NFL
By: Joe Cardoso
Summer usually means an entertainment lull while networks save their firepower for fall premieres. Not this year. August 2026 is stacked with must-see television, long-awaited returns, and some strong box office must-watch movies. Here’s what to clear your calendar for.
Television Takes Over
The month kicks off strong with Futurama’s new season landing on Hulu August 3, followed by Lioness Season 3 on Paramount+ August 2. Taylor Sheridan’s espionage thriller returns with Zoe Saldaña, Morgan Freeman, and Nicole Kidman all back in the fold. This show is INTENSE and worth the time to get caught up if you haven’t watched it before.
Comfort watch fans get the big one: Ted Lasso Season 4 premieres August 5, bringing Coach Lasso back after years away. Just a week later, Reacher Season 4 hits Prime Video on August 12, giving action fans their fix right in the middle of the month. After last season being so-so, Reacher needs to nail this one to keep fans hungry for more; it also can bounce us right to the new spinoff, Neagley, which I have high hopes for.
Netflix isn’t sitting this one out either. Outer Banks Season 5 drops August 20, closing out the treasure-hunting saga, while Love Is Blind: UK Season 3 arrives August 19 for reality junkies. Game show lovers can circle August 25 for Jeopardy! Masters Season 4. We also get an ESPN Jeopardy starting at the end of July. I am a big Outer Banks fan, but has it been too long for it? Can they get that old thing back?
On the reality and competition side, Paramount+ brings back The Challenge: Cutthroat for a 42nd season on August 5, and Average Joe returns August 19 for a globetrotting second season that takes its crew from Pittsburgh to Cape Town. If you grew up when MTV played music videos and also had great shows, you ALWAYS watch “The Challenge” PERIOD.
Movies Worth a Theater Trip
The box office slate is a fun mix of nostalgia and new. Coyote vs. ACME finally gets its release after years of studio limbo, and family audiences have PAW Patrol 3: The Dino Movie to look forward to. Horror fans should mark down Insidious: Out of the Further, while Wet Hot American Summer gets a theatrical re-release for anyone who wants the cult classic on the big screen again. And YES, it comes out on July 31st, but throw Spider-Man in there because we ALL are going to see it more than once; just admit it already.
Super Troopers 3 finally arrives for fans who’ve waited nearly a decade for the follow-up. In these days and times, we ALL need as many laughs as we can get, am I right?
Streaming Catalog Deep Cuts
Beyond new premieres, August is loaded with older favorites hitting Netflix, including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Shallows, and Smurfs: The Lost Village solid additions if you’re building a weekend watchlist that mixes new and familiar.
The Bottom Line
Whether you’re a prestige drama person, a reality-TV completionist, or someone who just wants a good popcorn flick, August 2026 delivers. With returning heavyweights like Ted Lasso and Reacher, closing chapters like Outer Banks, and a theatrical lineup that spans horror to nostalgia, there’s genuinely no excuse to be bored this month. Grab the remote or the popcorn because entertainment lovers are eating well in August.
