Entertainment

31 Of The Best Prime Video NZ Shows To Watch In 2022

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We're just going to come right out and say it. Amazon Prime Video is a mammoth vault of epic TV series you won't be able to stop watching. From murder mysteries to killer comedies and new sci-fi plots to cult favourites, there are so many brilliant shows worth binging your way through.

Here are the best shows to watch on Amazon Prime Video NZ right now.

The Boys Season 3

Since hitting the streaming service in 2019, The Boys has been a runaway hit and absolutely deserves its top billing as one of the best shows you need to watch on Amazon Prime. Back for a highly-anticipated season 3, this is one of the most gripping, disturbing and exciting takes on the often tired old superhero trope where every episode will leave you gasping for breath and skipping on to the next. In this world, a team of lauded superheroes (led by the utterly fucked up Homelander and played by our very own Antony Starr) ostensibly keep the human population safe but are in fact so far from the clean-cut reputation they portray you'll be gobsmacked. Enter the human vigilantes (led by another Kiwi star Karl Urban rocking an at times dubious, yet always entertaining, British accent) that decide to take them on, and let the madness ensue. Definitely one of the best shows on Amazon Prime Video worth your time. Watch it here.

​​Outer Range

Outer Range centres on Royal Abbott, a rancher fighting for his land and family, who discovers a mega mystery at the edge of Wyoming's wilderness. A thrilling Western family saga with hints of wry humour and supernatural mystery, Outer Range is an epic watch. At the start of the series, the Abbotts are coping with the disappearance of daughter-in-law Rebecca. They are pushed further to the brink when the Tillersons (the owners of the neighbouring profit-driven ranch) make a play for their land. An untimely death in the community sets also sets off a chain of tension-filled events so, like you can imagine, this show is filled with all the action. Watch it here.

Conversations With Friends

Conversations With Friends follows Frances (Alison Oliver), a 21 year old college student, as she navigates a series of relationships that force her to confront her own vulnerabilities for the first time. Frances is observant, cerebral and sharp. Her ex-girlfriend, now best friend, Bobbi (Sasha Lane) is self-assured, outspoken and compelling. Though they broke up three years ago, Frances and Bobbi are virtually inseparable and perform spoken word poetry together in Dublin. It’s at one of their shows that they meet Melissa (the legend that is Jemima Kirke), an older writer, who is fascinated by the pair. Bobbi and Frances start to spend time with Melissa and her husband, Nick (Joe Alwyn), a handsome but reserved actor. While Melissa and Bobbi flirt with each other openly, Nick and Frances embark on an intense, secret affair that is surprising to them both. Soon the affair begins to test the bond between Frances and Bobbi, forcing Frances to reconsider her sense of self, and the friendship she holds so dear. Huge, we know. Make sure you’ve read the book before you feast your eyes on this show. Watch it now. 

1883

Grab your cowboy hat, the prequel to Yellowstone has landed on Amazon Prime NZ. Created by Academy Award nominee Taylor Sheridan, 1883 follows the origin story of the Dutton family as they embark on a journey west. It is a stark retelling of Western expansion, and an intense study of one family fleeing poverty to seek a better future in America’s promised land—Montana. Starring a stacked list of Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Isabel May, LaMonica Garrett, Marc Rissmann, Audie Rick, Eric Nelsen and James Landry Hébert with cameo appearances from Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Graham Greene and Billy Bob Thornton. Watch it here.

The Wilds

​​Survival hangs in the balance for a group of teenage girls stranded on a deserted island, after the explosive discovery that what's happening to them is an elaborate social experiment. Season two ups the ante and keeps you guessing, with the introduction of more test subjects – a new island of teenage boys – who have to also fight for survival under the watchful eye of the experiment’s puppet master. Watch it here.

Luxe Listings Sydney

If like us, you’re a fan of property porn then Luxe Listings is your next binge. Filmed in Sydney it follows renowned real estate agents Gavin Rubinstein and D’Leanne Lewis along with esteemed buyer’s agent Simon Cohen who transport viewers into the fast-paced world of buying and selling high-end, luxury real estate within the harbour city. From iconic beachfront backdrops to mansion oozing unrivalled grandeur, these three will stop at nothing to ensure they get the biggest paycheck. Read: expect big drama. Watch it here.

A Very British Scandal 

Written by the legendary Sarah Phelps (The Pale Horse; Dublin Murders), A Very British Scandal focuses on the divorce of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, one of the most notorious and brutal legal cases of the 20th Century. Famed for her charisma, beauty and style, Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, dominated the front pages as a divorce featuring accusations of forgery, theft, violence, drug-taking, secret recording, bribery and a deadly polaroid picture all played out in the white-hot glare of the 1960s media. Watch it here.

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The Lord Of The Rings: The Ring Of Power

It’s finally happened. Amazon Prime Video's highly anticipated The Lord Of The Rings: The Ring Of Power trailer has officially dropped and we have no words. The adaptation has been scened to take place prior to the War Of The Ring, during a time known as the Second Age in JRR Tolkein’s Middle Earth. According to a first-look in Vanity Fair, The Lord Of The Rings: The Ring Of Power will juggle 22 stars and a myriad of storylines, from the depths of dwarf mines all the way to the elven kingdom of Lindon. Huge. It's locked to land on Amazon Prime Video September 2, 2022. Anyway, don’t let us stop you, scope the new trailer below.

Nine Perfect Strangers 

Based on the bestselling book from Australian author Liane Moriarty (who also penned Big Little Lies), Nine Perfect Strangers follows the drama at a boutique health-and-wellness resort, where nine stressed city dwellers try to get on a path to a better way of living. Watching over them during the ten-day retreat is the resort’s director Masha (Nicole Kidman), a woman on a mission to reinvigorate their tired minds and bodies. However, these nine strangers have no idea what is about to hit them. Aside from an epic storyline, the series also boasts an all-star cast including Luke Evans, Bobby Cannavale, Regina Hall and Michael Shannon.

Cruel Summer 

If you dig a good crime series that keeps you guessing right until the credits roll then you’ll want to stream Cruel Summer stat! The series takes place over three summers in the 90s when a beautiful and popular teen goes missing, and a seemingly unrelated girl transforms from a sweet and awkward outlier to the most popular girl in town, eventually becoming the most despised person in America. Giving the show a unique twist, each episode is told from alternating points of view. It stars Olivia Holt, Jessica Biel and Chiara Aurelia.

The Pursuit Of Love

An adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s celebrated novel and set in Europe between the two World Wars, The Pursuit Of Love follows the adventures and misadventures of the charismatic and fearless Linda Radlett (Lily James) and her best friend and cousin Fanny Logan. Consumed by a desire for love and marriage, the two women are on the hunt for the ideal husband. Their friendship is put to the test as Fanny settles for a steady life and Linda decides to follow her heart, to increasingly wild and outrageous places. 

Panic

Based on Lauren Oliver’s bestselling novel, Panic is one of the best shows on Amazon Prime Video right now. It takes place in a small Texas town, where every summer the graduating seniors compete in a series of challenges, which they believe is their one and only chance to escape their circumstances and make their lives better. But this year, the rules have changed—the pot of money is larger than ever and the game has become even more dangerous. The players will come face to face with their deepest, darkest fears and be forced to decide how much they are willing to risk in order to win. 

Solos

Starring Academy Award-winning actors Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway and Helen Mirren, as well as Uzo Aduba, Anthony Mackie and Constance Wu, this anthology series is a must-watch. Over seven episodes, Solos explores the strange, beautiful, heartbreaking, hilarious, wondrous truths of what it means to be human. The series spans our present and future and illuminates that even during our most isolated moments we are all connected through the human experience—which after the year we’ve all had, is something we can absolutely relate to.

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Them

From breakout creator Little Marvin, the ten-episode Amazon Original series is a limited anthology series that explores terror in America. Set in the 1950s, Them centres on a Black family who moves from North Carolina to an all-white Los Angeles neighbourhood during the period known as The Great Migration. The family's idyllic home becomes ground zero where malevolent forces, next-door and otherworldly, threaten to taunt, ravage and destroy them. It boasts an uber-talented cast including Deborah Ayorinde, Shahadi Wright Joseph and Ryan Kwanten.

The Expanse

If you haven’t watched The Expanse yet, you need to get on it ASAP. This show is a must-watch regardless of whether or not you’re a fan of sci-fi—it’s just good TV. Based on the series of novels of the same name by James S. A. Corey, the series is set in a future where humanity has colonised the Solar System and follows a band of antiheroes as they unravel and place themselves at the centre of a conspiracy that threatens the system's fragile state of cold war. It’s kinda like Game Of Thrones in space (but also not really—you’ll have to watch it yourself to see what we mean).  

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Little Fires Everywhere

There’s few things we love more than an epic book to TV series adaption and this beauty, produced by Reese Witherspoon, ticks every box. Little Fires Everywhere takes place in the 90s in the placid town of Shaker Heights, Ohio where Elena Richardson (Witherspoon) thrives in her organised, predictable life. But everything changes when mysterious Mia Warren (Kerry Washington) arrives in town with her teenage daughter Pearl and rents a house from Elena. Soon the Warrens become so much more than just tenants and their lives become irrevocably entwined with Elena and her kids. If you’re looking for one of the best shows on Amazon—actually make that one of the best on any streaming service—this is it. 

Good Omens

If you’re keen for some David Tennant action, Good Omens is the show for you—the show is a miniseries based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Set in 2018, the series follows the demon Crowley (Tennant) and the angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen), longtime acquaintances who, having grown accustomed to life on Earth as representatives of Heaven and Hell, seek to prevent the coming of the Antichrist and with it, Armageddon.

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Homecoming

There are two glorious seasons of Homecoming to binge your way through so sit yourself down, kick your feet up and get comfy. This guy is basically set around a “homecoming transition facility” to help soldiers who have returned from war get back to everyday life. It falls into the “psychological thriller” side of TV and each season so far has been a gripping on-screen journey filled with much tension so don’t expect this one to be a cruisey watch. Season one starred Julia Roberts and season two stars Janelle Monae and if that’s not enough of an incentive to binge this bad boy, we don’t know what is.

Carnival Row

Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne star in the steampunk, neo-noir fantasy that is Carnival Row. The show follows mythical creatures who have fled their war-torn homeland and who gather in the city as tensions simmer between citizens and the growing immigrant population. At the centre of the drama is the investigation into a string of unsolved murders, madness of power and unresolved love.

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Sneaky Pete

Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) co-created Sneaky Pete, which aired in 2015. The crime series follows Marius Josipović (Giovanni Ribisi), a released convict who adopts the identity of his cellmate, Pete Murphy, to avoid his past life. The show has flown under many people’s radar but has garnered pretty good reviews, so if you’re looking for a new crime show to binge, this might be it.

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Upload

We love this new Amazon Prime Video series for its epic storyline and we’d be lying if we said we didn’t wish we could actually live it out. Upload is set in the future and when you’re about to die, you get the option of “uploading” yourself into a very Sims-like virtual world to live forever. It’s sci-fi meets comedy and we know you’re going to love it.

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Making The Cut

Netflix’s Next in Fashion is no competition when it comes to the tried and true Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn method. Making The Cut sees your favourite mentors jump the Project Runway ship in this revamped fashion competition/reality show, stepping up the competition and pushing its 12 designers to the limit. If you’ve felt Project Runway has been a bit drab since Tim and Heidi left the workroom, you’ll find Making The Cut has all the bones of the show you know and love but trades amateur designers for creatives with street-cred and egos from all around the world. With $1 million in prize money up for grabs, it’s time to get to work with all episodes available now.

Fleabag

Name a show when you’ve both laughed hysterically and ugly-cried in the same episode? A workout for your heart and soul, everyone can’t stop harking on about Phoebe Waller-Bridge and the things that are birthed from her wonderful brain. Tackling being a 20-something year old and screwing it up is all too familiar, but Fleabag brings a sense of relief in the knowledge that everything will turn out OK. A pervy, angry, dry-witted, grief-riddled and unfiltered woman is trying to heal whilst taking everything that life and London can throw at her. Experience it in all its glory here.

The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel 

The perfect 1950s housewife, native New Yorker Midge Maisel is living the American dream. Brash, bold, witty and cheeky, Midge could be using these qualities for something bigger, yet she's completely loyal to her husband who moonlights as a stand up comic—with questionable material. Her perfect life is suddenly derailed in a night, and a drunk, unhinged Midge gets on stage and delivers a hilarious set about her predicament. With the show in real life taking home Emmys and Golden Globes, Midge’s own comedy career is about to hit the big time. Make sure you’re one of the people who can say you knew her before she was famous, with seasons one to three here.

Undone

Amazon’s first foray into an animated original, it uses an exciting animation technique called ‘rotoscoping’. Scenes are filmed IRL, and then a digital artist draws over film creating a hyper-realistic-hybrid-animation. Starring Rosa Salazar as Alma, who, after a horror car crash, begins to be able to manipulate time and space. Acting alongside Bob Odenkirk (of Breaking Bad fame) who plays her dead father, she needs to learn to control her newfound abilities if she’s going to get to the truth behind his death. Binge it all here.

The Purge

Could something as ridiculous as The Purge work in real life? Probably not. If you haven’t seen the horror film starring Lena Headey, the TV show follows the same format—in bloody, gory fashion. In the not too distant future, crime numbers have dropped drastically when the USA allows everyone to let off a bit of steam with The Purge—for 12 hours once a year, no laws apply, meaning you can get everything out of your system and run amuck with zero consequences. In this series reboot, a group of people question the morality of The Purge, because, on purge night, anything goes. Watch it here.

Modern Love

The format of this show is music to the ears of people who write blogs. The New York Times’ ‘Modern Love’ column is a space for writers to share stories of love, loss, happiness and heartbreak, so we can empathise, judge or just feel something, damn it. Eight essays from writers have been used as the basis to explore Modern Love in a Love Actually style anthology series, minus the Christmas (thank god). With an all-star cast including Anne Hathaway, Tina Fey, Dev Patel, Julia Garner, Andrew Scott and more, believe in love again when you binge it all in one go here

Forever

Same shit, different day. Famed for their hilarious, spot-on impressions of Prince and Beyoncé during their beloved tenure at Saturday Night Live, Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph return to the screen in their own right to deliver belly-roaring laughs amidst dreary, everyday normalcy. With a twist. Oscar and June have seen 12 years of marriage turn into a mundane coexistence. Their life is ground-hog day as they follow the same routine, have the same conversations and eat the same food, day in/day out, for the rest of their lives. June tries her best to liven things up in a bid to save her marriage until things take a turn for the worst. Till death do them part. Take the step towards the first day of the rest of your life here.

Parks And Recreation

Calling all beautiful, tropical fish (Parks and Rec fans will get this reference): who knew local body politics could be such a riveting affair? Surrounded by her crew of wholesome co-workers, Leslie Knope is the deputy director of Pawnee’s Parks and Recreation department. Working to make the public spaces in her town wonderful for all the weirdos who live there, she has a goal in mind to turn an abandoned lot into a beautiful park for everyone to enjoy. Met with bureaucracy and hilarious predicaments at every turn, the way these things play out could only ever happen in the fictitious Indiana town of Pawnee. Even though we’ve seen this show from start to finish, we’re unsure if they ever actually manage to build a park. Find out and let us know? Drop by Pawnee with all seven seasons here.

30 Rock

If you know anything about Saturday Night Live, you’ll know the weekly sketch comedy show is stressfully pulled together in five sleepless days. Based on her experiences as head writer at SNL, Tina Fey offers us, mere mortals, a satirical glimpse into the hectic world of late-night variety shows as Liz Lemon, show-runner of fictitious The Girlie Show. Named after NBC’s New York studios, 30 Rockerfella Plaza, where SNL (and The Girlie Show) is filmed, Liz supervises the cast and crew to bring the show to air. Competing with high-brow shows such as ‘MILF Island’ and ‘America’s Kids Got Singing’ ratings are steadily going down the toilet and she’s forced to hire controversial actor Tracy Jordan in a bid to bring the show back on the strait and narrow. Make like SNL and consume all seven seasons in five days here.

The Office

The Office (US) might not be on Netflix but all seasons are available on Amazon Prime. We probably don’t have to give you the full summary because you’ve probably already seen it, but just in case you haven’t: it’s a mockumentary sitcom television series that depicts the everyday work lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. This show is one of the best shows of all time and we’re ready to fight anyone who says otherwise.

 

And here's everything you should be watching on all other streaming services in NZ.

Image credit: Amazon Prime Video.

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