3 Prime Video Shows You Should Watch This Weekend (August 22 – 24)

You’ve had a busy week, so now is the time to put your feet up and enjoy some quality entertainment. There is plenty on offer if you have an Amazon Prime Video subscription, but not all of it is actually worth watching.

To save you the endless scrolling, here are three TV shows that you should binge over the coming days.

3

We Were Liars

Unintentionally, all three shows I’ve selected are based on books. Kicking things off, We Were Liars is based on the young-adult novel by E. Lockhart. It’s about a teenager called Cady (Emily Alyn Lind) who spends her summers on a private island with her wealthy family; a group of them dub themselves the Liars. When Cady finds herself washed up on the beach with no recollection of the events that led up to it, she sets out to discover what happened.

The chemistry between the characters is believable, even if their privilege makes them tricky to root for, and the central mystery at the heart of the show is intriguing (well done if you figure out what’s happened before it’s revealed). It takes a little while to get going, and you might feel you’ve seen enough rich families bickering to last a lifetime, but stick with it because it will hook you.

Amazon hasn’t officially renewed the show for a second season, though the final episode ends with potential for more, and there is source material available. Lockhart published a prequel novel called Family of Liars in 2022, and a sequel to the original, called We Fell Apart, is due later this year.

2

Reacher

The first Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child was published in 1997 and it kicked off a series that is still going strong to this day. The title character is a former US Army military police officer who now drifts through the country and solves crimes on his terms. In 2012, director Christopher McQuarrie and star Tom Cruise teamed up for a movie with their take on the character; some took umbrage with the fact Cruise was far from Reacher’s described dominating height. The movie was fine (and spawned a sequel), but McQuarrie and Cruise did better work with the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Enter Reacher, a TV show from Prime Video, which so far has adapted the books Killing Floor, Bad Luck and Trouble, and Persuader. The series stars Alan Ritchson, who certainly checks the “imposing presence” box and makes the fight scenes great fun to watch, but he also sells Reacher’s intelligence and morality. The show is just downright entertaining, with plenty of action and a welcome sense of humor, and the story unfolds in a way that keeps you gripped.

A fourth season was confirmed last year, so now it’s a waiting game until it’s released. There’s no word yet on exactly when that will be, but I’ll be streaming it as soon as it drops—and if you decide to binge Reacher this weekend, I suspect you’ll be hotly anticipating the further adventures too.

1

Good Omens

Good Omens began life as a 1990 fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. While adapted for other mediums like stage and radio, the story never made it to screen—director Terry Gilliam was attached to a film project that stalled for years. Then, almost three decades after the book’s publication, that changed with the release of a TV show as a co-production between the BBC and Amazon.

It stars David Tennant as the demon Crowley and Michael Sheen as the angel Aziraphale, who live on Earth and have come to enjoy their time on the planet. That comfort is thrown into disarray when they learn about the impending end of the world, said to be brought about by the Antichrist, who in this case is a young boy. The chemistry between the two leads is undeniable (watch Staged afterward for more) and their presence is the best part of the whimsical and sprawling show.

The first season remains faithful to the book, while the second goes beyond the source material but still retains its core appeal, with an amusing story of Archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm, on great form) losing his memory. A full third and final season was originally planned, but Gaiman left the project due to assault allegations, so now the show is wrapping up with a 90-minute episode instead.

If you binge these shows over a weekend, that’s great bang for your buck, even if you’re not using all of Amazon Prime’s benefits. Grab the remote and enjoy!