The Best TV Shows and Movies on HBO and HBO Max in November

It's just about that time of year when you have to start thinking about all the stuff you're grateful for, and HBO Max would probably be really flattered if one of the things on your list was, in fact, HBO Max. To be honest, November is kind of a light month for the platform, especially since it immediately follows all those the big October premieres, but there's still some good stuff coming up. King Richard, the Oscar bait-y Will Smith movie about Venus and Serena Williams' dad, is the biggest of them all, but Mindy Kaling also has a new show coming up: The Sex Lives of College Girls, which is all about, if you can believe it, the sex lives of college girls. There's also a new season of the excellent, underrated How to With John Wilson, which just so happens to be one of our favorite shows on TV right now.

Our list of suggestions for the best shows and movies on HBO and HBO Max in November is below.

The Best TV Shows and Movies on HBO and HBO Max in November

South Side Season 2
Nov. 11 on HBO Max 
Like The Other Two, South Side was originally a Comedy Central show that got picked up by HBO Max, which means there's a good chance you missed it the first time around. It follows two friends in Chicago who are trying to become venture capitalists but are stuck working boring day jobs until it happens. It's one of those hangout shows where nothing really happens, but it makes you laugh a lot and the characters are great. I predict its audience is going to get a boost in Season 2, so you should get in on the ground floor now while you can still say, "I liked it before it was popular."

The Sex Lives of College Girls
Nov. 18 on HBO Max
I'm a simple person, and if you tell me Mindy Kaling is producing a show about weirdo teen girls, I will absolutely be watching that show. This one follows four roommates in their first year at Essex College, navigating their new sex lives and dealing with the various struggles brought on by higher education. It looks funny and sweet in that way Kaling's shows usually are, and I don't need much more than that to be satisfied. 

King Richard
Nov. 19 on HBO Max (also in theaters)
There's been a lot of buzz for Will Smith's performance in this heartfelt drama about Richard Williams, dad of famed tennis stars Venus and Serena, who helped build them up into the accomplished athletes they are today. It's an underdog story, it's a biopic, Beyoncé wrote a triumphant banger of a song for it -- we already know this one is going to win a bunch of Oscars and make us all cry.

2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
Nov. 20 on HBO, HBO Max
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is among the most fun award shows if you love watching aging rockers air out decades-old grievances with their careers, their bandmates, and anyone who has ever wronged them, which I do. I think it's really fun that it's treated like a prestigious event, even though there's always some sort of ridiculous, messy drama going on with the inductees and those who feel that they have been snubbed. This year's inductees include Tina Turner, Mary J. Blige, Kate Bush, Foo Fighters, Jay-Z, Carole King, and Dionne Warwick, among others.

How to With John Wilson
Nov. 26 on HBO, HBO Max
I don't know anyone who watched the first season of How to With John Wilson last year and didn't immediately fall in love with its particular brand of simple observational humor. (That's why we named it one of the 100 best shows on TV right now, in case you haven't heard.) It remains the only show (so far) to have a compelling take on COVID-19, as we got to watch those scary, harrowing early days of the virus unfold in New York behind Wilson's camera lens. I have no doubt in my mind Season 2 will be just as funny and weird and compelling. This show rules.

Looking for more recommendations of what to watch next? We have a ton of them! And if you're looking for more hand-picked recommendations based on TV shows you love, we have those too.