Best New Shows and Movies on Netflix This Week: Becoming, Jerry Seinfeld Stand-Up Special

Looking for something new to watch on Netflix? We're here to help! Here is a list of all the best new shows and movies on Netflix the week of May 1-7.

This week, the biggest releases come from some of Netflix's highest-paid talent: Ryan Murphy, Jerry Seinfeld, and the Obamas. There's like $100 million worth of content between their three releases, which are a star-studded limited series, a long-in-the-works stand-up special, and an inspiring documentary, respectively. It looked for a second like some other streaming services were coming for Netflix's crown, but Netflix stays winning, even (especially) during quarantine. Netflix probably couldn't afford to give every American $1,200, but it could maybe afford to give everyone $120. Just as a thank you for watching. Get on that, Reed Hastings!

All titles debuted on Friday, May 1 unless otherwise noted. Here's what came out on Netflix last week.

If you're looking for even more recommendations, click over to our Watch This Now! page. If you'd like to look ahead toward what's coming out on Netflix in May, here are our Editors' Picks for Netflix's May releases and everything that's coming to the service in the month.

The Biggest Releases

Hollywood, Limited Series
Ryan Murphy's latest (with co-creator Ian Brennan) throws it back to the post-WWII Golden Age of Hollywood, when movies were pictures and hustlers operated out of a gas station, giving bored housewives and closeted men a little something extra with their fill-up. The boys all moved to Tinseltown with dreams of stardom, and over the course of the seven-episode limited series, they do it, and change Hollywood forever, in a way that would have been lovely if it had actually happened. Murphyverse regulars like Darren Criss, Patti LuPone, and Dylan McDermott are in the cast, with the latter doing his charmingly skeevy thing as the operator of said gas station. It's a glitzy trifle of revisionist history -- a lot of it is based on real people and events, but applies modern liberal political ideals of representation and inclusivity -- that's curiously nostalgic about sleeping your way into the business.

Becoming
The Obamas have put their names on a few documentaries as part of their lucrative Netflix deal, like American Factory and Crip Camp, but now they're finally stepping in front of the camera. Becoming, from director Nadia Hallgren, follows Michelle Obama on her 34-city book tour to promote her 2018 memoir of the same name. That's right, Michelle Obama is entering the tour documentary genre. It's the First Lady's Meeting People Is Easy. Do you think Michelle Obama ever has to tell herself, "I'm not here, this isn't happening," like Thom Yorke did? (Trailer / Wednesday, May 6)

Jerry Seinfeld: 23 Hours to Kill
Joey Ramone voice: "20, 20, 23 hours to kill, I wanna be Seinfelded." This is Jerry's first stand-up special of completely new material in 22 years (2017's Jerry Before Seinfeld was jokes from early in his career with commentary). So there's a lot of new stuff for him to ask what's the deal with. (Trailer / Tuesday, May 5)

The Best Shows and Movies Coming to Netflix in April

Everything Else

Workin' Moms, Season 4
Season 4 of this sleeper hit Canadian comedy is the first one released on Netflix at roughly the same it aired on CBC, so if you were waiting for every episode of the show to be available before mega-bingeing it, now is the time. Kate (creator Catherine Reitman), Anne (Dani Kind), Frankie (Juno Rinaldi), and the rest of the gang are back for another season of brutally honest jokes about motherhood. This season, the kids are a little older, which brings new problems, like keeping them safe while giving them a little more independence, on top of the usual problems of underperforming husbands and the impossibility of work-life balance. (Wednesday, May 6)

All Day and a Night
Jeffrey Wright and Moonlight's Ashton Sanders star in this crime drama about a young man who goes to prison, just like his father, and reflects on the path that took him there and imagines the path forward. (Trailer)

Almost Happy (Casi Feliz)
A comedy inspired by the life of Argentine radio host Sebastián Wainraich about a radio host who's still in love with his ex-wife. We've all been there. (Trailer)

Get In
A mild-mannered man is pushed to his breaking point after squatters take up residence in his family's house while they're away on vacation and the law won't help him, encouraged by some rough folks he meets while living in a trailer park. It kind of looks like a French Straw Dogs, and its minimalist title makes it very difficult to Google. (Trailer)

Go! Go! Cory Carson: The Chrissy
Talking car Cory Carson gets jealous when his little sister Chrissy overshadows him at a talent show. But here's the thing: Chrissy's backflipping dance move is objectively much cooler than anything Cory is doing, and he's going to have to suck it up. (Trailer)

The Half of It
An inarticulate jock named Paul hires a straight-A student named Ellie to write love letters to his crush Aster for him, but it gets complicated, because Ellie is in love with Aster, too. But this teen dramedy isn't really about romantic love; it's about Paul and Ellie's friendship. It's a cute, literate, and woke riff on Cyrano de Bergerac. (Trailer)

Into the Night, Season 1
When the sun starts inexplicably killing everyone, a plane full of Belgians flies all over the world trying to outrun the sunrise. It's a hilariously dumb premise, but this French-language thriller looks a little too serious to reach "so bad it's good" status, which is too bad. It could have been a happening. (Trailer)

Medici: The Magnificent, Part 2
Lorenzo de Medici (Daniel Sharman) tries to protect Florence from Neapolitan encroachers in the final season of this English-language Italian production. Another worthy entrant in the "Everyone in the past had a British accent no matter where they were" historical drama genre. (Trailer)

Mrs. Serial Killer
In this over-the-top Indian thriller, a doctor gets framed for a string of murders and his wife (Bollywood superstar Jacqueline Fernandez) becomes a copycat killer in order to prove his innocence. Not sure how that works, so we'll have to watch to find out. (Trailer)

Scissor Seven, Season 2
This anime about an aspiring assassin whose weapon of choice is a pair of hairdressing scissors is pretty weird even by Netflix anime standards. His misadventures continue in Season 2. (Trailer)

Stop searching, start watching! TV Guide's Watch This Now! page has even more TV recommendations. And check out our picks for the best Netflix shows and movies to watch in May.

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