Prices are rising again, but a slew of fan-favorite shows - including Apple's 'Slow Horses,' Netflix's 'The Gentlemen' and Paramount's 'MobLand' - are returning for new seasons
Jack Lowden, left, and Gary Oldman in Season 6 of "Slow Horses," premiering Sept. 16 on Apple TV.
It's a mixed bag for consumers as the streaming calendar shifts to fall, with the return of some fan-favorite series but also another round of price hikes.
Apple (AAPL) just raised its price by $2 a month, its fourth increase in the past four years. Comcast's $(CMCSA)$ Peacock did the same earlier in August, after Netflix $(NFLX)$, Amazon (AMZN) and Paramount+ $(PSKY)$ announced hikes earlier this year. Don't be surprised if Warner Bros. Discovery's $(WBD)$ HBO Max and Disney (DIS) follow by year's end.
But on the viewing side, the streaming schedule perks up a bit in September - with a distinctly British flavor.
From the coziness of Netflix's "The Great British Baking Show," to the Scottish lilt of Peacock's "The Traitors," to the London settings of Apple's "Slow Horses," Netflix's "The Gentlemen," Paramount's "MobLand" and HBO Max's "Youth," there's something for everyone, and enough variety of regional accents to send you scrambling to turn on subtitles.
The only problem with so much variety is paying for it all. Luckily, with a bit of strategic churning - that is, adding and dropping services month to month - you can still catch the best shows while keeping your monthly streaming budget around $50. Keep in mind that a billing cycle starts when you sign up, not necessarily at the beginning of the month. And it's always worth watching out for time-sensitive deals and money-saving bundles.
Each month, this column offers tips on how to maximize your streaming and your budget - rating the major services as "play," "pause" or "stop," similar to investment analysts' traditional ratings of buy, hold and sell - and picks the best shows to help you make your monthly decisions.
Here's a look at what's coming to the various streaming services in September 2026, and what's really worth the monthly subscription fee:
Netflix ($8.99 a month for standard with ads, $19.99 standard with no ads, $26.99 premium with no ads)
"The Gentlemen" (Sept. 3), the British crime thriller starring Theo James as a former soldier who inherits his aristocratic father's estate - and the secret pot-growing operation beneath it - returns for its second season. Created by Guy Ritchie, it's rollicking, violent and darkly funny - and Ritchie's best work since the days of "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch." A third season has already been green-lit, amid rumors that Meghan Markle might join the cast.
Netflix also has a reboot of "A Different World" (Sept. 24), the "Cosby Show" spinoff that became a sitcom classic in its own right in the late '80s and early '90s. Maleah Joi Moon stars as the daughter of Dwayne Wayne and Whitney Gilbert (Kadeem Hardison and Jasmine Guy, reprising their roles from the original show), who's a freshman at fictional Hillman College looking to blaze her own trail away from her hovering parents.
Other highlights include a new season of the ever-cozy "The Great British Baking Show" (date TBA), which adds cookbook writer/TV chef Nigella Lawson as a judge; "Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story" (Sept. 17), in the latest chapter of Ryan Murphy's true-crime anthology series, this time starring Ella Beatty as the alleged ax murderer; "Turning Point: Generation 9/11" (Sept. 2), a documentary marking the 25th anniversary of 9/11; "Earle Meets World" (Sept. 4), a reality show about Gen Z "it girl" Alix Earle; Season 5 of the Israeli action thriller "Fauda" (Sept. 8); "Crew Girl" (Sept. 10), a Canadian YA drama about a girl who joins an all-boys prep-school rowing team; Season 2 of the animated spinoff "Stranger Things: Tales from '85" (Sept. 17); and the "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"-inspired competition series "Wonka's The Golden Ticket" (Sept 23). Netflix also quietly added "The Audacity," AMC's comedy about Silicon Valley tech titans, in August.
There's also a special NFL game, with the San Francisco 49ers playing the L.A. Rams in Melbourne, Australia (Sept. 10); "Call My Agent: The Movie" (Sept. 10), a reunion of the beloved French talent-agency comedy; all three seasons of Starz's brilliant cater-waiter comedy "Party Down" (Sept. 22); and "Unabomber" (Sept. 25), a movie that jumps between Ted Kaczynski's days as a genius college student and his years as a killer hunted by the FBI, starring Russell Crowe, Jacob Tremblay and Shailene Woodley.
Hey hosers: Netflix will also add all six seasons of "SCTV" (Sept. 1), aka "Second City Television," the groundbreaking 1976-'84 Canadian sketch-comedy series that helped launch stars such as John Candy, Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Catherine O'Hara and Rick Moranis. This will be the first time the show has been available to stream in the U.S., and definitely worth a look - for nostalgia's sake if nothing else.
Play, pause or stop? Play. After a weak stretch over the summer, there's more quality ("The Gentlemen" and "GBBO," not to mention "Party Down" and "SCTV") and potential for quality ("A Different World," "Call My Agent: The Movie," "Lizzie Borden") than usual this month.
Amazon's Prime Video ($14.99 a month with ads, $8.99 without Prime membership, both +$4.99 to avoid ads)
"Reacher" (season finale Sept. 16) has been a massive hit for Amazon, and its current fourth season is drawing critical praise, making this a pretty good time for the premiere of "Neagley" (Sept. 16), a "Reacher" spinoff starring Maria Sten as Frances Neagley, a Chicago private eye and friend/former colleague of the eponymous big lug. Alan Ritchson will pop in as a guest star, as Neagley investigates the mysterious death of an old friend. She probably won't smash quite as many skulls as Jack Reacher, but it looks like a decent action show that dads everywhere will enjoy.
Meanwhile, Kevin Kline stars in "American Classic" (Sept. 1) as a disgraced Broadway star who returns to his hometown and gets involved with a local theater company. If that sounds vaguely like the beloved Canadian comedy "Slings & Arrows," it's for good reason - co-creator Bob Martin was also co-creator of that show. "American Classic" boasts a terrific ensemble cast, including Laura Linney, Jon Tenney and Jane Alexander, and looks like perfect comfort TV. The dramedy premiered earlier this year on sister service MGM+, to largely glowing reviews, and now gets a chance at reaching a much wider audience. (Sadly, "Slings & Arrows" isn't available to stream anywhere.)
Amazon's also got the rom-com movie "The Love Hypothesis," (Sept. 23), starring Lili Reinhart as a Ph.D. candidate who falls into a fake relationship with a fellow academic, and "Go Deep: The DeSean Jackson Story" (Sept. 24), chronicling the life and career of the former NFL star through film shot by his brother over a 30-year span.
There's also the return of NFL "Thursday Night Football" (Sept. 17), a full slate of WNBA and NWSL games, and a pair of Yankees games for viewers in the NYC metro area (Sept. 9 and 23).
Binge-worthy: The coming-of-age drama "Sterling Point" has been this summer's surprise smash hit, and with good reason. From creator Megan Park ("My Old Ass") and executive producers Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz ("The OC," "Gossip Girl"), it's leaps and bounds better than Amazon's other YA shows. Full of heart, with smart writing that elevates what could have been a generic teen drama and captures the exhilarating yet terrifying feeling of being right on the tipping point between adolescence and adulthood, the eight-episode series deftly deals with romance, friendship, grief and still-raw family secrets. Ella Rubin, Bo Bragason and Amelie Hoeferle lead an outstanding cast of young actors, and the gorgeous scenery of Canada's Lake Muskoka doesn't hurt. It's already been renewed for a second season, and is an excellent addition to what Vulture has aptly dubbed the "Sexy Feelings by a Canadian Lake" genre.
Play, pause or stop? Play. You don't need to be a teenager to appreciate "Sterling Point," "American Classic" looks great (really, how can you go wrong with Kevin Kline and Laura Linney?), and "Neagley" looks like the perfect pairing with "Reacher." While you're here, also check out recent shows like the noirish "Batman: Caped Crusader," Nicolas Cage's unhinged superhero take on "Spider-Noir" and the surprisingly good action/comedy series "Ride or Die," starring Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham.
Apple TV ($14.99 a month)
If it's September, it must be time for a new season of "Slow Horses" (Sept. 16). This will be its sixth season in five years, and in an age when streaming shows can take years between seasons, there's something comforting in such a reliably consistent cadence. And it's even more satisfying when the show is this good. The Emmy-nominated, darkly comic thriller about a unit of disgraced British spies - starring Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden and Kristen Scott Thomas - remains sharp and propulsive, one of the best series on TV. This season combines two books from Mick Herron's best-selling series, "Joe Country" and "Slough House," and finds Jackson Lamb & Co. on the defensive as someone's killing off Slow Horses past and present. This is the easiest "must-watch" of the month.
Apple's also got "Mayday" (Sept. 4), a Cold War action/comedy movie starring Ryan Reynolds as a U.S. pilot who crashes over Soviet territory and teams up with an eccentric ex-KGB officer (Kenneth Branagh) to escape; "Last Seen" (Sept. 9), an Australian thriller series starring Patrick Brammall ("Colin From Accounts") as an ex-cop-turned-dispatcher who receives a distress call that he believes is from his missing daughter; and "Brothers" (Sept. 23), a comedy series starring real-life buddies Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson playing fictionalized versions of themselves who discover they may actually be brothers.
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