Fresh from scandalising the Cannes Film Festival last month, the 18LSDN The Idol is currently the #14 Most Popular TV Series on IMDb, with The Guardian already calling it “2023’s most controversial show.”

Depp plays mega-star Jocelyn, whose nervous breakdown derailed her last tour. Will her romantic awakening with club owner and self-help guru Tedros (Tesfaye) help her claim her rightful status as America’s sexiest pop idol or take her to the deepest and darkest depths of her soul? 

Tesfaye was born to Ethiopian immigrants, left home at 17, was homeless for a while, and started out releasing songs anonymously on YouTube before Blinding Lights became Spotify’s most streamed song of all time. 

Both Levinson and Depp, meanwhile, are Hollywood babies. Levinson is the son of Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Levinson, the man behind classics like Good Morning, Vietnam, Wag the Dog, and Rain Man, while Depp is the eldest child of former couple Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis.

So it’s no surprise that fame is a central theme on the show. “I’ve always been fascinated with celebrity and fame, particularly the bubble that many people live in where it’s a totally fictional reality,” says Levinson. “They’re surrounded by myth-makers who are constantly curating a reality that isn’t true.”

He’s full of praise for his lead actress. “She was sensational. And she could sing! There is something about Lily-Rose… When she tapped into this character, there was a fearlessness beyond anything I’ve ever seen. There’s no fear of embarrassment; no fear of how she looks; no holding back.”

Levinson compares the protectiveness Cannes audiences felt towards Jocelyn to our feelings for Zendaya’s character in Euphoria. “It’s similar I think to how we feel about Rue in Euphoria — we feel helpless. It’s a lot like parenthood. I often look at my son and think, ‘I really wish you wouldn’t do that.’ But they have to find their own way. There’s a constant tension in hoping and wishing that they make the right decision.”

HBO filmed a 2021 version of The Idol that was eventually scrapped. Levinson explains, “I had been tied up with Euphoria season two during the first shoot, so I didn’t see footage until Abel and I watched a few early cuts together. This was after the season two finale of Euphoria aired and Ashley had given birth to our son. As co-creators, we’d been so excited about The Idol, but felt the early iteration unfortunately wasn’t delivering what we needed it to. Abel asked me, ‘If we make a few tweaks, do you think it can be great?’ I said, ‘I think it’ll be good. But I don’t think it’s going be great.’ I have so much respect for Abel as an artist. I first saw him perform in 2011 at The Hollywood Bowl. I remember he stood behind the microphone the entire time and never moved an inch.

He was so shy. Then ten years later, I went to Coachella with him, around when we were deciding to redo The Idol. For that performance, he knew he needed to work the audience. His charisma was phenomenal. He was smiling, dancing and I thought, ‘If this guy can go from that night at the Hollywood Bowl to this, I think our show can be better.’ We had to make some tough decisions about how to move forward and, with the support of HBO, we decided to take the show in a new direction; approach with fresh eyes. And I think the story we’re telling is better for it.”

One of the big changes was the location, with Tesfaye’s own house becoming a key set. “When we asked HBO if we could remake the show, we knew we’d have to do it for a lot less money. One night I was with Abel at his house in Bel Air. I’m looking around the place thinking, ‘This is a great set. HBO’s gonna want us to be really scrappy and thrifty. What do you think about us shooting here?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, that works. You’ll have insurance, right?’ (Laughs) I went back to HBO and said ‘We got the main location for free.’”

Another was shifting to a multi-camera approach. “I shot it almost like a reality show to help him feel less aware of the cameras,” says Levinson of Tesfaye. “In version one, he seemed to clench when he was filming, so it was amazing to see him relax and really become the character.”

And another was the tone. “I wanted to bring more comedy to it,” says Levinson. “The industry is such a funny, strange world … I wanted to get even more into the absurdities of it all.”

Levinson is full of praise for HBO. “I count my lucky stars every day that I’m working with HBO. They have real respect for the individual storyteller. They took a huge leap making this show and letting me work alongside Abel— a pop star who’d never acted before! So, we didn’t want to let them down. And I hope people are excited to see what we’ve made because it feels like something that we haven’t quite seen before.”

Euphoria topped multiple “the most anticipated shows of 2022” lists, from Complex to Esquire to Polygon. Now the first episode of its long-awaited second season is streaming on Showmax, with new episodes coming express from the US every Monday. Sam Levinson’s ground-breaking adults-only hit series positions Zendaya as teenage addict Rue, trying to find hope while balancing the pressures of love, loss and addiction.

It’s been two years since Season 1 concluded, and the mid-pandemic 2020/21 two-part special only made us miss it more, so it’s no surprise that the Season 2 trailer hit over 1 million views on YouTube within 12 hours when it dropped at the end of November last year. 

As mentioned up top, Euphoria isn’t for everyone, and Season 2 looks set to be as controversial as the first. But the fans (including us) are, well, euphoric. In addition to her 2020 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (which saw her breaking the record for the youngest ever actress to scoop the title), Zendaya also won the 2019 People’s Choice Award for Favorite Drama TV Star and a 2020 Black Reel Award for the role. 

Euphoria also won 2020 Emmys for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics and for Contemporary Makeup, while the two-part special bridging the pandemic-enforced gap between seasons was nominated for a Peabody Award and three 2021 Emmys, for Cinematography, Make-up and Costume. 

Euphoria is available to watch first on Showmax, you can also catch up on the two-part Euphoria special here.

Euphoria‘s two-part special is now first on Showmax, express from the US. It’s as far removed from the frenetic pace of Season 1 as you can get… and the critics are raving about it.

Last year, Zendaya (The Greatest Showman, Spider-Man) became the youngest ever best actress Emmy winner for her performance as 17-year-old addict Rue, who returned home from rehab and fell hard for the new girl in town, Jules (played by trans superstar Hunter Schafer). 

The HBO drama series put a surprise in our Christmas stockings at the end of last year with Trouble Don’t Last Always, the first episode (and what an enthralling and captivating watch it is) of a two-part special bridging the COVID-19-enforced gap as we wait for Season 2. 

The first episode picks up directly after the Season 1 finale, focusing on Rue facing Christmas alone in the aftermath of the train station. Though Jules features briefly, the episode is a pensive, slice-of-life two-hander that sees Rue and her sponsor Ali (fellow Season 1 star Colman Domingo) pick apart life, loss and addiction over Christmas Eve pancakes in a diner.  

Part 2, titled F*ck Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob, has just arrived, express from the US; here’s where we finally get Jules’ side of the story and catch up with her in a painfully honest therapy session. 

Series creator Sam Levinson says they had prepped the entire Season 2 before the pandemic shut down production just three days before they were due to start shooting. “My instinct immediately was, ‘What can we do in the meantime? What’s a way to do more contained pieces that allow us to continue the emotional evolution of these characters?'”

Part 1 of his answer to that question drew a 96% thumbs-up from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. “The first season of Euphoria moved at a breakneck pace… Not so with this special; this long, enveloping conversation is covered with skill and panache, yes, but with unending patience, stillness, comfort in the discomfort,” says Collider. “An unorthodox, gripping, reflective, and supremely effective piece of television storytelling… and some of the best acting you’ll see on television this year.”  

RogerEbert.com calls it “one of the best hours of TV in 2020… incredibly moving,” Indiewire asked, “Who knew “Euphoria” could offer such a beaming ray of light?”, and Decider has already tipped Zendaya for another Emmy nomination for the special episode. “Zendaya continues to demonstrate exactly why she so deserved the best actress Emmy,” echoes The Guardian, adding that, “As the older, wiser Ali, Colman Domingo is simply extraordinary” and calling the episode “frequently as funny as it is grim. Ultimately, its message is one of forgiveness, of others and of oneself, of empathy and understanding. It quietly calls for good will to all men, even whip-smart, heartbroken, navel-gazing teenagers.”

Available now on Showmax, you don’t need us to tell you to watch this one especially since we’ve made our feelings clear about it on numerous occasions before.

Zendaya became the youngest ever best actress Emmy winner this year for her performance as Rue, a 17-year-old who returns home from rehab with no plans to stay clean, and falls for the new girl in town, Jules (played by trans superstar Hunter Schafer). Euphoria also won 2020 Emmys for Original Music and Lyrics for All For Us by Labrinth, as well as Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic). 

The new episode will follow Rue as she celebrates Christmas, in the aftermath of being left by Jules at the train station and falling back into old habits. 

Written and directed by series creator Sam Levinson, the episode will also feature Schafer and fellow Season 1 star Colman Domingo, who plays Ali. 

The title and date of the second episode are forthcoming. Both special episodes were produced under COVID-19 guidelines. 

The controversial adults-only teen show, which also earned Zendaya a 2019 People’s Choice Award for Favourite Drama TV Star, has an 8.4/10 rating on IMDb and an 82% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus says, “Euphoria balances its brutal honesty with an empathetic – and visually gorgeous – eye to create a uniquely challenging and illuminating series, held together by a powerfully understated performance from Zendaya.”

If you haven’t seen it yet then why not? Good news is you can catch up on Season 1, only on Showmax. 

WATCHMEN

Watchmen was the #1 show of the year for Empire, Mashable, Screencrush, Vulture, Vox, and Washington Post, where Hank Stuever said the show “continues to take my breath away with its bracing vision of racism, mask-wearing vigilantism and superheroic qualms in a skewed-reality America.”

SUCCESSION

Succession topped numerous favourite lists from AV Club to The Guardian to Uproxx. As The Guardian said: “2019 was the year HBO threw millions upon millions of dollars at the final season of Game of Thrones, only to have another of its shows blow it out of the water entirely.

CHERNOBYL

Chernobyl took the top spot on Radio Times’ critics poll, with reviewer Tim Glanfield calling the mini-series, “a gripping and at times hard to watch drama… an outstanding piece of television… it’s more than a worthy winner of our 2019 critics’ poll.”

BARRY

Barry was the top pick of the year for three separate AV Club critics: Baraka Kaseko, Erik Adams, and Sam Barsanti. This pitch-black comedy stars Bill Hader as Barry, a depressed war-vet-turned-hitman who takes up acting while on assignment in LA.

PEN15

AV Club reviewer Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya chose Pen15 as her top pick of 2019. The comedy series follows 13-year-old besties Maya and Anna [played by 32-year-old co-creators Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle) as they navigate – and try to survive – seventh grade and puberty. AV Club called it “one of 2019’s most delightful surprises … a hilariously insightful and refreshingly heartfelt look at adolescence in the early 2000s.”

EUPHORIA

Nicky Idika of Pop Buzz picked Euphoria as her favourite show of the year, praising the performances of its lead stars as “phenomenal” and saying, “The show’s cultural impact is already apparent. Euphoria deliberately avoids a sanitised view of modern teen life and, instead, eagerly leans into the drugs, the sex, the risky behaviour, and the toxic co-dependencies.”

RAMY

Ramy stars 2020 Golden Globe winner and stand-up comedian Ramy Youssef as Ramy Hassan, a first generation Egyptian-American in politically-divided New Jersey, where he’s caught between a Muslim community that thinks life is a moral test and a millennial generation that thinks life has no consequences.

THE GOOD FIGHT

Entertainment Weekly’s Darren Franich has been telling everyone he knows to watch his favourite show of last year, The Good Fight, a “smartly hilarious legal drama” whose creators, he says, “are having too much fun throwing axes at the American apocalypse.”

PERPETUAL GRACE

Perpetual Grace was the year’s favourite show for Entertainment Weekly’s Kristen Baldwin, who called it a “strange and wonderful saga” with “a story that unfolds like a Rube Goldberg contraption” and an ensemble cast “stuffed with excellence”.

THE DEUCE

The third and final season of The Deuce got the top vote from AV Club’s Vikram Murthi. Oscar nominee Gyllenhaal plays Candy, a porn director struggling to maintain her artistic integrity in an industry that is quickly devolving. As AV Club reviewer Noel Murray put it, “She shouldn’t just win a trophy, she should have one named after her.”

SURVIVING R. KELLY

Alicia Rancilio of Associated Press picked documentary series Surviving R. Kelly as the top show of the year, saying, “No other series made the kind of real world impact that this one did.”

And in case you hadn’t figured it out yet, all the above is available for your viewing on Showmax, which also has the Michael Jackson documentary Leaving Neverland, Spanish/English horror comedy series Los Espookys, anti-war comedy-drama Catch-22, and Season 4 of Adult Swim animated comedy Rick & Morty, among other hit shows from 2019 (a year full of great TV shows evidently). See the full breakdown from Metacritic here.

CHERNOBYL
Binge now

Chernobyl dramatizes the story of the 1986 nuclear accident, one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history, and of the brave men and women who made incredible sacrifices to save Europe from unimaginable disaster. Directed by Johan Renck (Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead), the five-part miniseries stars Emmy nominee Jared Harris (The Crown, Mad Men), People’s Choice nominee Stellan Skarsgård (Mamma Mia, Good Will Hunting) and Oscar nominee Emily Watson (Hilary and Jackie, Breaking the Waves).

“TV’s most scary offering in years. The series where history and reality are more terrifying than zombies.” Rotten Tomatoes

Top Rated TV: #1, IMDB, where it has a 9.6/10 rating | 96% critics rating, Rotten Tomatoes

GOOD TROUBLE S1
First on Showmax. Binge now

In this spinoff from the multi-award-winning The Fosters, Callie (six-time Teen Choice nominee Maia Mitchell) and Mariana Foster (three-time Teen Choice nominee Cierra Ramirez) move to Los Angeles and begin their lives as young adults. Mariana tackles the male-dominated world of tech and Callie faces the harsh realities of the legal system clerking for a federal judge. Faced with new neighbours, new challenges and, of course, new romances, the sisters must depend on one another to navigate the City of Angels.

100% critics rating, Rotten Tomatoes

MARVEL’S CLOAK & DAGGER S2
First on Showmax. Binge now

The story of Tandy Bowen (Olivia Holt) and Tyrone Johnson (Aubrey Joseph) – two teenagers from very different backgrounds, who find themselves burdened and awakened to newly acquired superpowers which are mysteriously linked to one another. Tandy can emit light daggers and Tyrone has the ability to engulf others in darkness. They quickly learn they are better together than apart, but their feelings for each other make their already complicated world even more challenging.

87% critics rating, Rotten Tomatoes

POWER S5
Binge from 2 July 2019

Season five picks up with James ‘Ghost’ St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick) in a dangerous alliance with his former drug partner and brother-in-arms Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora) and mortal enemy Kanan Stark (50 Cent). [Spoiler alert] As Ghost mourns the death of his daughter Raina, he searches for vengeance and throws himself into his work, reaching new, professional heights. But with this newfound publicity, his quest for blood threatens to dismantle his legitimate legacy. Ghost is blind to new enemies and, as the Feds grow closer to unmasking his true identity, Ghost must remain vigilant toward those wanting to take him down for his past criminal enterprises

8.2/10, IMDB | 100% critics rating, Rotten Tomatoes

People’s Choice nominee: Favourite Premium Drama Series 2017 | 2019 Image Awards for Best Drama and Best Actor

WARRIOR S1
Same time as M-Net, weekly from 4 July 2019 at 22:00

Warrior is a gritty, action-packed crime drama set during the brutal Tong Wars of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the second half of the 19th century. The series follows Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji), a martial arts prodigy who emigrates from China to San Francisco under mysterious circumstances and becomes a hatchet man for one of Chinatown’s most powerful organised crime families. Filmed in Cape Town, the show is based on an idea by martial arts legend Bruce Lee and is created by Jonathan Tropper (Banshee), with Fast and Furious director Justin Lin as an executive producer.

8.3/10 rating on IMDB | #68, Most Popular TV, IMDB

EUPHORIA S1
First on Showmax. Binge episodes 1-5 on 15 July 2019; last three express from the US

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuAzkZIiGxI

An HBO adaptation of an Israeli TV series of the same name, Euphoria has been described as “Kids meets Trainspotting.” Zendaya (K.C. Undercover, Spider-Man: Homecoming and The Greatest Showman) stars as a drug-addicted 17-year-old named Rue, opposite the likes of Maude Apatow (This Is 40, Knocked Up) and Eric Dane (aka McSteamy in Grey’s Anatomy). Writers Guild of America nominee Sam Levinson (Wizard of Lies) wrote the screenplay, while Drake is one of the executive producers.

#5, Most Popular TV, IMDB / 81% critics rating, Rotten Tomatoes

GENTLEMAN JACK
Same time as M-Net, Tuesdays at 22:00. Binge from 16 July 2019

Set in 1832, Gentleman Jack focuses on real-life English landowner Anne Lister (BAFTA Award winner Suranne Jones from Doctor Foster) and her determination to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home, Shibden Hall, by reopening her coal mines and marrying well. However, the charismatic, single-minded Lister – who dresses in black from head-to-toe and has charmed her way into high society – has no intention of marrying a man. Instead, she is determined to stay true to her nature by marrying Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle from Peaky Blinders and Bodyguard), a sheltered heiress who happens to be a seriously wealthy woman. A remarkable and unlikely love story, Gentleman Jack was created, written and co-directed by four-time BAFTA Award winner Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax).

88% critics rating & 95% audience rating, Rotten Tomatoes | 8.1/10 IMDB

#88, Most Popular TV, IMDB

YOUNGER S6
First on Showmax. Binge episodes 1-5 from 18 July 2019

The cat is out of the bag about Liza’s age and her relationship with Charles, so they all live happily after, right? Not a chance…

From the creator of Sex & The City, Younger is a hit romcom set in the publishing industry. Sutton Foster and Miriam Schor were nominated for Critics Choice awards as Liza and Diana, while Hilary Duff was up for People’s Choice and Teen Choice awards as Kelsey.

99% critics score, Rotten Tomatoes

A double nominee for Critics Choice, People’s Choice and Teen Choice Awards

THE HANDMAID’S TALE S3
Place-shifted from M-Net, Mondays at 10:30pm. Binge from 22 July 2019

June (two-time Golden Globe winner Elisabeth Moss) finds herself once again in Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly the United States. Gilead has returned to ‘traditional values,’ with women treated as property of the state. Despite the overwhelming odds, June is struggling to strike back against the regime… Season 1 was based on Margaret Atwood’s classic novel of the same name, which won the first Arthur C. Clarke Award.

Winner of 2 Golden Globes & 11 Emmys

#7, Most Popular TV, IMDB

BIG LITTLE LIES S2
Same time as M-Net, Mondays at 21:00. Binge from 12 August 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCWevZV945M

On the surface, in the tranquil seaside town of Monterey, California, everything seems the same. The mothers continue to dote, the husbands support, the children remain adorable and the houses are just as beautiful. But the night of the school fundraiser changed all that, leaving the community reeling as the ‘Monterey Five’ – Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata and Bonnie – bond together to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.

Season 2 has a new director in Oscar winner Andrea Arnold, while three-time Oscar winner and four-time Golden Globe winner Meryl Streep joins the star-studded cast of Oscar winners Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, Golden Globe winner Laura Dern, People’s Choice winner Shailene Woodley and Teen Choice nominee Zoe Kravitz.

Season 1 won 4 Golden Globes and 8 Emmy Awards

#8, Most Popular TV, IMDB

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE…

Tell Me A Story S1 – Thriller | From Kevin Williamson (Scream, The Following, Vampire Diaries) – Due 1 July 2019
American Crime S1-3 – Crime drama | Five-time Golden Globe nominee – Due 15 July 2019

Quite a blockbuster and fantastic line-up, we can easily say this with confidence as the above list includes most of our fave TV shows for 2019. To see everything coming to Showmax this month, click here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7vrjkheBt8

A great prospect 2019 is already looking like, we for ones are here for that and more…we especially can’t wait. Let the fun viewing commence!