaze of “Billions,” watch this.
… a half-hour, and I want a drama
‘In Treatment’
When to watch: Sunday at 9 p.m., on HBO.
If you’ve ever wished for a cop show that was just the fraught interrogation scenes, or a movie that was just the big emotional fights and none of the boring parts, watch “In Treatment.” The therapy drama was originally an Israeli series, then it was adapted for American audiences back in 2008, and now HBO has revived the show for a fourth season. Uzo Aduba stars as Brooke, a Los Angeles therapist ensconced in an Instagrammable midcentury house where she treats some patients remotely and some in person. There’s a lot of varsity acting on “In Treatment,” and the combative dialogue is tight and thrilling. Each episode is more or less one session, and the show airs in two-episode chunks Sundays and Mondays.
… a few hours, and I want a spectacle
Eurovision Song Contest
When to watch: Saturday at 3 p.m., on Peacock.
Eurovision makes “American Idol” and “The Voice” look like grim Puritan rituals, staid and dull in their flat modesty. Indulge instead in the pageantry — and original songs — of this international pop music contest that is beloved around the world but still not quite mainstream in the United States. Like everything else, Eurovision was canceled last year, and now after so many months of austerity and alienation, it feels even more celebratory and glorious than usual. The first two rounds aired Tuesday and Thursday, and 26 countries moved on to the finale, which airs Saturday.
