A guide to streaming shows in 2022

Television shows have in many ways surpassed films as the primary source of visual entertainment over the past few years, with so much pop-culture focus shifting to ‘binge-worthy’ material on various streaming sites.

I’ll admit, I’ve gotten swept up into it as much as the next guy. A majority of my free time at home is spent plowing through episode and episode of whatever I happen to be watching that week, and I must say, the cliffhanger-like endings really do make you want to keep watching.

With that being said, here’s a couple streaming shows coming out in 2022 that you can’t miss.

Ozark - Season Four - Jan. 21 on Netflix

It’s the fourth and final season of this dark crime drama series staring Jason Bateman and Laura Linney, and if the first three seasons were any indication, it promises to keep you on the edge of your seat.

Ozark can be a slow burn at times, but it’s highs rival any other dramatic television show ever produced.

The series centers around accounting extraordinaire Marty Byrd, who doubles as a money launderer for a major Mexican drug cartel, and must launder $500 million in the Missouri Ozarks to pay off a debt to his employer and save his family.

Ozark has everything you’re looking for in a drama; an intriguing plot with lots of twists and surprises, great acting performances, and tense action that at certain moments can be downright shocking and riveting. The mono-chromatic colours in the production design really lend to the show’s overall feel —a swampy, tense, death-like atmosphere.

This upcoming season will be split into two parts, with the first coming at the end of January and the second coming later in 2022.

If you haven’t yet checked out this series, the first three seasons only total 30 episodes, so you have plenty of time to catch up before the finale begins.

Avatar: The Last Airbender (Live Action Series) - Late 2022 on Netflix

Filming of this series is currently being done down in Vancouver, with hopes to premiere the show by the end of 2022. For those who have never heard of Avatar [and no I’m not talking about the James Cameron movie about blue aliens], the cult-classic animated series co-created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko was of the most popular cartoons of the mid-2000s.

The plot of this fantasy adventure series follows Aang, the young avatar, whose destiny is to defeat the fire nation and restore peace to a civilization that has been conquered and enslaved. I know, sounds corny.

Trust me though, this show meant a lot to an entire generation, and really had a cult following. Now often, cartoons being adapted into live-action material doesn’t work at all. In fact, this show actually was already adapted into a live-action feature film entitled The Last Airbender.

The movie, released in 2010, was directed by popular filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan. If you never watched it, don’t worry, you aren’t alone. It was widely regarded as one of the worst movies ever made in the history of cinema. Look up some reviews if you don’t believe me.

We’re going to chalk that up as a mulligan though, and hope that new Director Michael Goi, who previously worked on the popular FX series American Horror Story, is able to turn in something that more closely captures the essence of the iconic show.