The Deep Dive — August 13, 2026

Reno 911 — Prime Video

An oldie but a goodie, and honestly an embarrassing admission that it took this long to start watching it. Reno 911 flies so under the radar that you can watch it commercial-free on Prime Video right now, which says everything about how little attention it gets relative to how much it deserves.

Here is the thing about Reno 911 that does not get said enough. There would be no Abbott Elementary without it. The mockumentary format did not begin and end with The Office. Multiple programs aided the transition to that style of filming, and Reno 911 is one of them. The Office could have been made as a regular sitcom. The comfort that comes from watching it is inseparable from how it is filmed. Reno 911 understood that before most people were paying attention.

It works best as a background show, which is its own kind of compliment. The bits are recurring, the characters are consistent, and it rewards the kind of half-attentive watching that most shows cannot survive. If you have run out of things on your usual streamers and have not given Prime a real chance yet, this is a good place to start.

The Adam Ray Show — Netflix, new episodes every Friday

The Adam Ray Show continues to be one of the weekly drops I look forward to most. What has become clear as the season progresses is that Adam is booking guests he is genuinely interested in talking to, not whoever is most relevant at the moment. That distinction matters more than it sounds. The result is a show that feels personal rather than promotional.

The standout episode so far was not a celebrity interview. It was his mom. Filmed in his high school auditorium in what felt like a genuinely low-key, personal setting, the episode revealed more about who Adam Ray actually is than anything else the show has done. His mom is as funny as he is, which is not a coincidence. It also became clear in this episode that it was very much just the two of them growing up, and that informs his comedy in ways you can now hear every time he performs. He is wholesome in a way that is increasingly rare in stand-up, and this episode showed exactly where that comes from. Worth watching even if you have not seen any other episodes yet.

The Hawk — Netflix

The Hawk had everything going for it. Will Ferrell as lead, a supporting cast that includes Molly Shannon, Fortune Feimster, Luke Wilson, and Chris Parnell, and a premise about a golf legend competing alongside his son that had real emotional potential. And it is fine. Well produced, well cast, and ultimately the kind of Netflix series that you finish and feel good about without feeling the need to tell anyone about it.

The cinematography is genuinely interesting. Wide shots and mounted camera angles across real Southern California golf courses give the show a visual language that most sitcom-style productions would not bother with. You can feel the space, which is rare. But the production polish that makes it look great is also part of what keeps it at arm's length. It is too branded, too obviously partnered, too big budget to have the rawness that makes something actually land. There is no realness to it. You never forget you are watching a Netflix show.

If you want to see what this cast is capable of in something with more heart and less gloss, watch Tires. That is the comparison The Hawk cannot quite live up to.

Next Gen NYC — Bravo

Next Gen NYC is so good, and I think a big part of why is that these are people closer to my age demographic. The chaos level matches the Real Housewives franchises but the stakes feel different when you are watching people navigate the beginning of their adult lives rather than the middle of them.

The show has built momentum fast, largely because the cast cannot seem to stay out of trouble, which is both the best and most exhausting thing about it. People like Brooks are hard to support because he stirs the pot in a way that does not move anything forward. It is chaos for the sake of chaos, and after a while that gets old. But then there are people like Hudson, Ariana, Riley, and Brooke Shields' daughter who give the show real substance. These are people you actually want to see succeed. You watch them with a close eye because the opportunities they have been given are real and the ways they could squander them are equally real. That tension is what keeps Next Gen NYC compelling beyond just the drama.

This is a franchise worth following.

72 Hours and the WWHL Crossover Nobody Saw Coming

The crossover nobody knew they needed finally happened on July 27th. Kevin Hart, Marcello Hernandez, and Kam Patterson stopped by Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen to promote 72 Hours, the new Netflix comedy, and it was exactly as unexpected and wonderful as it sounds.

Plenty of comedians have made their way into the Bravo Clubhouse over the years. But Kam Patterson on a show built around Bravo franchises is genuinely surreal if you have been following his trajectory. A year ago the idea would have seemed impossible. Now it just feels like one stop on a press tour that has been everywhere.

The best moment came when Andy asked Kam to explain what the movie was about, and he stumbled through it with a complete lack of media training. It was real and unperformed and made him more likeable in thirty seconds than any polished interview could have. That is the thing about Kam. He has not yet been groomed for this level of attention, and it shows in the best possible way.

72 Hours delivered. Original premise, strong cast, a story that appeals across age groups at a time when adaptations and biopics are dominating everything. They even teased a sequel at the end, which means more Kam Patterson, more Marcello Hernandez, and more of what SNL's younger cast members are building outside the show. SNL had a standout year on social media this past season. The younger cast is bringing attention to themselves simply by doing the work they love. Kam Patterson appearing on WWHL to promote a Netflix movie is just the most visible version of something that has been building for a while.

There is something specific that happens when two things you love come together in a way you were not expecting. It adds a layer of engagement that is hard to manufacture. This WWHL episode was that. If you are a Bravo person and a Kill Tony person and you missed it, please do yourself a favor and watch it on Peacock now.