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.

Given that I run more cold than hot on Guy Ritchie’s TV output — sorry, Mo’bland and Young Sherlock — I remain astounded by how much I enjoy The Gentlemen, which returned for its second season on Netflix this week, more than two years after the end of the first. It remains the best possible use of Theo James, who keeps getting better at mining his character’s increased darkness, while Kaya Scodelario continues to be a rapier-tongued delight. Their chemistry, be it friendly, romantic-adjacent or adversarial, is potent. The season has flaws, including hints of Ritchie’s trademark violent glibness, a strange narrative choppiness in the middle of the eight-episode run and a newly introduced vein of spirituality/religion/mythology that I don’t really buy, but I love watching Ray Winstone chew scenery, and it’s impressive how Vinnie Jones has matured into an actor capable of being the heart of a series like this. Plus, this season has some gorgeous Italian scenery, the confirmation of the stardom that I predicted for Benedetta Porcaroli back when Netflix’s Baby premiered in 2018, and at least one twist that I fully predicted but still made me gasp.

Credit where it’s due: In my review of the first season of Chad Powers, I said the finale of the Glen Powell football comedy injected what might or might not be a layer of dark cynicism that I didn’t expect it to have the guts to follow through on. The second season of Chad Powers actually does follow through on the dark cynicism, subverting various underdog sports clichés in favor of… well… I’m honestly not sure. The Michael Waldron-created, latex-obsessed comedy goes to some bleak, almost disturbing places in its second season, while still falling back on its not-wholly-successful farcical elements and a bunch of really cheap jokes about the titular alter ego’s mental handicaps. The new season gives Wynn Everett, as vicious football booster Tricia, a lot to do, and after her squandering in the otherwise excellent DTF St. Louis, I was glad to see her get her due. It also continues to feature fine work from Steve Zahn, Perry Mattfeld and, for only one episode this time, Toby Huss. Still, respecting the show for its cheating of mainstream expectations isn’t the same as enjoying the things the show is doing against the grain — and I still, unfortunately, don’t enjoy Chad Powers very much. This kind of sour-flavored dark comedy is hard to do right. 

After Chad Powers and The Hawk, you might be looking for a GOOD sports TV show to binge this long weekend. Fortunately, Angie Han and I have you covered with our list of The 10 Best Sports TV Shows of All Time, Ranked. Did your favorite sports show make the list? If your favorite sports show is Friday Night Lights, streaming now on Paramount+ and Amazon, it absolutely did! If your favorite sports show is Ted Lasso, now streaming on Apple TV… well, you’ll have to find out for yourself. But watch Shoresy (Hulu) and Brockmire (AMC+).

It is, of course, a long weekend because of Labor Day on Monday, and Labor Day is, of course, a celebration of the role organized labor has played in shaping the United States. That means it’s time for my annual lamentation that John Sayles’ Matewan isn’t streaming anywhere, nor is it available for streaming rental. Norma Rae? Also wholly absent from the streaming landscape, though Martin Ritt’s similarly themed The Molly Maguires is on Hoopla and Pluto TV. You can rent How Green Was My Valley and Silkwood, but neither is streaming anywhere. Noticing a trend? The Pajama Game, my favorite musical tribute to unions, is on Amazon. Barbara Kopple’s Harlan County, USA, which made our recent list of The 25 Best Documentaries of All Time, Ranked, is on HBO Max. Herbert Biberman’s Salt of the Earth is on Amazon. And yes, as always, Newsies is on Disney+.

Is anybody else perplexed that The Runner, premiering this weekend on Amazon, and Runner, premiering next week theatrically, are two different movies? The one that’s streaming and therefore on-brand for this newsletter, is the one that stars Gal Gadot and is directed by hit-and-miss helmer Kevin MacDonald (Touching the Void). Our Jordan Mintzer calls The Runner “disposable” and with a running — SEE WHAT I DID THERE?!?! — time of only 84 minutes, that might be enough to recommend it. The weekend’s other new streaming prospect is Apple’s Mayday, which probably features Ryan Reynolds running at some point, but will require 1 hour and 50 minutes of your time. It’s co-directed by John Francis Daley, one of the stars of Freaks and Geeks, one of our 15 Best Teen Dramas of All Time, and our Frank Scheck calls it “a fun throwback.”

Gloria Steinem was not technically an entertainment figure, but the Ms. magazine co-founder and feminist icon was nominated for an Emmy for writing on That Was the Week That Was and executive produced HBO’s Emmy-winning documentary Multiple Personalities: The Search for Deadly Memories. Steinem, who died this week at 92, was a favorite documentary subject as well, featured in HBO’s Gloria: In Her Own Words and Dear Ms. A Revolution in Print, both streaming on HBO Max. Steinem was played by Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, Lulu Wilson and Ryan Kiera Armstrong in Julie Taymor’s The Glorias and by Kirstie Alley in the ABC telefilm A Bunny’s Tale, though neither is streaming currently. Rose Byrne played Steinem in FX’s Mrs. America, streaming on Hulu.