May 2023 media picks and news

Here’s my look at media of interest coming out in May 2023.

Movies

A full list of films is available here.

• Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3, May 5

Apple TV+

A full list is available here.

• Harriet the Spy (Season 2), May 5

Disney+

A full list is available here.

• Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures, May 4
• The Muppets Mayhem, May 10
• American Born Chinese, May 24

Netflix

A full list is available here.

• Great British Baking Show: Juniors (Season 7), May 3

Paramount+

A full list is available here.

• RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars (Season 8), May 12
• RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Untucked (Season 5), May 12
• The Tidal Zone SpongeBob Universe Special, May 31

Peacock

A full list is available here.

• Eurovision Song Contest, May 13 (Finals)

Sports

• The Indianapolis 500, May 28 (NBC/Peacock)

My thoughts

The summer movie season kicks off on the first weekend in May, with “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” opening, and certain to displace “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” in prominence (and possibly worldwide box office gross). I saw the latter over Easter weekend with my niece; it was OK, even if there’s not much of a plot, and it’s reliant on nostalgia for the games’ lore.

“The Muppets Mayhem” is a miniseries revolving around Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, the Muppets’ house band. The story sees the group, including drummer Animal, recording their first album, something I thought they would’ve long since done by now.

“American Born Chinese” Is an eight-episode miniseries based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. The TV version features the cast from this year’s best picture Oscar-winning film “Everything Everywhere At Once.” Here’s the trailer:

“Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures” is yet another “Star Wars” spin-off, this time a CGI animated series aimed at young children. “Young Jedi” sees Yoda train a group of youths from across the galaxy in becoming Jedi. Despite that it’s aimed at kids and doesn’t seem remotely canonical, official sources state the series is set during “Star Wars”’s “High Republic era.” In-story, it’s a period several hundred years before the 90s/00s prequel films, noted as the Jedis’ heyday.

HBO Max switches to Max on May 23. As such, listings are only available through May 22, though I can’t imagine much changing when Max officially switches names. Said listings also don’t include what’s leaving HBO Max (despite the heavy purging in previous months). On the cartoon side of things, some DC superhero cartoons are coming to other platforms in May: “Justice League,” Justice League Unlimited,” and “The Batman” will arrive on Netflix. Also coming to Netflix: season 1 of “The Smurfs” (presumably the recent CGI series, not the 80s series) and the first two seasons of “Rugrats” (presumably the 90s series, which is also on Hulu).

“The Tidal Zone” is a “Twilight Zone”-like SpongeBob special that’s been delayed for some time, but is finally appearing on Paramount+.

“Noah’s Arc” is coming back

News broke recently that “Noah’s Arc,” the 2000s dramedy about a group of Black gay friends in Los Angeles, will be coming back. Series creator Patrik-Ian Polk stated he plans to bring the show back, apparently as a made-for-TV movie. I assume it’ll feature the original cast, versus Peacock’s “Queer as Folk” route of being a wholesale reboot of the American version. Speaking of Comcast’s streaming service…

Peacock, the US home of Eurovision (and no longer free for Comcast customers)

Yes, Peacock still exists, and will be charging even Comcast customers for the service starting June 26. (Until now, Peacock was free for Comcast cable/internet customers.) Still, before Comcast customers like me opt to cancel Peacock, they can use it to watch a few major events in May. The annual Indianapolis 500 auto race takes place on Memorial Day weekend, and airs live on NBC and Peacock.

Meanwhile, the annual Eurovision Song Contest will take place on May 13. Americans can stream the Europe-wide (and Australia) singing contest on Peacock. It’s being held this year in Liverpool, England; while Ukraine won last year, Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country makes it impossible to hold it there this year. (The winning country gets to host the next year’s contest.)