Watchlist: What we're viewing in June

Consider this an embarrassment of riches. Thanks to the May issue of Bakersfield Life being chock-full of Best of Bakersfield content, the monthly Bookshelf and Watchlist columns were shelved. That means this month, you get a bit extra in your summer bonnets, so to speak, with more recommendations.

Speaking of bonnets, "Bridgerton" returns for the second half of its third season this month on Netflix.

The popular streaming series about eight close-knit siblings looking for love and happiness in London high society returned May 16 for the first half of this new season. Unfortunately, as of press time, new episodes were not yet available, leaving us as uninformed as those yet to receive Lady Whistledown's latest pamphlet with news of the ton (as the fashionable people are known).

We do know that the new season focuses primarily on Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), who has finally given up on her longtime crush on Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) after she overheard him speaking of her disparagingly last season.

Colin is set to help Penelope find a husband. Meanwhile she is navigating her fallout with best friend and Colin's sister Eloise (Claudia Jessie) as well as (spoiler alert) continuing to disguise her identity as Lady Whistledown.

I continue to enjoy the narration of Whistledown's writing provided by Julie Andrews (a la Kristen Bell in "Gossip Girl") as well as the Regency-era romantic entanglements.

Inspired by Julia Quinn's bestselling octet of novels, the series has room to grow with material from the yet-to-be-mined remaining five books.

The second half of Season 3 begins streaming June 13 on Netflix.

Another carryover is a show that continues to stream weekly following its debut in May. "Evil" returned to Paramount+ on May 23 for its fourth (and reportedly final) season.

The show debuted on CBS in 2019 before moving to its current home on the streaming service for the past two seasons.

This series from husband-and-wife creative duo Robert and Michelle King, who also created "The Good Wife," "The Good Fight" and the highly underrated comedy-drama "BrainDead," follows a trio tasked by the Catholic Church to investigate potentially supernatural incidents.

The dynamic between the two skeptics — forensic psychologist Kristen (Katja Herbers) and tech contractor Ben (Aasif Mandvi) — and the resident Mulder, Catholic seminarian-now-priest David (Mike Colter), is fun and compelling.

Kristen's adversarial relationship with Leland (Michael Emerson), a fellow forensic psychologist and saboteur who's obsessed with Kristen and her family, also makes for compelling viewing.

The previous three seasons have built to the events of the new season. A child, the product of Kristen's donated eggs from a fertility clinic, is due to be born, and may bring about the end of the world.

Writing on this show is smart and often funny despite some darker story lines. It's not always a happy ending — in fact, things often go awry for those beyond the main cast — but it's immensely watchable.

It's been reported that this is the last season but based on the popular response to the first two seasons being made available on Netflix, hope is not completely dead that good may triumph for "Evil."

Season 4 of "Evil" is streaming on Paramount+ with new episodes available weekly.

Expect replies of "Yes, Chef!" starting June 27 with the return of "The Bear" on Hulu.

The award-winning series returns for its third season after a solid second season that allowed not only its leads — talented but troubled chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), who inherited brother Michael's (Jon Bernthal) failing restaurant; promising sous chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri); and de facto manager "Cousin" Richie — to shine but also the supporting cast, including Marcus (Lionel Boyce), the pastry chef who goes to stagiaire with Luca (Will Poulter), a chef in Copenhagen.

Poulter will be back as a guest star and one can only hope to see the return of Jamie Lee Curtis as Carmy and Michael's mother, Donna, seen in the amazing Season 2 episode "Fishes."

It will be difficult to not binge-watch the entire season when it drops because even though the fourth season has been confirmed and filmed, there's no telling when it will be released.

Finally, we leave the streaming services for "Daddio," which hits theaters on June 28.

Written by first-time director Christy Hall, who originally conceived it as a stage play, the film focuses on a woman (Dakota Johnson) who lands at JFK Airport and grabs a cab driven by Clark (Sean Penn), with whom she has a number of frank conversations about a variety of topics.

Shot in chronological order, the film was shot with the same large LED video screens in the background (known as The Volume) that create a New York City backdrop as easily as they do other planets on shows like "The Mandalorian."

But this movie seems to be focused on the real-life dynamic of two strangers connecting in a world where that has become increasingly more difficult.