2020 Preview: HBO Max, Peacock & More New Streamers on the Way

TV Insider Staff January 12, 2020, 5:00 pm

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Friends - Season 1 — Reisig & Taylor/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

The holiday season is over, but TV has some new gifts you’ll never want to return. Settle in for 12 months of fan-favorite stars (Fran Drescher, Edie Falco), inspiring physical feats (the Olympics), new streaming services, and another must-see season of Outlander.

HBO Max

Launches: May
Price: $14.99 per month
How to watch: Visit hbomax.com for updates.

Original programming: HBO Max has announced a robust slate of series but has yet to confirm when each will debut. High-profile projects include The Flight Attendant, a thriller starring Kaley Cuoco in her first live-action series since The Big Bang Theory; Grease: Rydell High, a musical show based on the hit movie; Ellen DeGeneres‘ competition series Ellen’s Home Design Challenge; and Superintelligence, a comedy film starring Melissa McCarthy as a woman who must save humanity from a sentient, artificially intelligent being.

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Library content: If you’re not a couch potato yet, you just might be soon! HBO Max has the rights to several big-ticket series including Friends (which left Netflix in December), The West Wing, The Big Bang Theory, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Doctor Who, 50 years of Sesame Street, The Flintstones and Gossip Girl. Naturally, every title from HBO’s vault, including The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Game of Thrones and The Wire, will be available as well.

Peacock

Psych: The Movie (Credit: Alan Zenuk/USA Network/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

Launches: April
Price: TBA
How to watch: Visit peacocktv.com for updates.

Original programming: Several projects are in development, but this service from NBCUniversal has yet to confirm the titles available at launch. A few we can’t wait to see? A reboot of the 1989–93 high school sitcom Saved by the Bell with stars Elizabeth Berkley and Mario Lopez returning, a second Psych movie with James Roday and Dulé Hill reprising their roles from the USA comedy and Soleil Moon Frye as an adult Punky Brewster in an update of the 1984–88 series. Demi Moore also stars in an adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s 1932 book Brave New World.

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Library content: Expect full seasons of fan-favorite comedies Cheers, Frasier, Parks and Recreation and Married…With Children; dramas including Friday Night Lights, Downton Abbey and House; plus a vast movie collection including everything from Bridesmaids to Back to the Future and Brokeback Mountain to Erin Brockovich. All in all, 15,000 total hours of content will be available to stream when the service bows.

Quibi

(Credit: Quibi)

Launches: April 6
Price: $4.99 per month with commercials, $7.99 without
How to watch: Content is available exclusively on the Quibi app.

Original programming: Quibi — short for “quick bites” — will offer more than 70 comedies, dramas, reality series and news programs, all with episodes between three and 15 minutes long. April premieres include Mapleworth Murders, a comedy from exec producers Lorne Michaels and Seth Meyers starring Wine Country‘s Paula Pell as a mystery writer who solves crimes in her small town, and an update of the 1963–67 suspense series The Fugitive featuring Boyd Holbrook (Narcos) and Kiefer Sutherland (Designated Survivor).

Library content: None. Quibi is an all-originals service.