Here's what's worth streaming in September -2-

There are also new episodes of "Ted Lasso," which is sadly cringey and bloated in its fourth season; Season 2 of the sci-fi series "Dark Matter"; and the Season 3 finale of the dystopian thriller "Silo" (Sept. 4).

Play, pause or stop? Pause and think it over. "Slow Horses" is one of the best shows out there, but for $15 a month, that's not enough. If you're a straggler, though, you can always catch up with some other recent quality shows, including "Sugar," "Widow's Bay," "Star City" and "Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed" to make it worth your while.

Paramount+ ($8.99 a month with ads, $13.99 a month Premium with no ads)

Following a tumultuous few months, during which at one point it was reported that star Tom Hardy had been fired over behind-the-scenes friction with the show's producers, the British crime drama "MobLand" (Sept. 18) is back with its second season - with Hardy still on board. The real-life drama seems somehow appropriate for the story of a London crime family wrought with family tensions. Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren lead a stellar cast, with Johnny Flynn ("Ripley") and Janet McTeer ("Ozark") joining the fold this season. While not as fun as the similarly themed "Gangs of London" or Guy Ritchie's other current show, "The Gentlemen," it's a solid watch.

UPDATE 9/3: "MobLand" just got the green light for a third season, with Hardy still on board, so... carry on.

Paramount also has the third and final season of the charming Australian anti-rom-com "Colin From Accounts" (Sept. 10); the 29th(!) season of "South Park" (Sept. 16); "The Varnell Hill Show" (Sept. 1), a "Martin" spinoff starring Tommy Davidson; "Golden Axe" (Sept. 16), an animated adaptation of the classic Sega fantasy videogame; the Tyler Perry thriller "Route 187" (Sept. 16); "Clash of the Thundermans" (Sept. 3), a family-friendly superhero movie spun off from the Nickelodeon series; and "Team Moms: Baseball" (Sept. 24), a reality show featuring the parents and kids at a highly competitive youth baseball academy. Meanwhile, a new season of "Survivor" returns Sept. 23, and "The Amazing Race" is back Sept. 30.

For sports fans, the NFL on CBS returns Sept. 13, along with college football (kicking off with Boise State-Oregon on Sept. 5), UEFA Champions League, UFC fight nights, WNBA and NWSL.

Don't forget new episodes of "The Challenge: Cutthroat," "Diarra from Detroit" (season finale Sept. 9), "Lioness" (season finale Sept. 20), "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" (season finale Sept. 24) and "Average Joe" (season finale Sept. 30).

Play, pause or stop? Pause. "Lioness" and "MobLand" are violent fun, "Colin From Accounts" is terrific, "Diarra From Detroit" is an underrated gem and the sports lineup is solid. Is that enough to tip the scales?

Peacock ($12.99 a month with ads, or $19.99 with no ads)

The mockumentary "The Paper" was a solid hit in its first season, and will try to build on that in Season 2 (Sept. 9), as the gang at the Toledo Truth-Teller navigate office romances, journalism awards and a tornado, among other things. Domhnall Gleeson, Sabrina Impacciatore and Chelsea Frei lead the ensemble cast, which will be joined by guests including Jon Lovitz and Andy Richter this season.

There's also "The Traitors: New Blood" (Sept. 18), a fresh installment of the addictive and Emmy-winning reality competition show hosted by Alan Cumming. This season takes a break from celebrities, and has a cast of ordinary Americans - a few of whom will likely soon be household names. And Peter Krause ("Parenthood," "9-1-1") stars in NBC's "Line of Fire" (Sept. 22), a new drama about a family of law-enforcement officers who get caught up in a conspiracy.

Peacock's also got a livestream of the Emmy Awards (Sept. 14), and new episodes of network and cable shows such as "Jeopardy," "Real Housewives," "The Voice" (Sept. 22) and "Saturday Night Live" (Sept. 26).

On the sports side, the NFL season kicks off with the Seattle Seahawks playing the New England Patriots in a Super Bowl rematch (Sept. 9) and "Sunday Night Football" returns Sept. 13. There's also the return of college football, including Notre Dame and Big 10 games; cycling's Vuelta a España (ends Sept. 13); a full slate of Major League Baseball and English Premier League soccer, as well as WNBA and golf.

Play, pause or stop? Pause. Peacock's latest price hike makes its ad-supported tier the most expensive among the major streamers. That feels like a reach, considering its meager lineup of original shows. Still, its live-sports lineup is top-notch, especially if you're a full-on cord-cutter.

Disney+/Hulu bundle ($12.99 a month with ads, $19.99 with no ads)

As mentioned last month, Hulu's integration into Disney+ has progressed to a point where it's more and more difficult to differentiate between the two standalone services. So we'll merge the two into one listing here for convenience's sake. And the Disney+/Hulu bundle only costs $1 more a month than the standalone services, which is actually a pretty good deal.

On the Hulu side, the college-football comedy "Chad Powers" (Sept. 3) is back for its second season, though Glen Powell's natural charm can't make up for a nonsensical, lazy premise. On the more promising side is FX's "The Drop" (Sept. 8), a spinoff of the acclaimed '80s-set drug-gang drama "Snowfall," as Wanda (Gail Bean) and Leon (Isiah John) reinvent themselves in the world of '90s West Coast rap. There's also Season 13 of Ryan Murphy's anthology series "American Horror Story" (Sept. 24), which is basically an all-star season of past characters, starring Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Kathy Bates and many more.

On the Disney+ side, look for the streaming premiere of the movie "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogo" (Sept. 2) and "Lego Star Wars: The Mandalorian" (Sept. 2).

The summer hit "Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro" wraps up Sept. 1, ahead of the new season of "Dancing With the Stars" (Sept. 15). There are also new episodes of "The Shards" (finale Sept. 9), "Project Runway" (season finale Sept. 10), "Futurama," (season finale Sept. 28) and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," along with new seasons of ABC and Fox shows including "RJ Decker" (Sept. 16) and "The Simpsons" (Sept. 27). There are also a pair of specials marking the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks: "9/11: United We Stand" (Sept. 2) and the live special "9/11: Tribute in Light" (Sept. 11). Don't forget to check out Season 2 of the very funny Gen-Z hangout comedy "Adults," which dropped at the end of August.

Watch this, skip that: The serial-killer thriller "Furious" just ended its first season, and it's been one of the best shows of the year (and was recently picked up for Season 2). As mentioned last month, it's dark, smart and compelling, and consistently takes a familiar plot setup into unexpected territory; it's worth a binge. On the other hand, after an intriguing start, the prep-school thriller "The Shards" completely falls apart after two episodes; not so coincidentally, Bret Easton Ellis adapted the first two from his novel before Ryan Murphy took over the rest. It shows, and quickly veers into the ridiculous and unwatchable. Speaking of unwatchable, if you're over the age of, say, 11, feel free to skip the utterly generic and bland "The Mandalorian and Grogo," the worst "Star Wars" spinoff movie yet.

Play, pause or stop? Stop. It's a tough call because "Adults" and "Always Sunny" are great and "The Drop" looks promising, but aside from that, it's all pretty meh.

HBO Max ($10.99 a month with ads, $18.49 with no ads, or $22.99 'Ultimate' with no ads)

It's another slow month for HBO Max, headlined by "Youth" (Sept. 20), a new comedy series starring Sharon Horgan as a 50-year-old London divorcee navigating modern dating while taking care of her aging parents and teenage son. Horgan ("Bad Sisters," "Catastrophe") excels in creating messy, relatable and sharply funny shows, and this looks like no exception.

There's also "4 Blocks Zero" (Sept. 23), a drama set in 1990s Berlin about a Lebanese immigrant family, and the prequel to the 2017 German crime series "4 Blocks"; "A Killer Story" (Sept. 3), a true-crime doc about a murder case that spanned three trials; "Jay-Z in 8" (Sept. 18), a docuseries as the famed rapper/entrepreneur sits down with producer Rick Rubin to discuss his life and accomplishments; "Siren: The Voices of Shelley Beattie" (Sept. 22), a documentary about the deaf "American Gladiators" star and her mental-health struggles; and "Miller Night Football" (Sept. 29), a documentary about comedian Dennis Miller's disastrous addition to the "Monday Night Football" broadcast booth in 2000; along with the British heist-thriller movie "Fuze" (Sept. 4) and the smash-hit indie horror movie "Backrooms" (Sept. 25).

UPDATE: HBO Max just announced a deal with Sirius XM (SIRI) to air weekly filmed episodes of "The Howard Stern Show," every Thursday starting Sept. 17, as well as a 25th-anniversary documentary "Band of Brothers: Legacy" (Sept. 9), a tribute to the brilliant WWII miniseries featuring cast interviews.

On the sports side, there's Major League Baseball on Tuesdays, plus Savannah Bananas, NASCAR, AEW, FIBA Women's World Cup basketball (Sept. 4-13), a pair of U.S. men's soccer matches (Sept. 26 vs. Peru and Sept. 29 vs. Chile), and opening night for the NHL (Sept. 30).

Don't forget new episodes of "Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Seattle Seahawks" (season finale Sept. 1), "Lanterns" (season finale Oct. 4) and "Conan O'Brien Must Go" (season finale Sept. 11), while "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" returns Sept. 20.

Play, pause or stop? Stop. There are good shows here (like "Lanterns," "Conan" and likely "Youth"), but nothing screaming "I'm HBO, you must watch me!" Hold off for another month, when there's more to watch (which, honestly, may not be until "The Gilded Age" returns Nov. 1).

Need more? Catch up on previous months' picks at What's Worth Streaming.

-Mike Murphy

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09-04-26 1600ET