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The Best New Shows and Movies on Netflix This Week - Roma, Bruce Springsteen

Plus: Will DJ and Steve finally get it on in Fuller House?

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Tim Surette

Ready to watch something new on Netflix this weekend? Here is a list of all the best new shows and movies released on Netflix this week.

Netflix is known as the place for streaming television, but have you noticed how many movies it's been putting out? And not just Adam Sandler flicks that were written during a bowel movement. This week represents a huge step for Netflix as a monster in the movie industry when it releases Roma, which is getting all sorts of awards chatter and could get Netflix a Best Picture Oscar. It turns out all you need to become a major industry disruptor is billions and billions of dollars!

Below I go through all the Netflix releases this week, and if you're looking for even more hand-picked recommendations, click over to our Watch This Now! page.

(All titles are out Friday, Dec. 14 unless specified otherwise.)


The Biggest Releases


Roma
Netflix has already made the TV industry its bitch, changing how, where and when we watch television, and now the streaming service is about to do the same to the movie industry. Roma is the latest film from Alfonso Cuarón, the director behind Gravity and Children of Men, and is already the frontrunner for Best Picture at the 2019 Academy Awards. Unlike its chief rival Aquaman, you won't have to line up early for tickets as it's debuting on Netflix the same day it hits theaters. The drama is shot completely in black-and-white and is almost entirely in Spanish, but critics are already losing their damned minds over the personal tale of a housekeeper who works for a family in Mexico. It looks spectacular.

Springsteen on Broadway
Baby you were born to run... to your TV to watch THE BOSS! Bruce Springsteen's very sold-out one-man Broadway show was shot by Netflix for this special that'll have your dad welling up. Springsteen sings songs and tells stories in this revealing evening with the songwriter. It's the most intimate you can get with Springsteen since he teabagged the camera during his Super Bowl performance. And when you're done with this, catch his origin story in The Boss Baby. (Trailer)

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: A Midwinter's Tale
Just because pagans are savage infidels and don't believe in Baby Jesus doesn't mean they don't celebrate the holidays like us. This special episode of the Riverdale-adjacent series isn't a total standalone hour like most holiday specials, and serves as a bridge between Seasons 1 and 2. But it also features some wicked seasonal monsters, like Krampus (or a version of him), so that makes it worth a watch even if you haven't seen the first 10 episodes. (Trailer)


Sci-Fi and Fantasy Series That Begin With the Letter 'T' From Strange, Foreign English-Speaking Lands



Travelers, Season 3
The sneaky good Travelers returns for a third season, and this is the first batch of episodes that's strictly on Netflix (Seasons 1 and 2 were imports from the purveyors of sneaky-good television, Canada). The premise is wackadoodle, as all good sci-fi should be: People from the future have their consciousness zapped into the bodies of people in the past in order to stop the world from falling apart in the future (kinda like another good Canadian sci-fi show, Continuum). The catch here is they have to live the lives of those they've taken over in addition to saving the world while everyone else has no idea what's going on. Sounds like more trouble than it's worth, if you ask me.

Tidelands, Season 1
The TV mermaid craze is o-fish-ially on! Following the somewhat successful launch of the killer mermaid dramedy Siren -- OK, technically a drama, but... -- on Freeform, Australia gives us this show about half-human and half-siren weirdos who probably killed a fisherman in a small village down under. If mermaids were a stock, I'd buy that sh-- up like Apple in the '80s. (
Trailer)


Everything Else


Fuller House, Season 4
There was once a time when a new season of Fuller House would be big news, but today is not that day. My sources tell me that this might be the season that DJ and Steve rekindle their romance, and my sources also tell me that's a really big deal.

Cuckoo, Season 4
This British comedy once starred
Andy Samberg, but he was replaced by Taylor Lautner (as the character's son) in Season 2. I'm not saying that's a downgrade or anything, but holy hell that is a downgrade. The show's now about a straight-laced family who now live with a free-spirited American who isn't Andy Samberg. (Clip)

The Fix, Season 1
Comedians talk about problems and try to fix them in this panel talk show. But it's also a low-key way to ruin one of ABC's upcoming shows, also called The Fix. That'll ruin its Google search placement. Netflix does not play fair. It's like the Mitch McConnell of streaming services! (Trailer)

Hymn of Death, Season 1
This Korean romantic drama is SUPER SERIOUS. And it has dialogue like "Pitiful life, absorbed in living, you are the one dancing on the blade" over visuals that looks like a Kay Jewelers commercial. (Trailer)

Netflix Has All the Holiday Movies and Specials You Could Ever Need

The Innocent Man, Season 1
If you haven't gotten enough true crime series yet, 1) what the hell is wrong with you, and 2) give The Innocent Man a go! It's about four men who were convicted of two murders (maybe, probably) through coercion by the police. It's based on John Grisham's non-fiction novel of the same name, and it's a real downer. (Trailer)

Inside the Real Narcos, Season 1
Just as its title says, this reality program gets the real dope on actual drug busters from actual drug busters. Hopefully it's a hit and Netflix makes more docuseries that relate to their scripted hits. I would love to see reality programs about a horse actor or '80s kids who fight monsters. (Trailer)

Inside the World's Toughest Prisons, Season 3
You could continue to plan that federal crime to satiate your curiosity about what it's like inside the world's toughest prisons, or you could just watch this show. (Trailer)

Every show on The WB, ranked

The Protector, Season 1
A young man learns he belongs to an ancient order and he's the protector of Istanbul in this Turkish fantasy drama. And uhhh... yeah, that's about it. (Trailer)

Sunderland Till I Die, Season 1
Apparently, the Sunderland football team isn't very good, but they have very passionate fans who adore the team through its misery. This docuseries follows the club and those who root them on through every pitiful loss and every crushed dream of moving up to the Premiere League. People are already making parody trailers of the show to make fun of the team and its fans. UK soccer is harsh. Even we treat the Cleveland Browns with some respect. (Trailer)

Voltron: Legendary Defender, Season 8
Robot lions turn into robot body parts to form a bigger robot that's been the basis for so many rap lyrics. This is the final season of Netflix's longest-running show, meaning the doors are open for the seven-seasons-and-counting Spirit Riding Free to lay claim to the title of Netflix's Greatest Series Ever. (Trailer)

Prince of Peoria: A Christmas Moose Miracle
The tween show about a young prince from a made-up foreign country who goes to a normal American school delivers this ho-ho-holiday special, and boy, you won't believe these weird Christmas customs from that fake country. (Monday, Dec. 17 / Trailer)

Baki, Season 1
A pretty-boy underground martial arts master fights a handful of death row prison inmates in no-rules combat, and everyone spouts dialogue that could be post-match quotes from Street Fighter II in this brutal anime. (Tuesday, Dec. 18 / Trailer)

Ellen Degeneres: Relatable
Quit playing Heads Up for like two seconds to watch this stand-up special from America's most beloved day-time talk show host (sorry, Montell). It's her first stand-up special in 15 years. WILL SHE DANCE? (Tuesday, Dec. 18 / Trailer)

Terrace House: Opening New Doors, Season 5
The cult Japanese reality show returns with more intense politeness as young men and women share a house and are adorable to each other. (Tuesday, Dec. 18 / Trailer)

Aggretsuko: We Wish You a Metal Christmas
Everyone's favorite cartoon about a red panda who sings death metal is back with a holiday special. This show is actually quite good, guys. (Trailer)

Stop searching, start watching! TV Guide's Watch This Now! page has even more TV recommendations.