There’s always a deluge of TV shows, docuseries, and movies to catch up on, whether old or new. It’s never too late to catch up with so much to watch. Here’s what The A.V. Club team has been watching, with room below for readers to share some of their own favorite titles of the week.
This week’s choices include a series about Indian fighter pilots, a close-up on a legendary filmmaker, and literally watching the time go by. So, tell us: What are you watching this weekend?
Operation Safed Sagar
It’s reductive to dub Operation Safed Sagar as India’s TV version of Top Gun, but perhaps that will be a draw for those who are unaware of the series, which released on Netflix earlier this month. I’m almost done watching all six episodes, and I’m pleasantly surprised that, so far, a drama set during 1999’s India-Pakistan Kargil War doesn’t wholly succumb to hypernationalism, as a lot of Bollywood movies recently have. Instead, Operation Safed Sagar (or Operation White Sea)—based on real-life events—mostly sticks to depicting how the Indian Air Force’s Golden Arrow squadron defied the odds with a dangerous, unthinkable aerial undertaking at night with MiG aircraft. As far as war sagas go, the show keeps up momentum and tension (including how the U.S. factored into this ongoing fight for Kashmir), but also predictably blends this all with melodrama. Luckily, it doesn’t detract from Operation Safed Sagar’s otherwise straightforward plotting and some excellent performances, particularly by actors Jimmy Sherrill, Siddharth, and Manu Rishi Chadha. [Saloni Gajjar]
Legends (Netflix)
Not to be confused with the upcoming Sons Of Anarchy meta reunion of the same name, Legends is a British crime thriller that sees Steve Coogan heading up a top-secret task force in the U.K.’s war on drugs in the ’90s. Created and written by Neil Forsyth (The Gold, Guilt), Legends tells the untold story of Her Majesty’s Customs And Excise department, which, at this point, was struggling to stem the flow of drugs. Ordinary Joes like Guy Stanton (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga‘s Tom Burke) enlist in the mission with the full knowledge that they’re doing so at great risk to themselves, but that just proves how desperate they are to liven up their existence. Coogan’s very much playing against type, though he remains as dry as a sangiovese, and Burke is quietly captivating as a man no longer content to sleepwalk through life. I’m only two episodes in, but it’s already showing the intrigue and thorny interpersonal dynamics of Slow Horses, only with a lot less flatulence. [Danette Chavez]
Mr. Scorsese
Rebecca Miller’s 2025 documentary series Mr. Scorsese is an in-depth close-up on the storied director’s life and career. Pulling from an impressive collection of archival material, memories from his friends, family, and colleagues, and a lengthy tell-all interview with the man himself, Miller’s docuseries is a delightful exploration of the New Hollywood era and Martin Scorsese’s filmmaking process. Scorsese has shared a number of these stories before in interviews and in his memoir-like docuseries A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies, but nothing quite this in-depth or candid, pulling in old friends from the neighborhood to explain the culture of Little Italy back-in-the-day and setting Scorsese up to cut it up with friends like Robert De Niro over a restaurant table, not unlike the setup for his series with Fran Lebowitz, Pretend It’s A City. I’ve watched a few episodes with my mom and we’re both excited to stream the rest of Miller’s series as soon as possible. [Monica Castillo]
The Clock
Returning to Los Angeles for the first time in more than a decade, Christian Marclay’s temporal epic The Clock arrived at the Los Angeles County Museum Of Art earlier this summer, and I’m determined to see it before it’s gone. The Clock is a 24-hour montage of time, synchronizing thousands of shots of clocks from television and film with whatever time zone The Clock is screening in. Sure, staring at a bunch of clocks doesn’t sound like top-tier entertaining, but over the last 15 years, The Clock has built a cult around its addictive ticks and tocks and has earned its share of critical accolades, including a 2011 Golden Lion. After hearing about its run last year at New York’s Museum Of Modern Art, I’ve been dying to get lost in Marclay’s hypnotic flat circles. This weekend, the time is now.[Matt Schimkowitz]
Desperate Housewives
I have a bit of a bad habit of rewatching old shows rather than finding new old shows that I haven’t seen before. But after trying to restart 30 Rock and Ally McBeal only led to more ennui, I finally decided to bite the bullet and get into Desperate Housewives last weekend. I had watched an episode or two back during lockdown, but for whatever reason, it failed to hold my attention. That was not an issue this time; I watched about five episodes of it on Sunday and another five on Monday, and the only thing that’s kept me from watching more since is simply a lack of time, but I plan to change that this weekend. I know I’m super late to this party, but this show is super fun to watch. Who knows whether I’ll actually make it to the end, but I also love the idea that there are 180 episodes to watch of this show, should I choose to watch them. [Drew Gillis]
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