The Best TV Shows and Movies to Watch This Week: Netflix's Sexy Beasts, the Good Girls Series Finale

There's never a bad time for personal transformation, and this week features stories of change, or -- in the case of Netflix's absurd new reality series Sexy Beasts -- at least surface-level transmogrification. The series makes up attractive singles into monsters and creatures through prosthetics and then sends them on dates with each other for... uhhh, our enjoyment? Elsewhere, the good girls of NBC's Good Girls also have two final episodes to decide which end of the law they want to end up on, athletes from all over the world take the stage in the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Summer Olympics, and everyone's favorite show, Ted Lasso, returns for its fantastic second season.

Our list of editors' picks for the week of July 18-24 is below, but if that's not enough and you're looking for even more hand-picked recommendations, check out our picks for last week or sign up for our free, spam-free Watch This Now newsletter that delivers the best TV show picks straight to your inbox. You can also look at our massive collection of recommendations, as well as our list of suggestions of what to watch next based on shows you already like.

100 Foot Wave

Available Sunday on HBO Max
Harnessing the unknown power of nature adds a certain mystique to surfing, and that sense of spirituality that traverses serenity and humility translates extremely well to film. Unless you're talking about riding the waves of the fishing village of Nazarzé, Portugal, which are liquid monsters erupting out of the ocean and instilling only fear. So of course surfers want to risk their lives to ride them. The six-part docuseries 100 Foot Wave follows big-wave rider Garrett McNamara as he does the unthinkable and encourages other surfers to follow in his wake. -Tim Surette [TRAILER]

Sexy Beasts

Available Wednesday on Netflix
Don't even look directly at this trailer. Is this bizarre reality show, which is basically The Masked Singer but for dating, actually going to be one of the best things on Netflix in July? Maybe not. But it's already one of the buzziest. We get the dating shows we deserve. -Kelly Connolly [TRAILER]

Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans

Available Wednesday on Netflix
Guillermo del Toro's epic series trilogy gets a feature-length wrap-up film featuring the kids of Arcadia Oaks teaming up with trolls, aliens, and more to combat Titans. -Tim Surette [TRAILER]

Good Girls

Series finale Thursday at 10/9c on NBC
Much to the disappointment of its small but mighty fanbase, Good Girls -- which saw a surge in its popularity after it got added to Netflix -- was canceled at NBC earlier this year, meaning that time's officially up for Beth (Christina Hendricks), Annie (Mae Whitman), and Ruby (Retta). This season has seen its share of wild ups and downs for the moms at its center, what with the Secret Service on their tail, Rio (Manny Montana) squeezing them for more money, and Beth's run for City Council. The show was only recently canceled, meaning that the finale was not intended to be a series finale when it was filmed, so it remains to be seen whether the last episode will be a satisfying moment for fans. How will this whole Secret Service alliance pan out? What will happen with Beth's campaign? And, most importantly, will Beth and Rio perform the ultimate act of fan service and end up together? We'll just have to wait and see.

Jolt

Available Friday on Amazon Prime Video
Between this and Netflix's Gunpowder Milkshake, it's a good summer for watching women kick people in the face. The action- comedy Jolt stars Kate Beckinsale as a bouncer with serious anger management issues (sounds cool already!) who's working to control her homicidal impulses with the help of electrodes. When the first man she's ever loved is murdered, she snaps, embracing her rage as she sets out for revenge. Beckinsale is joined by an equally high-voltage cast of co-stars, including Laverne Cox, Susan Sarandon, and Stanley Tucci. -Kelly Connolly [TRAILER]

The Olympics Opening Ceremony

Friday at 7 a.m. ET/4 a.m. PT on NBC, NBCOlympics.com (replay at 7:30 p.m. ET)
Welcome to the 2021 Olympics! Hello? Where is everybody? The Tokyo Summer Olympics opening ceremony, delayed a year because of the coronavirus, is going to look a little different since we're nowhere near clear of the pandemic, and no fans will be allowed inside the stadium. Special delegates and other VIPs will be allowed, however, but only a fraction of the athletes will be marching with their flags. So, uhhhh, guess we'll have to wait for all the galleries of hot Olympic athletes for another week or so. Still, it's worth watching to see how Japan pivoted with all these restrictions in place. Fireworks and synchronized drones don't need people! -Tim Surette

Ted Lasso

Season 2 premieres Friday on Apple TV+
Ted Lasso, Jason Sudeikis' sports comedy about an under-qualified American who gets a job coaching an English football (or, as we call it, soccer) team, was a perfectly uplifting and hilarious watch in 2020. Considering how deeply the world still very much sucks, it turns out we still need a healthy dose of Ted's (Sudeikis) particular brand of Midwestern optimism, which means Ted Lasso is returning at the perfect time. Season 2 finds Richmond still recovering from their loss at the end of Season 1, and adds a brand new dynamic to the fray in the form of the team's new psychologist, who challenges Ted's methods of leading. Roy (Brett Goldstein), nursing his knee injury, adjusts to life after professional sports, while Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) adjusts to the rocky world of modern dating. And in case you were worried that the first season was merely a fluke, never fear; Season 2 lives up to our incredibly high expectations. Believe!