What To Watch This Week: Mar 16-22, 2026

The 98th Oscars (mewatch & Channel 5, Disney+, 6.30am (red carpet), 7am (main show)

It’s Hollywood biggest night… and spare a thought for returning host Conan O’Brien. He has a tough job: keep things light and irreverent while the world’s on edge. Like last year, he’s expected to keep things politically neutral (maybe a jab or two at the Epstein Files?). At least Timothée Chalamet handed him some ready-made material with that “nobody cares about ballet and opera” comment — plenty to mine there. Chalamet is up for Best Actor for Marty Supreme, but the smart money is on Sinners’ Michael Jordan, fresh off his Actor (formerly SAG) win. As for Best Picture? It’s a toss between Sinners and One Battle After Another, both produced by Warner Bros Discovery. Either way, a win would serve for a poignant send-off for a legacy studio in transition. The presenters include Robert Downey Jr, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Adrien Brody, Javier Bardem, Chris Evans, Anne Hathaway, Gwyneth Paltrow. Live from Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.

BTS The Comeback Live | Arirang (Netflix, Mar 21, from 7pm SGT)

BTS Army, rejoice! Now that they’re completed their national service, it’s back to business. To celebrate the release of their new album, Arirang, BTS — RM, Jin, Suga, j-hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook — return to the stage for a comeback concert livestreamed globally from Gwanghwamun, the main gate of the historic Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul. The spectacle is directed by Hamish Hamilton, the man behind the Super Bowl Halftime shows since 2010. A companion documentary, BTS: The Return, chronicling the making of Arirang, drop Mar 27.

Rental Family (Disney+, Mar 18)

Quietly released into cinemas in January, this bittersweet dramedy by Hikari (Beef, Tokyo Vice) feels like a companion piece to Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation. Brendan Fraser stars as Phillip, a struggling American actor living in Tokyo who lands a job with a rental family agency — playing stand-in roles for strangers. It may sound odd, but is it really? Instead of performing for a crowd, he’s acting for an audience of one. The film doubles as a portrait of a uniquely Japanese subculture and a meditation on the craft of acting itself: to sell the fantasy, Phillip can’t just perform — he has to become the character. Co-stars include Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ Takehiro Hira and Mari Yamamoto, and Akira Emoto.

Imperfect Women (Apple TV, Mar 18)

What happens when you put Kerry Washington, Elisabeth Moss and Kate Mara in the same room? Trouble. Big, big trouble. This eight-part psychological thriller, based on Araminta Hall’s eponymous novel follows a crime that shatters the lives of a decades-long friendship of three women and exposes the fractures beneath the façade. Turns out, these BFFs aren’t quite who they claim to be. Hence the title. On the next exciting episode of Clarity…

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man (Netflix, Mar 20)

The highly anticipated feature-length sequel to the hit period crime series — which wrapped its six-season run in 2022 — sees Cillian Murphy back as gangster Tommy Shelby. This time, he emerges from self-exile to return to Birmingham extricate his estranged son from some very nasty Nazi business. The cast also includes Stephen Graham, Sophie Rundle, Barry Keoghan, Tim Roth and Rebecca Ferguson. And yes, Sonia Chew auditioned for a part too…kidding. Maybe.

Is This Thing On? (Disney+, Mar 20)

Director Bradley Cooper follows up his epic Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro with a more intimate dramedy, starring Will Arnett as a middle-aged family man who rediscovers purpose — and a sense of self — when his marriage (Laura Dern plays his wife) teeters on the brink, by turning to stand-up comedy in New York for salvation. Cooper, Sean Hayes and Ciarán Hinds co-star.

The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel (Netflix, Mar 20)

Revisit the early days of the legendary punk-rock group and the profound influence original guitarist Hillel Slovak had on bandmates Anthony Kiedis and Flea’s musical DNA. Slovak recorded two RCHP albums — 1985’s Freaky Styley and 1987’s The Uplift Mofo Party Plan — before his death from a drug overdose in 1988. The story unfolds through Hillel’s journal entries, rare archival footage, and emotional interviews with current and former band members.

Mercy (Prime Video, Mar 22)

Set in the near future, this dystopian techno thriller — which some reviews have compared to Steven Spielberg’s superior Minority Report — stars Chris Pratt as a cop on trial for murdering his wife (Annabelle Wallis). He has just 90 minutes to convince an AI judge (Rebecca Ferguson, as its avatar) of his innocence. If he can’t lower his 97.5% guilt probability to 92%, he faces execution by sonic blast. No pressure. Look out for Sonia Chew’s cameo as “Jaywalker No. 2”…nah, just messing.