The Crown Season 6 Brings Princess Diana's Tragic Story to a Close

Looking for your next binge-watch, or just need to fill an hour? Welcome to Your Weekly Watch List, our curated collection of the best shows on television. Here's what to watch from Sunday, November 12 through Saturday, November 18.

This week marks the beginning of the end for The Crown as the Netflix juggernaut dramatizes the weeks before Princess Diana's tragic death in Part 1 of its final season. Elsewhere on TV: Nathan Fielder, Benny Safdie, and Emma Stone test the limits of viewers' patience in The Curse, the Scott Pilgrim team reunites for an anime series, Godzilla and the MonsterVerse take over Apple TV+, and more.

The Curse

Sunday, 10:00 PM ET on Showtime

With its oblivious leads and excruciatingly uncomfortable scenes, it's difficult to recommend The Curse outright. A blend of Nathan Fielder's unique comedic sensibility and Benny Safdie's love of dramatic tension (the two serve as co-creators), the Showtime series stars Fielder and Emma Stone as newly married couple Asher and Whitney Siegel, who aim to revitalize the New Mexico community of Española by building sustainable homes in the area. Determined to turn themselves into the next HGTV sensation, the Siegels produce a pilot with Asher's childhood friend Dougie (Safdie), but when Asher offends a young girl (Hikmah Warsame) — who promptly puts a curse on him — their lives begin to go off the rails.

As Asher and Whitney's misfortunes mount, Fielder and Safdie deftly satirize their inability to recognize that they, as the wealthy, white developers gentrifying a predominantly Hispanic and Indigenous community, are the real problem, not the curse itself. Their efforts to "do good" are often unbearable to watch, but viewers willing to suffer through the cringe comedy will be treated to a wry commentary about reality television fame, cultural appropriation versus appreciation, and the lies we tell ourselves to get through the day.

The Crown Season 6, Part 1

Thursday, Netflix (Complete Part 1)
*Our must-watch pick of the week

The Crown is ostensibly the story of Queen Elizabeth II's reign, but for the past few seasons, the Netflix drama has been building toward the tragic death of Princess Diana — and now, that time is finally here. Season 6, Part 1 depicts Diana's (Elizabeth Debicki) first and only summer as a single woman following her fraught divorce from Prince Charles (Dominic West); the four-episode installment charts Diana's romance with Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdalla) and the increased paparazzi attention surrounding the relationship, which, of course, played a role in their fatal car crash on August 31, 1997. As Charles, Prince William (Rufus Kampa), and Prince Harry (Fflyn Edwards) attempt to cope with their grief, the Queen (Imelda Staunton) receives unexpected hostility from a public that's begun to question the purpose and stuffy traditions of the British monarchy.

Though Season 6 concludes in the mid-2000s, the public's opposition to the Queen and criticism of her treatment of nonconformist family members links the drama to the present day. Still, creator Peter Morgan is a monarchist through and through, so don't think the show will suddenly call for abolishing the Crown, even if Queen Elizabeth's grip on the Commonwealth is more tenuous than ever in this final season. But regardless of where The Crown comes down on the matter, viewers can likely expect another standout performance from Debicki, an appropriately restrained one from Staunton, and, from West, one that glorifies the recently crowned King Charles III.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

Friday, Apple TV+

What if the humans of the MonsterVerse franchise were as compelling as creatures like Godzilla and King Kong? That's the basic idea behind Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Chris Black's 10-episode series that reframes these monsters through the perspective of the people affected by their destruction. Set across various timelines, the drama features Kurt and Wyatt Russell as Army officer Lee Shaw, who began investigating monster activity in the 1950s and helped establish government organization Monarch, only to question its secretive motives a half-century later. When Cate Randa (Anna Sawai), a survivor of Godzilla's 2014 attack on San Francisco, learns of her family's complicated history with Monarch, she starts pulling at loose threads, leading her to Shaw and a world she never could have dreamed possible.

But even with an increased focus on its human characters, Monarch doesn't skimp on the kaiju action. The series stays true to its roots, delivering plenty of fight scenes between massive, computer-generated monsters new and old. In that respect, Apple TV+'s foray into the MonsterVerse serves as a natural continuation of what came before it, while also lending depth to an American franchise that's often failed to reach the bar set by its Japanese predecessor.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

Friday, Netflix (Complete Season)

13 years after Scott Pilgrim vs. the World hit the big screen and became a cult phenomenon, the entire cast reprises their roles in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. Plot-wise, Netfilx's anime series hews closely to Bryan Lee O'Malley's graphic novel and Edgar Wright's film. After seeing a mysterious girl in his dreams, slacker Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is shocked to meet her in real life, but in order for Scott and Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) to be together, he must defeat her seven evil exes, a group that ranges from movie star Lucas Lee (Chris Evans) to ninja Roxie Richter (Mae Whitman). The never-ending battles take Scott on an unexpected journey through Toronto, but with so many friends in his corner — including his roommate Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin) and sister Stacey (Anna Kendrick) — he has no shortage of allies to rely on when the going gets tough.

While showrunners O'Malley and BenDavid Grabinski maintain the irreverent tone that Scott Pilgrim fans have come to love, they tweak the story for a modern audience. That includes changing a few details (in this iteration, Ramona delivers Netflix DVDs, not Amazon packages) and using the eight-episode runtime to expand the roles of Ramona's evil exes, particularly those of identical twins Ken and Kyle Katayanagi (now voiced by Only Murders in the Building's Julian Cihi), who did not speak in the 2010 film. Updates like these help ensure the anime feels fresh despite the familiar premise, as do the slight variations the original stars, who have since gone on to become Oscar and Emmy-winners and franchise leads, bring to their voice performances.

If You Have...

An Hour

NCIS: Sydney: Tuesday, 8:00 PM ET on CBS
Selling Sunset Season 7 Reunion: Wednesday, 9:00 PM ET/6:00 PM PT on Netflix
Ghosts U.K.: Thursday, 9:00 PM ET on CBS
All Rise Series Finale: Saturday, 9:00 PM ET on OWN

An Evening

Blackberry (Extended Limited Series): Monday, AMC+
A Murder at the End of the World: Tuesday, Hulu
The Netflix Cup (Live Golf Match): Tuesday, 6:00 PM ET/3:00 PM PT on Netflix
Julia Season 2 Premiere: Thursday, Max
Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain: Friday, Peacock

A Full Day

How to Become a Mob Boss: Friday, Netflix
Brawn: The Impossible Formula One Story: Wednesday, Hulu
Twin Love: Friday, Prime Video

Up Next

Fear the Walking Dead Series Finale: Sunday, November 19 on AMC
Fargo Season 5: Tuesday, November 21 on FX
Squid Game: The Challenge: Wednesday, November 22 on Netflix
97th Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade: Thursday, November 23 on NBC and Peacock
Lessons in Chemistry Finale: Friday, November 24 on Apple TV+

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.