Welcome to Now See This, THR chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg’s weekly viewer guide newsletter dedicated to cutting through the daunting clutter of the broadcast, cable and streaming TV landscape! Comments and suggestions welcome at daniel.fienberg@thr.com.

The Haunting of Frat House

Another year, another autumnal Netflix premiere from Mike Flanagan. Following The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor and last year's Midnight Mass , the master of anthological Netflix suspense has teamed with Leah Fong to adapt Christopher Pike's  The Midnight Club as a spooky 10-parter. I'm generally a Fan-agan, but I thought the first half of this young-skewing thriller — it's Red Band Society meets Flatliners — was fairly uneven, despite a game young cast led by Iman Benson. Our Angie Han praised the "empathetic writing and lively performances" and found the exploration of the power of storytelling to be moving. 

So Many Right Ones to Let In

Showtime's new Let the Right One In  series premieres on Sunday (it's OnDemand now) and while I found many interesting aspects in Andrew Hinderaker's interpretation of John Ajvide Lindqvist's 2004 vampire novel, I'm not sure it should be anybody’s first exposure to this oft-adapted property, however good stars Demián Bichir and Madison Taylor Baez are. Fortunately, Tomas Alfredson's spectacularly chilling 2008 film is streaming on Amazon, while Matt Reeves' impressively solid English-language remake is on Hulu. Watch the Alfredson film first, then maybe Reeves' adaptation. Then you'll be ready to ponder the Showtime take's downplaying of the source material's sexual elements and concentrate on its take on addiction and recovery. Oh, and read Lindqvist's book, which is twisted enough to make even the best adaptations feel like Good Night Moon.

'Derry' Air

Let's say that between Let the Right One In, Interview With the Vampire, Reginald the Vampire and Vampire Academy, you're tired of vampires but you still want to watch a show featuring protagonists who don't look like they spend much time in the sun. Derry Girls is back for a third and final season on Netflix. Lisa McGee's brilliant '90s-set Northern Irish comedy features a marvelous cast of actors far too old to be playing high school students and too pale not to be vampires delivering some of TV's funniest, most pointed dialogue (assuming you have the subtitles on). I haven't watched yet, mostly because I refuse to believe that this Netflix gem — the second season made my 10 Best Shows of 2019 list — is actually going to be finished after these six episodes (well, six episodes and a follow-up special that Netflix is pretending is part of the season).

Teamwork Makes the 'Redeem' Work

Stop me if you've heard this one before: The United States basketball team loses a couple of international games. Everybody gets insecure, because if we don't have basketball supremacy, what do we have? So we respond by actually trying and gold medals follow. The 1992 Dream Team's road to global domination has been chronicled in at least a half-dozen documentaries at this point, but what of 2008's Redeem Team? Jon Weinbach's Netflix doc The Redeem Team chronicles a different sort of all-star team rise, this one driven by teamwork and strategy (and NBA superstars) rather than just superstars. It doesn't rewrite any sports documentary rules, but it's full of basketball A-listers — Tayshaun Prince, Michael Redd, Deron Williams and, tragically, Kobe Bryant are the only players not featured — and, thanks to not being on ESPN, it gives everybody the chance to swear, which is fun.

Hi Hi 'Birdy'! 

So you're not in the mood for Halloween horror or for playoff baseball; whatever are you to do? You know who can unify our fractured nation? Lena Dunham! Laugh all you like, but nearly everybody seems to be enjoying Dunham's adaptation of Karen Cushman's Catherine Called Birdy, an anachronistic 13th century comedy featuring Bella "Lyanna Mormont!" Ramsey, Andrew "Hot Priest!" Scott and Billie "Billie Piper!" Piper. Premiering on Amazon, it's a coming-of-age film our Jourdain Searles called "cheeky and charming." Or I guess you can watch  Hellraiser on Peacock or Werewolf by Night on Disney+.

This Week's THR Staff Pick

Social media editor Anaja Smith has a ritual. She raves, "Every Wednesday, I am the most excited to watch the mess that truly keeps giving — Married at First Sight on Lifetime. The show follows five couples who, within an eight-week span, must decide if they’ve found their forever person or not. I love the show because it takes me on an emotional ride: One minute I’m anxious and ecstatic, the next I am drained from the drama. Although it’s mostly entertaining, I walk away each week with the realization that the experts on the show should require individual therapy first for each castmember, before getting married."