The vast majority of new shows on Max are very heavily skewed toward the reality side of Warner Bros. Discovery. Frankly, we’ve lost count of how many iterations of 90 Day Fiancé have been squeezed from the original show. But if you’re looking for something fresh to binge, we’ve picked out the three underrated shows on Max that you need to watch in September.
Our first selection is a European drama that’s ending its four-season run, while the second option is a 19th-century murder mystery. To close out this month’s underrated shows, HBO has debuted a new documentary about one of the greatest baseball players, who also happens to be one of the most controversial.
My Brilliant Friend (2018-2024)
My Brilliant Friend is an Italian drama with a four-season run that is now coming to a conclusion on Max. The series takes place over several decades, but it starts in the aftermath of World War II while focusing on two close friends, Elena “Lenù” Greco (Margherita Mazzucco) and Raffaella “Lila” Cerullo (Gaia Girace), whose lives go in wildly different directions.
Season 4 is based upon the final installment of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet, and the show has jumped ahead in time and recast the leading roles as Lenu (Alba Rohrwacher) and Lila (Irene Maiorino) hit middle age. Lenu thinks that she’s finally found love and happiness at the cost of leaving her marriage behind, while Lila has achieved financial success and remains wary about love after several failed relationships. Although the two women have taken separate paths, their stories will bring them back together again in this closing chapter.
Watch My Brilliant Friend on Max.
The Alienist (2018-2020)
The Alienist takes its title from a term that’s fallen out of fashion, much like the clothes from the 19th century. Essentially “alienist” is just another way to say psychiatrist. In this case, the title character is Laszlo Kreizler, as portrayed by Captain America: Civil War‘s Daniel Brühl. Lazlo and his journalist friend, John Schuyler Moore (Luke Evans), have been tasked to look into the murders of male prostitutes by their old college buddy, Theodore Roosevelt (Brian Geraghty).
Dakota Fanning co-stars as Sara Howard, Roosevelt’s secretary who takes on an increasingly larger role in both the series and the investigation. Roosevelt wants the murders to be solved, but the rest of the NYPD seems to be willing to keep the crimes out of the public eye rather than alienating the city’s richest people who have something to hide.
Watch The Alienist on Max.
Charlie Hustle & the Matter of Pete Rose (2024)
For over two decades, it was all but a sure thing that Pete Rose would end up in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. He was a superstar player for the Cincinnati Reds who lived up to his “Charlie Hustle” nickname. But he was also a gambling addict who couldn’t resist betting on his own games, which led to a lifetime ban from baseball. And that meant the Hall of Fame would be forever out of reach for one of the game’s best players.
Charlie Hustle & the Matter of Pete Rose gives its subject a chance to argue that he deserves forgiveness and one last shot at the Hall of Fame while he’s still alive. However, Rose isn’t exactly forthcoming when confronted with other scandals that have come up over the years. But it’s undeniably fun to see the old footage of Rose as a player who was at the top of his game.
Watch Charlie Hustle & the Matter of Pete Rose on Max.
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