The return of Netflix's Cobra Kai for its sixth and final season, as well as the launch of Apple TV Plus drama Lady in the Lake lead the list of original series, specials and documentaries debuting this week. 

Cobra Kai, a spinoff of the Karate Kid theatrical film franchise, will debut its sixth and final season on July 18 with the first of three parts consisting of five episodes each, according to the streaming service. Ralph Macchio and William Zabka star in the series along with William Zabka, Martin Kove, Jacob Bertrand, and Mary Mouser. 

Apple TV Plus' seven-episode drama Lady in the Lake premieres July 19 and stars Natalie Portman as a Jewish housewife seeking to reinvent herself as an investigative journalist after the disappearance of a young girl in 1960s Baltimore. Moses Ingram, Y'Lan Noel and Noah Jupe also star in the series. 

Here are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting during the week of July 15-21. For some, viewer discretion is advised.

July 17, The Ark (returning series), Syfy

July 17, Simone Biles Rising (sports documentary), Netflix

July 17, Unprisoned (returning series), Hulu

July 18, Kite Man: Hell Yeah! (animation), Max

July 18, My Spy: The Eternal City (movie), Prime Video

July 18, Those About to Die (drama), Peacock

July 21, Snowpiercer (returning series), AMC

Netflix will stream a sixth season of Cobra Kai, the network announced January 20, and it will be the final one.

“While this may be a bittersweet day for the fandom, the Miyagiverse has never been stronger,” creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg said in a letter to fans shared on social media. 

They promised “the BIGGEST SEASON OF COBRA KAI YET,” indeed in all caps. 

A Karate Kid spinoff, Cobra Kai has Ralph Macchio as Daniel and William Zabka as his former nemesis Johnny. The series follows up with them as adults, Daniel running a thriving auto dealership in the San Fernando Valley, and Johnny struggling to find purpose in his life. 

The first two seasons were on YouTube Red, before it shifted to Netflix. 

Season five premiered in September.

Sony Pictures Television produces the show. ■

A new episode of Netflix's biographical series The Crown hasn't dropped since November 2020, and Season 5 won't debut until this upcoming November.

Still, driven by the globally observed passing of Queen Elizabeth II, viewing of the original series focused on the British Royal Family has spiked anew, with seasons 1 and 2 of the show generating more than 47 million hours of streaming on Netflix last week. 

Season 1 of The Crown, which originally dropped back in November 2016, finished third on Netflix's ranking of English-language TV series for the week of September 12-18, garnering nearly 40.8 million hours of viewing. 

The Crown: Season 1 ranked as a top 10 English-language show in 87 countries that host Netflix, and it was the No. 1 show in Iceland and Ukraine. 

Globally, The Crown: Season 1 was the No. 4 program overall for the week, finishing behind season 5 of Cobra Kai (95.6 million streaming hours), season 2 of live-action Nickelodeon series adaptation Fate: The Winx Saga (49 million hours) and the local-language version of Narco Saints: Season 1 (62.7 million). 

Since Netflix only reveals viewing data for full seasons of shows that finish in the top 10 on its rankings to English-language and non-English language series, we don't know many millions of hours of streaming seasons 3 and 4 contributed to the show's total last week. 

Notably, creator Peter Morgan has shifted the key cast members of The Crown, aging up the actors as the story progresses. Season 5 will see Imelda Staunton take over as Elizabeth II for Olivia Colman, who starred in the role in seasons 3 and 4 ... and who took over the role from Claire Foy, who played the younger Queen in seasons 1 and 2. 

Dominic West will take over for Josh O'Connor as Prince Charles, and Elizabeth Debicki will play Princess Diana with the storyline progressing to focus on the latter years of the pair's relationship. 

Judging by the 95% Rotten Tomatoes score for the fifth season of Cobra Kai, critics haven't been bothered by the endlessly recycled plot lines and convoluted story arcs. 

But despite the parallel 93% audience score, maybe some Netflix subscribers are starting to notice. 

Debuting on Friday, Cobra Kai: Season 5 generated 106.7 million hours of streaming on Netflix's global platform in its first three days, which led all films and TV shows on the world's biggest SVOD service for the week of Sept. 5-11. 

Notably, however, Season 5's bow registered a significant 11% drop from the 120 million viewing hours captured from Dec. 31 - Jan. 2 by Cobra Kai's Season 4 debut. 

Yes, even with the new-agey Terry Silver (actor Thomas Ian Griffith) taking over the dreaded Cobra Kai dojo from the always ill-intentioned -- and now apparently imprisoned -- John Kreese (Martin Kove), the CK outfit teaches the wrong kinds of overly aggressive values to the impressionable youth of the San Fernando Valley ... and it's up to Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and the ever-present ghost of Pat Morita's "Mr. Miyagi," along with always-under-redemption enemy-turned-ally Lawrence (William Zabka) to keep the All Valley trophy from falling into the wrong hands. 

Blah, blah ... blah. 

We'd say Cobra Kai has jumped the shark, but then the writers just might have Macchio, in Season 6, lead his Miyagido minions out to Point Dume to perform some dangerous shark-jumping exercise that was forced upon him by his own Japanese karate master back in the '80s.

These guys don't need any more crazy ideas. 

Perhaps more impressive was the performance of the No. 2 ranked show on Netflix, mystery/horror-themed limited series Devil in Ohio, which grew its audience to 70.8 million viewing hours after a lukewarm three-day premiere of 35.4 million viewing hours the week prior. Next TV was under the mistaken impression that this was a documentary focused on Ohio GOP Congressman Jim Jordan, but it's actually a fictionalized miniseries about a psychiatrist who gets more than she bargains for when she shelters a cult escapee. 

Notably, Netflix is still getting traction out of off-network show Manifest, which -- a year after a phenomenal debut on the platform -- resurfaced Season 1 at No. 7 among English-language TV series with 16.7 million viewing hours, while Season 3 ranked 10th with 11.9 million streaming hours. 

Netflix agreed to produce a fourth season of the Jeff Rake-created mystery series last year, after NBC cancelled the show and the first three campaigns suddenly jumped to No. 1 on the streaming service ... which somehow wound up with the streaming rights instead of Peacock. That fourth season debuts on Netflix Nov. 4, and fans appear to be lining up and re-binging, based on the regular surfacing in recent weeks of Manifest in the top 10. 

Also notable: Season 1 of The Crown resurfaced at No. 7 on the English language TV ranker amid the unfortunate passing of Queen Elizabeth. 

Meanwhile, finishing at No. 8 on the English-language TV series chart with 16.6 million viewing hours, Season 4 of Stranger Things has ranked in the top 10 for the last 16 weeks. 

Recycling intellectual property remains all the rage. The adaptation of movies, novels, comics and graphic novels continues to make up most of subscription streaming services’ “original” content, and this week is no exception. Disney Plus is coming out with a live-action adaption of Pinocchio. The 1881 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio inspired Disney’s 1940 animated movie, which inspired the latest rendition of the story about a wood carver and his puppet. Three separate novels inspired  Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Peacock’s Last Light, and Starz’s The Serpent Queen. Meanwhile, Netflix’s Cobra Kai stems from the 1984 film The Karate Kid, and Showtime’s new series American Gigolo is rooted in the 1980 eponymous Paul Schrader film. Hillary and Chelsea Clinton do have an original interview format show debuting for Apple TV Plus called Gutsy, but even that show is based on a book the mother and daughter published three years ago. 

Pinocchio (Sept. 8, Disney Plus)

This live-action retelling of Disney's 1940 animated classic stars Tom Hanks as Geppetto, a wood carver who creates the puppet Pinocchio (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth), whom he treats like a son. From director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump), the film also stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jiminy Cricket, who serves as Pinocchio’s guide and his conscience when he becomes human. Interestingly, Zemeckis’s Pinocchio is one of two remakes of the 1881 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio written by Italian author Carlo Collodi. Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson’s stop-motion animated adaptation of Pinocchio will be released on Netflix on December 9.

The Good Fight – Season 6 (Sept. 8, Paramount Plus)

The sixth and final season of the legal spinoff of The Good Wife will once again tackle current events. While Season 5 featured a plot line about the January 6 insurrection, Season 6 will find Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) in a state of anxiety over the overturning of Roe v. Wade, threats to voting rights and the possibility of a civil war. “The series is sharper and more incisive than it's ever been, and it clips along at a brisk pace so that each episode never loses its momentum,” wrote New.com.au’s Wenlei Ma about the fifth season.

Last Light (Sept. 8 Peacock)

This dystopian five-part thriller series is based on Alex Scarrow’s eponymous international best-selling novel. Matthew Fox stars as oil engineer Andy Yeats who, while on a work trip in the Middle East, discovers that the world’s oil supply is in danger due to an infectious agent.  Within a few days of the discovery, society unravels while Yeats desperately attempts to reconnect with his family. The series marks Fox's return to television after a 12-year hiatus.

Cobra Kai – Season 5 (Sept. 9, Netflix)

In the latest installment of Cobra Kai, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) teams with Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and friends to take down Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), who now has complete control of the Cobra Kai dojo and is planning to expand the dangerous “No Mercy” karate creed across the San Fernando Valley. The series is set 30 years after The Karate Kid movie (1984). The reboot premiered on YouTube in 2018 but was later acquired by Netflix in 2020 after YouTube stopped producing original scripted content. Cobra Kai has received eight Emmy nominations, including two this year for stunt coordination and sound editing. Critics have consistently praised the series. “Frankly, topnotch revivals are so rare that it seemed inevitable Cobra Kai would experience a misstep or simply run out of gas,” wrote CNN.com’s Brian Lowry in the run-up to Season 4.

American Gigolo (Sept. 9, Showtime)

This 10-episode series is an adaptation of the 1980 Paul Schrader film that stared Richard Gere as a male escort Julian Kaye. The series, starring Jon Bernthal as Kaye, kicks off with Kaye being released from prison after 15 years for a murder he didn’t commit. We follow Kaye as he navigates his relationships with his former lover, his troubled mother, and the people who betrayed him. Meanwhile, Detective Sunday (Rosie O’Donnell) continues investigating the murder that sent Kaye to prison and eventually unearths a conspiracy. The pilot was written and directed by Ray Donovan’s David Hollander. 

Gutsy (Sept. 9, Apple TV Plus)

This eight-part documentary series follows former Secretary of State, Senator, and First Lady Hillary Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, as they speak with prominent women, including Dr. Jane Goodall, Gloria Steinem, Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer, Kim Kardashian and Goldie Hawn. The series is based on Hillary and Chelsea Clinton's 2019 title, The Book of Gutsy Women. "Say what you will about Hillary Clinton — and people have been saying what they will about Hillary Clinton for decades upon decades — it’s difficult to fathom how anyone can deny the power and the inspiration found in the stories told in Gutsy," wrote The Chicago Sun Times’ Richard Roeper.

The Serpent Queen (Sept. 11, Starz)

Following the success of Elizabeth York-themed The White Princess and The Spanish Princess, which was focused on Catherine of Aragon, Starz has made yet another series about past royalty. This time around, the focus is Catherine de Medici. The eight-episode series based on Leonie Fried’s book Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France was written and executive produced by Justin Haythe (Revolutionary Road).  Samantha Morton (The Walking Dead) stars as de Medici, one of the most powerful and influential women of the 16th century. The series will chronicle de Medici’s marriage and her unlikely rise to power. “Catherine isn’t a particularly good person, but The Serpent Queen doesn’t ask her to be; rather than whitewash her worst traits, the show re-contextualizes them as a necessary fact of her survival,” wrote Paste Magazine’s Lacy Baugher Milas.

The Handmaid’s Tale - Season 5 (Sept 14., Hulu)

Based on Margaret Atwood’s eponymous 1985 novel, the series takes place in Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly part of the United States. Starring Elisabeth Moss as a former handmaid, June, the series launched in 2017. Its first season won eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 13 nominations. The drama's fifth season focuses on June and the consequences she must pay for killing Gilead’s Commander Waterford (Joseph Fiennes). “Female heroines can be in short supply on screen, but Moss has a knack for making them real, no matter the stakes,” wrote the Sydney Morning Herald’s Louise Rugendyke about season four. ￭

Season five of Cobra Kai starts on Netflix September 9, the network shared on YouTube. A spinoff of film franchise The Karate Kid, Cobra Kai takes place over 30 years after the events of the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament, as Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) continue to rub each other the wrong way. 

Macchio shared on Twitter, “EXCITING NEWS! Our New Year’s tradition just got bumped up a few months. Cobra Kai Season 5 drops Sept 9, only on Netflix!”

Season four was released on New Year’s Eve in 2021. The season saw the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang dojos joining forces to take down Cobra Kai at the All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament.

Cobra Kai is written and executive produced by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg on behalf of their production company, Counterbalance Entertainment. James Lassiter and Caleeb Pinkett executive produce for Overbrook Entertainment along with Susan Ekins in association with Sony Pictures Television. 

The first two seasons were on YouTube Red, with Netflix picking up Cobra Kai for season three. ■

The fourth season of convoluted, karate-themed comedic-drama series Cobra Kai drew more than 107.8 million hours of viewing on Netflix, making it the most watched English-language TV series on the platform for the week of Jan. 3-9.

With Netflix separating shows by individual seasons in its recently introduced weekly program rankings, Cobra Kai's three previous campaigns occupied the Nos. 7, 9 and 10 spots on the streaming company's top 10 ranking of English-language shows for the week. 

Cuming Cobra Kai's audience across Seasons 1-4 added to more than 171 million viewing hours for the week of Jan. 3-9. Season 4 debuted on Dec. 31. and quickly generated 120 million global viewing hours in its first three days on the platform, also leading English-language series on Netflix for the week of Dec. 27 - Jan. 2. 

Cobra Kai is a multi-generational dramedy blending the aging stars of the popular 1980s Karate Kid film series with youthful unknowns. It's created and executive produced by Harold and Kumar masterminds Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, along with Josh Heald (Hot Tub Time Machine). Rotten Tomatoes scored Season 4 with 100% critics aggregation score -- despite a suspect penultimate-episode cliffhanger that left off with young karate champ Miguel (played by Xolo Maridueña) writhing in pain on the karate mat amid a dramatic "All Valley" semifinal match, screaming for his "sensei!!!" ... only to be diagnosed early in Episode 10 with only a mild muscle strain. 

Among Netflix's other three ranking categories, filmmaker Adam McKay's star-studded but critically loathed end-of-the-world send-up Don't Look Up led English-language films on Netflix for a third consecutive week, garnering 58.2 million viewing hours. 

Don't Look Up generated 321.5 million viewing hours from its Dec. 24 premiere on Netflix and Jan. 9. It seems a lock at this point that it will surpass another recent star-laden Netflix movie, Red Notice, as the platform's most watched film in its first 28 days of release. 

Finishing No. 2 in Netflix's ranking of English-language movies was sci-fi drama Mother/Android starring Chloë Grace Moretz -- Netflix has international rights to the film, which debuted in the U.S. last month on Hulu. 

Meanwhile, among non-English-language films, Australian fantasy-action movie The Wasteland drew nearly 12 million streaming hours for the week of Jan. 3-9 to lead its rankings. And among non-English TV shows, Colombian telenovela Café con aroma de mujer finished No. 1 with nearly 83 million hours of viewing. 

With some critics and fans accusing Cobra Kai of having its creative legs swept out from under it in Season 3, the series seems to have rediscovered its crane kick in Season 4. 

Debuting on New Year's Eve with a Rotten Tomatoes score back up to its 100% first-season level, Cobra Kai Season 4 generated more than 120 million hours of viewing on Netflix in its first three days, leading all English-language TV shows on the platform for the holiday week of December 27-January 2.

The only show in all of streaming watched more was Netflix's end-of-the-world film satire Don't Look Up, which drew over 152 million hours of streaming, according to Netflix's recently launched "Global Top 10" metrics. 

Also read: 'Cobra Kai' Debuts on Netflix (Why, oh, Why Did Google Give It Up?)

Created by Harold and Kumar masterminds Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, along with Josh Heald (Hot Tub Time Machine), Cobra Kai stars Ralph Macchio and William Zabka, reprising their roles from the iconic 1980s Karate Kid film franchise. The series mixes redemptive narratives with all kinds of teenage-anxiety storylines from a supporting cast of talented youthful unknowns. Cobra Kai debuted in 2018 and remained a somewhat buried treasure within the bowels of YouTube's ultimately failed original premium subscription programming push. 

Netflix acquired the show in the summer of 2020, with the third season already in development. The first three seasons of Cobra Kai produced big viewership numbers for Netflix a year ago, dethroning the record-breaking Bridgerton on Netflix's original Top 10 ratings ranker for the week of Jan. 4-10, 2021. 

But some critics, who enthusiastically embraced Season 1 and were already cooling to Season 2, gave Cobra Kai a shot to the ol' solar plexus for Season 3. 

"In the latest episodes of Cobra Kai, viewers learn the way of third season mediocrity and the merciless lesson of nostalgia's diminishing returns," wrote Salon's Melanie McFarland, summing up a general consensus that Netflix might have acquired a show that had already jumped the snake. 

However, with the series refocusing on the core comedic interplay between the still-rough-around-edges Johnny (Zabka) and the more refined, genial Daniel (Macchio), Cobra Kai seems to have recaptured its All Valley Tournament mojo. 

"Somehow, Cobra Kai … keeps surpassing all reasonable expectations," wrote Alan Sepinwall.

For the week ending Jan. 2, Cobra Kai displaced the previous week's ratings champ, Season 4 of The Witcher.

Cable and streaming networks will enter the New Year with a light slate of original series and specials, highlighted by a spinoff series from Disney Plus's Emmy-nominated series The Mandalorian.

The new series, The Book of Boba Fett, debuts December 29 and follows legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett and mercenary Fennec Shand as they navigate the galaxy's underworld when they return the the sands of Tatooine to stake their claim on the territory once ruled by Jabba the Hutt of Star Wars fame, said the streaming service.

Debuting on New Year's Day on HBO Max is Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts, a special which reunites cast members from the Harry Potter film franchise. Among those slated to appear in the special are Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Tom Felton, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Mark Williams, Bonnie Wright, Alfred Enoch, Matthew Lewis, and Evanna Lynch.

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting the week of December 27 to January 2 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

December 28 – The Super Bob Einstein Movie (documentary) – HBO

December 30 – Hilda and the Mountain King (animation movie) – Netflix

December 31 – Cobra Kai (returning series) – Netflix

December 31 – The Lost Daughter (drama) – Netflix

December 31 – Stay Close (drama) – Netflix

December 31 – Queer Eye (returning series) – Netflix

January 1 – The ‘80’s: Top Ten (docuseries) – National Geographic

January 1 – New York Homicide (docuseries) – Oxygen

The last days of 2022 will feature some of the best content streaming services have to offer.  Amazon Prime’s Being the Ricardos, along with Netflix’s Don’t Look Up and The Lost Daughter are all primary award season contenders. Mixed in with Oscar-worthy content is Jim Gaffigan’s ninth stand-up comedy special - Jim Gaffigan: Comedy Monster on Netflix, an HBO Max documentary about New York's "Shakespeare in the Park" and Disney Plus’ hotly anticipated The Book of Boba Fett.  Here's what's coming up in the next week:

Reopening Night (HBO Max, Dec. 20)

The return of "Shakespeare in the Park" to New York’s Central Park in the summer of 2021 following its closure due to COVID-19 is the subject of Rudy Valdez’s latest documentary. The film follows the cast, crew and staff of New York’s Public Theater as they prepare to mount an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Merry Wives in spite of the ongoing pandemic and a rainy July. The modern retelling of Shakespeare’s play features an all-Black cast and is set in South Harlem’s eclectic community of West African immigrants. The doc tells not only the 12-week journey to get Merry Wives to the stage, but it also examines the Black experience in theater.

Being the Ricardos (Amazon Prime, Dec. 21) 

Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, two-hour biopic Being the Ricardos focuses on one significant production week of I Love Lucy, the hit sitcom that ran from 1951 to 1957. A week in which the show’s star Lucille Ball (played by Nicole Kidman) is accused of being a member of the communist party. Being the Ricardos also delves into Ball’s strained marriage to co-star Desi Arnaz (played by Javier Bardem) as well as the announcement of her second pregnancy. The fictional sitcom couple’s best friends, Fred and Ethel Mertz are played by Nina Arianda and J.K. Simmons. Rotten Tomatoes aggregated Being the Ricardos at 72% among 155 critics review, with RogerEbert.com’s Tomris Laffly calling it "an imperfect yet vigorous and thoroughly entertaining quasi-biopic.”

Jim Gaffigan: Comedy Monster (Netflix, Dec. 21)

Just in time for Christmas, comedian Jim Gaffigan returns to Netflix with his ninth stand-up comedy special. Written, directed and performed by Gaffigan, Comedy Monster marks the Emmy winner’s sixth special currently available to watch on Netflix. The five others available for Netflix viewing include King Baby, Beyond the Pale, Mr. Universe Obsessed and Cinco. Gaffigan’s new material will touch on “the hot mess that was 2021,” marching bands and billionaires in space.

The Matrix Resurrections (HBO Max ad-free subscribers, Dec. 22)

In the fourth installment in the Warner Bros. sci-fi film franchise, Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss reprise their respective roles as Neo and Trinity. Neither remembers each other or their pasts. The latest film in the 22-year-old "Matrix" franchise is directed by Lana Wachowski, who co-wrote the script with David Mitchell and Aleksander Hemon. Sisters Lana and Lilly Wachowski created “The Matrix” franchise and wrote and directed the first three "Matrix" movies, which collectively grossed over $1 billion globally. The Matrix Resurrections also stars Neil Patrick Harris, Jonathan Groff, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Jessica Henwick.

Hawkeye: Season Finale (Disney Plus, Dec. 22) 

Like Loki and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye is the latest Disney Plus Marvel series to feature six installments. Hawkeye arrived on the streaming service on Nov. 24 and takes place after the events of Avengers: Endgame. Jeremy Renner stars at Clint Barton (aka Hawkeye). In the first season, he partners with Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) to confront enemies from the past in order to return to his family for the Christmas holiday. Rotten Tomatoes aggregated Hawkeye at 92% among 85 critics review, with Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun Times saying “thanks to the crisp writing and the easy chemistry between Renner and Steinfeld, Hawkeye could have the wings to fly for a long time.”

Dragons: The Nine Realms (Hulu and Peacock, Dec. 23)

The animated, six-episode How to Train Your Dragon spinoff series is set 1,300 years into the future, when dragons are now nothing more than legends to the modern world. When a geological anomaly opens up a miles-deep fissure in the Earth’s surface, scientists from all over the world gather at a new research facility to study the phenomenon. Soon, a group of misfit kids brought to the site by their parents, uncover the truth about dragons and where they’ve been hiding, which they must keep secret to protect what they’ve discovered. Jeremy Shada stars as Tom Kullersen. Julia Stiles, Marcus Scribner, Aimee Garcia, Ashley Liao, Lauren Tom, Keston John, Justina Machado and D’Arcy Carde also lend their voices to the Dreamworks Animation series.

Yearly Departed (Amazon Prime, Dec. 22)

The second installment of the Amazon comedy special will put a cap on 2021. The all-female lineup includes host and comedian Yvonne Orji, Jane Fonda, Chelsea Peretti (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Meg Stalter (Hacks), Dulcé Sloan (The Daily Show), Aparna Nancherla (The Great North), X Mayo (The Daily Show) and Alessia Cara,  who will deliver a musical send-off. Ignoring the climate crisis, Zoom and hermit life will be issues explored by this year’s “eulogists.” The inaugural Yearly Departed, which eulogized 2020, received a WGA Award nomination in the Comedy/Variety Specials category and won a Gracie Award. 

Don’t Look Up (Netflix, Dec. 24)

Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence play two astronomers who discover a planet-killing comet that’s hurtling toward Earth. When they warn government officials, including the President herself (played by Meryl Streep), nobody really seems to care. Indeed, sounds vaguely familiar to the government’s age-old response to climate change, doesn't it? It was actually climate change studies that made director Adam McKay want to make Don’t Look Up. He told The Guardian that the studies were “so stark and so terrifying that I realized, 'I have to do something addressing this.' So I wrote five different premises for movies, trying to find the best one ... I was just trying to find a way into, 'How do we communicate how insane this moment is?' So finally, I was having a conversation with my friend [journalist and Bernie Sanders adviser] David Sirota, and he offhandedly said something to the effect of, 'It’s like the comet’s coming and no one cares.' And I thought: 'Oh, I think that’s it.'" The film also features Cate Blanchett, Timothée Chalamet, Tyler Perry, Mark Rylance, Jonah Hill and Ariana Grande.

The Book of Boba Fett (Disney Plus, Dec. 29)

In December 2020, following the Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian, a new spinoff about the legendary "Star Wars" bounty hunter Boba Fett was teased. In the post-credits scene, Boba Fett (actor Temuera Morrison) visits the palace of infamous, corpulent, slug-like crime boss Jabba the Hutt, now overseen by his greasy sidekick, Bib Fortuna. Boba shoots all the inhabitants, then assumes Jabba’s throne, with sidekick bounty hunter Fennec Shand (actor Ming-Na Wen) by his side. Well, now the venerable “Beskar”-clad bounty hunter series is finally here. Morrison reprises his role as Fett and together with Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) they return to Tatooine, taking over the territory that once belonged to Jabba the Hutt. The Book of Boba Fett arrives just over two years after Disney unveiled ambitious plans to premiere 10 new Marvel series, 10 new "Star Wars" series, 15 series from Disney, Disney Animation and Pixar and 15 features from Disney, Disney Animation and Pixar.

Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer (Netflix, Dec. 29)

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Joe Berlinger returns to direct Season 2 of Netflix’s Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer. The three-part docuseries follows Berlinger’s Crime Scene: The Vanishing At The Cecil Hotel, which was prominent on Netflix's daily top 10 lists when it premiered back in February. This time around, Berlinger investigates another seedy hotel in Manhattan’s Time Square in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The series follows the authorities as they hunt for a vicious serial killer who preyed upon sex workers operating within Times Square’s then-booming sex industry. 

Cobra Kai Season 4 (Netflix, Dec. 31) 

Before being a hit series on Netflix, Cobra Kai was YouTube original series that continued the story of the Karate Kid film franchise. In Season 4, Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang dojos join forces to take down the now totally-committed-to-evil Cobra Kai dojo at the All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament. Whoever loses must hang up their gi. The first three seasons of the show have been a hit with fans and critics alike. Rotten Tomatoes aggregated the third season of Cobra Kai at 90% among 51 critics reviews. In February, the Washington Post’s Daniel W. Drezner wrote, “I’m still not convinced Cobra Kai is good. But it is awesome … What does Cobra Kai do so well? As near as I can figure, the show represents a rare alchemy of solid retconning and generational satire.” In August, Cobra Kai was renewed for fifth season.

The Lost Daughter (Netflix, Dec. 31)

Maggie Gyllenhaal wrote, directed and produced the drama, based on Elena Ferrante’s eponymous novel. The film stars Olivia Colman as Leda, a middle-aged woman vacationing alone and having flashbacks to her days as a young wife and mother. Both Gyllenhaal and Colman picked up Gotham awards for their work on the film, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September. Time Magazine’s Stephanie Zacharek said “To call The Lost Daughter an assured debut is to do it a slight disservice — assurance suggests that a filmmaker knows everything going in. What we see in The Lost Daughter is something greater: the act of discovery — of the gifts actors can bring to a story, of how to hold a complex narrative together — in progress. That’s what makes this movie so effective, so occasionally troubling, and so alive. Gyllenhaal lets us ride the learning curve with her.”

Cable networks and streaming services will ring in the new year with several Emmy-winning and nominated returning series. 

On New Year’s Day VH1 will bring back its 2020 Emmy-winning competition series RuPaul’s Drag Race for a 13th season, while Emmy-nominated series Cobra Kai will make its third-season debut on Netflix. The first two seasons of the drama series, based off of The Karate Kid movie franchise, streamed on YouTube.

Also Read: Season 13 of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ on VH1 New Year’s Day

History's Vikings series will shift to Prime Video for the drama series' 10 episodes on Dec. 30.

Also Read: Amazon Prime Gets Final Ten Episodes of ‘Vikings’ First

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting the week of Dec. 28 to Jan. 3 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

Dec. 30 -- Yearly Departed (comedy) -- Prime Video

Dec. 31 -- Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (returning series) -- Netflix

Jan. 1 -- Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks (special) -- BBC America

Jan. 1 -- Insomnia (sci-fi) -- Crackle

Jan. 3 -- The Watch (sci-fi/comedy) -- BBC America

For Google, there is no longer a premium scripted subscripted video model in this dojo. 

Cobra Kai, a surprise hit streaming series when it debuted on the erstwhile YouTube Red subscription platform back in 2018, made its debut Friday on Netflix. 

The No. 1 subscription streaming service has posted seasons 1 and 2 of the series, which picks up the graying lives of the principal characters from the ‘80s blockbuster hit The Karate Kid, three decades after bullied teenager Daniel LaRusso’s upset victory over blond schoolyard oppressor Johnny Lawrence in the “All Valley” karate tournament.

The middle-aged Ralph Macchio (LaRusso) and William Zabka (Lawrence) reprise their roles in the series, which garnered an impressive 100% “fresh” first-season rating from critics aggregation platform Rotten Tomatoes. The pilot episode has been watched 89 million times since debuting on YouTube in May 2018. It was Google’s most searched-for TV show of 2018. 

Updated 8/31/2020: Over its first weekend on Netflix, Cobra Kai was ranked by the service as it's most watched show in the U.S. 

Netflix acquired full rights to Cobra Kai from Sony Pictures TV and has set a “2021” date for its exclusive third-season run of the show, which has already wrapped production. 

By most accounts, the light comedic drama is a great fit for Netflix, blending Gen X nostalgia from three 80s Karate Kid franchise movies, and a 2010 remake starring Jackie Chan and Jayden Smith, with new Gen Z stars, not to mention a clever recasting of Zabka's character as a reformed karate teacher seeking redemption for a misspent life. 

Johnny’s earnest attempts at being a better man, teaching the bullied as opposed to victimizing them, are frequently interrupted by clever comedic pathos. In an early episode, for example, when Lawrence’s young karate student Miguel (actor Xolo Maridueña) asks him if there’s any special way he’d like the bathroom of the resurrected Cobra Kai dojo scrubbed, Johnny wastes no time with ulterior car-waxing are fence-painting metaphors. 

“I don’t give a sh**,” he flippantly tells his student, exemplifying the dry, clever, insider humor that has helped make Cobra Kai a multi-generational hit. 

Maridueña leads a small legion of youthful actors who populate the respective rival dojos of Lawrence and LaRusso, many of whom seem poised for breakout attention. Notably, Martin Kove joins Macchio and Zabka among the returning original players that ground the show, reprising baddie sensei John Kreese.

Sony and Netflix didn’t announce deal terms, but it certainly seems likely that the distribution move for Cobra Kai—a fan favorite at ComicCon the last few years—benefited its production company, as well as creator EP Jon Hurwitz and the rest of the youthful creative team who has cleverly devised a mechanism to continue the LaRusso-v.-Lawrence rivalry into the next century. 

It's Netflix's most promoted new show on the platform right now. 

The only question is, why would Google let a hit like this get away?

For starters, Google really didn’t have anywhere to put the show anymore. Last year, it rebranded YouTube Red to YouTube Premium, moving the focus of its subscription video content to unscripted lifestyle shows, an recasting the $11.99-a-month platform primarily around music. Google seemed to concede that it wasn't committed enough to the subscription side of YouTube to underwrite ambitious scripted shows. 

For over a year, most of Cobra Kai's first season has been outside the paywall, viewable on free, ad-supported YouTube. It doesn't appear that Google was able to drive enough attention and ad dollars to support the show there, either. 

Karate Kid spinoff series Cobra Kai is moving to Netflix.

Season three of the original series, produced by Sony Pictures Television, will debut exclusively on the No. 1 SVOD service at an as yet determined date. 

Netflix will also have non-exclusive rights to seasons one and two of the action dramedy, which had been the flagship series YouTube’s quest to get into the business of subscription-based original shows. YouTube made Cobra Kai free-to-view and ad-supported last year. And it’s now out of the scripted business altogether. 

Cobra Kai recasts actors Ralph Macchio and William Zabka in their familiar roles made famous in the 1984 motion-picture classic The Karate Kid. The series tracks the martial arts exploits of Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso and Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence now that they’ve advanced to middle age. 

The first episode of Cobra Kai has been viewed on YouTube more than 86.4 million times since it debuted on May 2, 2018. 

According to Deadline Hollywood, Netflix and Sony are talking about expanding The Karate Kid franchise into even more series. 

“The appeal of The Karate Kid saga is timeless, and Cobra Kai picks up right where it left off without missing a beat,” said Brian Wright, VP of original series for Netflix, in a statement. “The rivalry between Daniel and Johnny is one for the ages, and the show has a ton of heart and is a lot of fun. We can’t wait to introduce a new generation of fans to Cobra Kai and are thrilled to be its new home around the world.”

YouTube will now offer its original programming fare on an ad-supported basis, marking a major switch from its premium-based distribution strategy, the streaming service said during its Newfront presentation Thursday night.

YouTube said that it will roll out several new shows focused on music learning and personalities that will be ad-supported, including the new season of Cobra Kai -- the reboot series based on The Karate Kid film franchise -- that has been renewed for a third season, said network officials.

The first two seasons of Cobra Kai will also be moved to an ad supported platform beginning this fall, according to the service. Those seasons were initially offered as part of the YouTube Premium subscription service.

“For today's viewers, primetime is personal and our content resonates so strongly due to the diversity and richness of our unmatched library and platform capabilities,” said Chief Business Officer Robert Kyncl in a statement. “While every other media company is building a paywall, we are headed in the opposite direction and now have more opportunities than ever to partner with advertisers and share our critically- acclaimed originals with our global audience.”

Among the new shows being developed for YouTube include BookTube, Could You Survive the Movies, Retro Tech, Show Me The Evidence and The School of Life. The company also announced new projects with Justin Bieber and Tiffany Haddish.

Returning series include Kevin Hart: What The Fit, said the company.

A&E steps back into the live documentary arena with the April 22 debut of Live Rescue, one of several new and returning series making their debuts this week.

Live Rescue, a spinoff of A&E’s successful series Live PD from Big Fish Entertainment, will follow first responders from across the country as they put their lives on the line responding to emergency rescue calls, according to network executives.

Also this week AMC’s The Son, a family saga based on Philipp Meyer’s best-seller of the same name starring Pierce Brosnan, returns for its second and final season on April 27, said the network.

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting this week on cable networks and streaming service.

April 22 -- Gentleman Jack (limited series) -- HBO

April 23 -- I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (comedy series) -- Netflix

April 24 -- Cobra Kai (returning series) -- YouTube

April 26 -- Chambers (horror series) -- Netflix

April 27 -- Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Induction (special) -- HBO

April 28 -- Deep State (returning series) --Epix