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As the guy who watches everything at Pix Media, John’s new newsletter, Worth the Watch—part of the Pix Plus subscription bundle—is your weekly streaming cheat sheet, helping you narrow down the shows and movies worth your time and your wallet. Unlock your 7-day free trial to Pix Plus for entertainment picks worth your time!

DTF St. Louis. One of the better love triangle stories I’ve seen in recent memory. Jason Bateman as an awkward weatherman and David Harbour as a quirky American Sign Language interpreter are a dynamic duo that I didn’t know I needed—even though they are both up to some extremely scummy behavior that leads to one of them winding up dead.

The whole show feels so random, but in the best way. I have not been able to predict a single plotline, and at the end of each episode I think to myself, “How the heck did they come up with this!?”

Oh, and Linda Cardellini. Aside from being my celebrity crush, she’s fantastic as always!

Obsession. A terrifying, hilarious, and exciting new horror film. It has already raked in nearly $300M globally, making it, without exaggeration, one of the biggest box office successes of all time. After all my friends told me I “absolutely have to see it” and seeing the online craze for the film, I finally decided to go see it, and I’m glad I did!

It’s written and directed by Curry Barker, a 26-year-old YouTuber known for comedy sketches. In recent years, there have been a number of movies from YouTubers trying to make the jump to the big screen (Talk to Me, Shelby Oaks, Iron Lung, Backrooms), but Obsession is by far the strongest of the bunch. 

I think the success of this movie put a nail in the coffin of the old Hollywood model—pump hundreds of millions of dollars into a star-studded blockbuster—and solidified the blueprint for the new Hollywood model—give a small budget to an ambitious, innovative filmmaker and let them run wild with a creative idea. I can’t wait to see what the next generation of filmmakers have to offer.

Man's Search for Meaning. A powerful nonfiction book written by holocaust survivor and world-renowned psychiatrist and neurologist Viktor Frankl. The first half of the book describes his personal experience in the Auschwitz concentration camp and how he continued to find meaning in his life despite the horrific circumstances. The second half of the book describes the basics of Logotherapy, an approach to psychotherapy that focuses on finding the meaning of one’s life.

A major factor contributing to the depression epidemic and chronic malaise that affects so many people in today’s world is a lack of meaning in their life. I read this book when I was at a low point in my life and it helped me figure out what my purpose is, alleviating a lot of my existential anxieties.

It’s the single most impactful self-help book I’ve ever read. Plus, you can read it in a day!

The Midnight Gospel. I shamelessly glaze this show every chance I get, because it is unlike anything else I’ve ever watched. It’s a vibrant, philosophical, life-affirming adult animated series about a spacecaster (a podcaster, but in space) named Clancy who leaves the comfort of his home to interview beings living on dying worlds. Together they explore questions of life, death, and everything in between.

The Basement Yard. The two co-hosts, Joe Santagato and Frank Alvarez, have described their podcast as “a show about nothing.” They’re two lifelong best friends, now in their mid-30s, bickering about life, hot dogs, and whether or not they could take down a chimpanzee in hand-to-hand combat. Yes, it is one of those “two bros yapping” podcasts that get a bad rap, but it’s done incredibly well and they’re genuinely funny.

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