October brings the premieres of five Aussie titles to the US, including three documentaries, a teen series, and the new season of a popular supernatural dramedy.
For updates about shows from Australia and New Zealand added to US linear TV and streaming channels throughout the month, see the Down Under TV Viewing Guide.
Programs and dates are subject to change without prior notice.
Videos below may contain content that is not suitable for everyone.
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NATIONAL PREMIERES
Crazy Fun Park (AU)
In this teen horror comedy series, the 2023 Logie Award winner for Most Outstanding Children’s Program, best friends Chester (Henry Strand, Neighbours) and Mapplethorpe (Stacy Clausen, True Spirit) are so close that even death can’t keep them apart. But after Mapplethorpe is killed at an abandoned theme park, Chester discovers that his friend’s soul has stuck around, along with the ghosts of other teenagers who have died at the fun park since 1979.
Crazy Fun Park premieres in the US on Sunday, October 1, exclusively on Hulu. (You can add it to your watchlist now.)
Last Stop Larrimah (US)
This documentary is a stranger-than-fiction true-crime story. Nestled deep in the Australian Outback is the remote town of Larrimah and its eleven eccentric residents. When Paddy Moriarty and his dog, Kellie, left the local pub and vanished in December of 2017, a long history of infighting is unveiled, as the remaining residents become suspects in an unfolding investigation that leads to Paddy being declared dead. The documentary, told in five chapters, shines a light on Larrimah’s quirky history and how the town’s once close-knit and jubilant residents brought about their own fate.
Larrimah residents participating in the film include: Barry Sharpe, the owner of the Larrimah Hotel & Pub and a beefy pet crocodile; Fran Hodgetts, a quirky outcast and shop owner specializing in exotic meat pies; Karl and Bobbie Roth, the husband and wife who ran the local fire and rescue team and bitter rivals of Barry; Billy Hodgetts, Fran’s ex-husband, all skin, bones, and tattoos with stories to tell; Cookie Burke, a mellow old fellow who loves juicy gossip; Karen and Mark Rayner, the two newest and youngest residents of Larrimah; Richard Simpson, the bartender who works for Barry; and Lenny Hodson, Larrimah’s oldest resident at 81-years-old.
Last Stop Larrimah premieres in the US on Sunday, October 8, at 9 PM ET/PT on HBO, with streaming available on Max.
Wolf Like Me: Season 2 (AU)
Following on from the events in the Season 1, the second season of this romantic dramedy series sees Mary (Isla Fisher, Wedding Crashers, Definitely Maybe) and Gary (Josh Gad, Avenue 5, Central Park) leap into the next phase of their relationship and face their biggest challenge yet: pregnancy. As much as they try to have a normal pregnancy, it seems impossible with so many questions looming over them. Will their child be a baby or a wolf pup? Just how long can they keep things secret from the rest of their family? And will what happened in the outback come back to haunt them?
But when Mary’s former professor, Anton (Edgar Ramírez, American Crime Story, The Undoing), suddenly reappears in her life, new secrets from Mary’s past are revealed, leaving Mary and Gary to question whether they’re even meant to be together.
Featuring Ariel Donoghue (High Life), Emma Lung (Wonderland), Anthony Taufa (Mr Inbetween), and Honour Latukefu, Wolf Like Me: Season 2, a Peacock Original, premieres Thursday, October 19, exclusively on Peacock.
Hot Potato: The Story of the Wiggles (AU)
This documentary tells the improbable story of entertainment icons The Wiggles, four friends who recorded a one-off album of children’s music in the early ’90s and changed the global music industry forever. Recognizable by their blue, red, yellow, and purple skivvies, Anthony Field, Murray Cook, Greg Page, and Jeff Fatt became an unlikely music phenomenon, equipped with early childhood teaching fundamentals and a dose of self-belief. Surmounting numerous rejections from industry producers, The Wiggles took their career into their own hands and became the most successful global children’s act of all time.
Featuring personal archive footage and intimate access to their sold-out shows spanning more than 30 years, the feature-length documentary is a backstage pass to one of the world’s greatest entertainment stories — a tale of music, friendship, joy, and the enduring power of the child in all of us.
Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles, an Amazon Australian Original documentary, premieres globally on Tuesday, October 24, exclusively on Prime Video. It will have its world premiere at SXSW Sydney in October.
OneFour: Against All Odds
This documentary sheds light on a controversy that is still playing out today: On one side is arguably the most popular drill rap group in Australia — a group of Sydney-based, Pacific Islander kids who use music to escape the street and avoid a life of crime. On the other is a specialist police task force that, two years into the rap group’s meteoric rise, shuts down their sold-out national tour, citing public safety over concerns that the group’s music will incite violence. OneFour: Against All Odds premieres globally exclusively on Netflix (date tba). (You can set a reminder for it now.)
NON-PREMIERE PROGRAMS BEING ADDED TO STREAMING SERVICES
Black Snow (AU)
Deeply rooted in its North Queensland setting, this six-episode series is part coming-of-age drama, part mystery-crime drama. In 1995, seventeen-year-old Isabel Baker (Talijah Blackman-Corowa) was murdered. The crime shocked the small town of Ashford and devastated Isabel’s Australian South Sea Islander community. The case was never solved, the killer never found. But in 2020, the opening of a time capsule unearths a secret that puts cold-case Detective James Cormack (Travis Fimmel, Vikings, That Dirty Black Bag, Raised By Wolves) on the trail of the killer.
Black Snow begins streaming Monday, October 16, on Acorn TV and its digital channels, including Acorn TV on Amazon.
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Did you miss any of the new shows from previous days, weeks, or months? Check the Down Under TV Viewing Guide and Archives to find out.
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For details about the October premieres of shows from the UK, Canada, and Ireland, visit The British TV Place. For info about the debuts of original-language, English-subtitled programs from Europe, visit The Euro TV Place. And for that of a select list of titles from other countries, visit The Global TV Place.
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