The Best Shows To Watch On Netflix In June 2020

The new shows on Netflix:

“The Politician” (Season 2, Netflix Original)

Premise: In this comedy-drama co-created by Ryan Murphy, a rich young man fresh out of high school runs for New York State Senate against a vulnerable incumbent. The man, Payton Hobart, enlists his intense campaign staff from his failed bid for high school president to help him win the race.

He and his team have meteoric ambition and near-unlimited resources. Their main challenge: getting anybody to like them.

Setting: Contemporary New York City

Netflix descriptors: “Quirky” and “irreverent”

How it starts: The season begins with an overhead establishing shot of Manhattan and the Empire State Building.

The camera cuts to someone walking toward a door with a campaign poster that reads, “Hobart for State Senate.” Through the door, Payton Hobart and his campaign staff discuss strategy. The campaign hasn’t been going well. Hobart knocks a watercooler to the ground. Nobody stops the tank from leaking water all over the floor.

Notable cast: Zoey Deutch, Judith Light, Bette Midler, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Platt

Runtime: Eight episodes of roughly 40 minutes

Bonus: Atlantic Records released a soundtrack from the first season featuring Ben Platt singing various songs. Below is Platt singing “River.”

Another new show I must point out:

“Floor is Lava” (Netflix Original)

Netflix highlights from earlier in the month:

“Lenox Hill” (Netflix Documentary)

Premise: In this medical docu-series, the cameras follow various professionals at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. The story mostly focuses on four individuals whose specialties include neurology, obstetrics, gynecology and emergency medicine.

The series wrapped filming in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic began in New York City. Still, the show offers insight into the inner workings of a place that has become a focal point of the news in just the last couple of months.

Setting: Manhattan, New York City

Netflix descriptors: “Understated,” “intimate” and “emotional”

How it starts: The first thing on the screen is a note from the producers:

The producers care deeply about the safety and privacy of all involved with this program. All patients appearing in the program have provided consent to participate and to disclose their health information.

The camera then pans slowly across Manhattan in a series of establishing shots.

After a few seconds, the show cuts to a close-up of a patient’s wet, shampooed hair as doctors pour water over the hair and comb it out.

Runtime: Eight episodes of roughly 50 minutes

Bonus: Lenox Hill released a separate informational video about its staff without Netflix’s help.

“F Is for Family” (Season 4, Netflix Original)

Premise: In this animated comedy, a depressed father with anger issues oscillates between love for his suburban family and feeling that they hold him back from happiness. The “comedy” in this dark subject matter comes from the lead character’s clown-like failures and general commentary on the 1970s American experience.

Comedian Bill Burr voices the protagonist and co-created the series, which is loosely based on his childhood. Burr also stars in the new Judd Apatow movie, “The King of Staten Island,” so you could have a Burr-filled weekend.

Setting: Mid-1970s American town

Netflix descriptors: “Cynical” and “raunchy”

How it starts: Autumn leaves fall across the screen and morph into the magazine cover of a publication called “Prison TV Digest.” A prisoner reads the magazine with a slight smile on her face.

The camera pulls back to show two prisoners attacking a guard just outside the reader’s jail cell.

Notable cast: Jonathan Banks, Bill Burr, Mo Collins, Laura Dern, Debi Derryberry, Justin Long, Haley Reinhart and Sam Rockwell

Runtime: 10 episodes of roughly 30 minutes

Bonus: Netflix released an additional teaser for the new season that features Jonathan Banks’ character.

“Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj” (Volume 6, New Episodes Weekly, Netflix Original)

“Pose” (Season 2)

“Dating Around” (Season 2, Netflix Original)

“Queer Eye” (Season 5, Netflix Original)

Premise: In this reality makeover show, five gay men help people improve their lives through self-love and physical improvements in such areas as fashion and home design.

Earlier seasons of “Queer Eye” featured the crew making over lives in the American South, including an element of combating prejudice against the LGBTQ community. This season heads north to Philadelphia, which has a famously robust gay culture.

The rebooted series has won seven Emmys and earned 10 total nominations.

Setting: Philadelphia

Netflix descriptors: “Heartfelt” and “irreverent”

How it starts: Elton John’s “Philadelphia Freedom” plays over an establishing shot of Philadelphia. After showing a couple of city landmarks, the camera finds Karamo Brown dancing with a mop in a beautiful room with big windows and wood floors. In a montage, the cast members dance while cleaning and preparing different facets of this space ― their headquarters for the season.

Notable cast: Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Antoni Porowski and Jonathan Van Ness

Runtime: The fifth season runs 10 episodes of roughly 50 minutes.

Bonus: MTV made a reaction video of Brown watching old footage from the season when he was a cast member on “The Real World: Philadelphia,” which aired in 2004 and 2005. The video features “The Real World” clips of cops harassing Brown and a white cast member telling him to calm down.

“Hannibal” (Seasons 1-3)

All the shows that have joined Netflix this month so far: