3 Paramount+ shows you can finish in a weekend (May 8-10)

There isn’t a ton of new stuff landing on Paramount+ this week/weekend, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything great to watch—especially if you want to binge something that you can finish in about a weekend. Paramount+ has a massive library of newer and classic shows for U.S. subscribers to choose from, if you’re willing to scroll through and find. Luckily, we love doing just that.

For this weekend: If you haven’t heard, Paramount+ just became the new streaming home for the Battlestar Galactica universe, including the legendary 2004 series and, my recommendation for a weekend binge, its acclaimed prequel series. Additionally, season 2 just wrapped on one of CBS/P+’s best crime dramas, with all episodes there for you to devour, and I found a mysterious thriller starring Ruth Wilson you should check out. Read on for more.

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Caprica

Battlestar Galactica’s revealing prequel series

It’s not necessary to watch this single-season prequel series before embarking on your viewing of the iconic sci-fi staple that is Battlestar Galactica, but it is a great companion piece you’ll enjoy regardless. Caprica originally aired less than a year after Battlestar‘s epic finale in 2009, offering up 19 episodes that set the stage for the fate of the Twelve Colonies—some 58 years before the Cylons.

Be prepared, though—Caprica is less of a laser-blasting, robot-fighting series than it is a sci-fi family drama, but it’s compelling nonetheless. The show follows two powerful Caprican families pulled together by tragedy—the Graystones, led by the madly brilliant tech magnate Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz, Pulp Fiction, Mask), and the Adamas, headed up by Joseph Adama (Mission: Impossible​​​​​’s Gabriel, Esai Morales), a civil liberties lawyer, and father to future Galactica Admiral, William Adama. When Daniel and Joseph lose their daughters in a terrorist attack, Daniel attempts to keep his daughter, Zoe (Alessandra Torresani), alive inside an android prototype, U-87, which would become the foundation of the Cylons that would later seek to annihilate humanity.

Operating System

Fire OS

Resolution

4K

Caprica holds an impressive 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, and while it may not be what you expect from a sci-fi space series, what it lacks in robot-hunting terror it makes up for in cutthroat family melodrama and the fundamental religious conflict that underpins the Battlestar universe.

Caprica

Release Date

2010 – 2010-00-00

Network

SyFy

Directors

Michael Nankin, Jonas Pate, John Dahl, Wayne Rose, Eric Stoltz, Jeffrey Reiner, Michael W. Watkins, Omar Madha, Ronald D. Moore, Roxann Dawson

2

NCIS: Origins

The hit prequel reveals the complex history of Jethro Gibbs

Staying on the prequel theme here, if you’re a fan of CBS’s monster-hit, 24-season (and counting) original NCIS series that has spawned all kinds of global spin-offs (with a new one, NCIS: New York, with LL Cool J, coming this fall), then NCIS: Origins is going to scratch all kinds of nostalgic itches and answer a bunch of burning questions. Plus, its second season just wrapped up, so you can binge both of them right now.

NCIS: Origins goes back to 1991, where we finally get to witness the beginnings of the franchise’s most iconic character, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, who Mark Harmon played for 19 seasons. Harmon returns here, too, but just to narrate Origins from the future, as we follow along with his rookie self (played by Austin Stowell) at the fledgling Naval Investigative Service office at Camp Pendleton, California. A precursor to NCIS, Gibbs is still traumatized by the death of his wife and daughter, as he hones his skills (and his famous “Rules”) and is taken under the wing of Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid), Gibbs’ mentor, who becomes a major influence on him.

So far, both seasons have been received well by critics (88% on RT) and audiences, with franchise fans calling it a grittier and darker addition to the NCIS universe. Stowell is on point as the young Gibbs, and the supporting cast of Mariel Molino, Tyla Abercrumbie, and Daniel Bellomy is solid, too. NCIS: Origins has also been renewed for a third go-around.

NCIS: Origins

Release Date

October 14, 2024

Network

CBS

Directors

Niels Arden Oplev, John Terlesky, Diana Valentine, Edward Ornelas, Hanelle M. Culpepper, Lionel Coleman, Loren Yaconelli, Pete Chatmon, Pamela Romanowsky, Ruben Garcia, Jessica Lowrey

1

The Woman in the Wall

A chilling gothic history returns to haunt a small Irish town

Full disclosure: I am a huge fan of Ruth Wilson. I’ve loved the stellar English actors’ work in everything I’ve seen her in, especially His Dark Materials, The Affair, and the more recent Apple TV crime thriller Down Cemetery Road. I hadn’t yet seen her in this chilling Showtime Original series, The Woman in the Wall, though, but now that I have, I can safely add it to my list of favorites.

The six-part one-off series sets foot into one of Ireland’s darkest historical moments, the Magdalene Laundries, in which Catholic church-run institutions from the 18th century to as recent as 1996, forced women they deemed “fallen” (unmarried mothers, anyone it deemed immoral) into unpaid labor, separating many from their babies. Wilson plays Lorna Brady, a victim of the Laundries, who had her only child taken from her when she was a teenager in the 80s. Fast-forward to 2015, a now-middle-aged Lorna wakes up in her small-town-Ireland home to find a dead body in her bedroom. Not knowing how she got there, Lorna panics and hides the corpse in the walls.

What unravels is a dark and gothic mystery, as Lorna tries to figure out what’s going on, alongside a determined young Dublin detective (Good Luck to You‘s Daryl McCormack), who’s on the hunt for the murderer of a priest who may have ties to the Laundry. Even though Rotten Tomatoes has it at 77% (not bad, if you ask me), Wilson’s shattering performance is, alone, enough of a reason to check it out.

The Woman in the Wall

Release Date

2023 – 2024-00-00

Network

BBC, Showtime

Directors

Harry Wootliff, Rachna Suri

I love a good dig through a streaming service’s library—you never know what new gems you’ll find. If, however, you’re not into any of these picks, or you crush these shows by the end of the weekend and want more ideas, How-To Geek runs companion roundups every week for Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video, and more that should keep the queue full.

Subscription with ads

Yes, $8/month

Simultaneous streams

3

If you enjoy CBS offerings, you’ll want to subscribe to Paramount+. You get access to hit shows like Star Trek and Yellowstone, as well as a variety of SHOWTIME content.