This week, we review an old-school adaptation of a Stephen King thriller and a ribald Netflix romantic series from “Girls” creator “Lena Dunham. Both are worth your streaming time this weekend.

“The Institute” >> For a long stretch of time, miniseries based on a Stephen King novel or screenplay flooded the TV market. Amongst them were two versions of “The Stand,” along with one each of “Under the Dome,” “The Tommyknockers” (a snoozer) and even a misguided 1993 three-part adaptation of “The Shining,” an inadvisable slap to Stanley Kubrick’s big-screen classic.

MGM+ conjures some TV deja vu with its solid take on King’s 2019 bone-chilling novel of the same name, wherein a mysterious organization snatches kids with special abilities and then subjects them to horrific experiments that are designed to serve secret purposes. The series belongs in the comfy midsection of those old-school TV adaptations; a taut eight-parter that’s way better than “Tommyknockers” (face it, the source material was terrible) but not as polished as HBO’s brilliant “The Outsider,” one of the best King adaptations ever.

The ace up its sleeve is a Nurse Ratched-esque performance from Mary-Louise Parker. She’s both creepy and unhinged as the head of the Institute where 12-year-old Luke (Joe Freeman) has been imprisoned in a room replicated room from his home, all due to his extraordinary psychic abilities, a recurring theme in King’s best works. Parker plays the part with zeal, as if she’s zonked-out in fear of losing her power ranking. She’s so good, she’ll make you laugh until she barks out orders to underlings about doing something cruel and deplorable to the kiddies.

Freeman meets the challenge of playing a young genius who is sorting through options for breaking out from this hidden-away monolith.

As all this intrigue plays out, disgraced cop Tim Jamiseon (Ben Barnes) arrives at the town nearby and quickly assumes the role of a night knocker, basically the town’s watchman. One night, he catches wind of the strange shenanigans going down at the Institute, partly from the conspiracy blather uttered by an unhoused person Annie (Mary Walsh), a sweet but addled soul. The plot thickens from there with likeable characters getting snuffed out — a King staple.Creator Jack Bender (“From”) knows his way around King’s plot and works admirably within a limited budget.

He leans heavily on his main actors — Parker, Freeman and Barnes — to relay the nuances of the shrewd storytelling, and they’re up to the job.

There are some twist-filled developments (Episode 7 hits you with a jaw-dropper twist) and King’s uncanny knack for tapping our innate fears about what higher authorities might be doing to us.

Due to modest budget, “The Institute” isn’t a vintage King production — even though the author is an executive producer on it — but it keeps you on edge and speculating why these children are made to suffer.

Details >> 3 stars out of 4; premieres July 13 on MGM+ with new episodes dropping every Sunday.

“Too Much” >> The bitter end of a seven-year relationship with extra-picky Zev (Michael Zegen) prompts a massive meltdown by Jessica (Megan Stalter of “Hacks”) who then hops on a flight from New York to London for a new job in commercial production work.

Jessica envisions she’ll glide into an Jane Austen-like romance but winds up plucking the heartstrings of a cute and sensitive indie musician Felix (Will Sharpe of HBO’s “The White Lotus Season 2”). He comes with a variety of issues as does the highly energetic Jessica, who possesses an oh-sister-please-stop penchant for divulging everything that springs into her mind even when no one’s asked to hear any of it.

If you’re thinking these two sometimes annoying lovers as well as their colorful assortment of families and friends, each packed with issues, are tailor made for a Lena Dunham series, you’re onto something.

Dunham is a co-creator, co-writer and co-director of the raunchy/boozy/druggie series, in which she co-stars as Jessica’s stay-in-bed-depressed and divorced sister Nora.

Her husband Luis Felber is also a co-creator and co-writer. The 10-part series delivers wall-to-wall instances of cringey behavior along with frustrating and authentic characters who are sometimes obnoxious and often inappropriate.

So if you’re looking for a prim and proper Austen-like romantic comedy, expect to drop out of this series by Episode 1.

But that’s the real beauty of “Too Much,” which sometimes lives up to its title but has a way of staying vigilantly true to the nature of its unhinged, often messy characters.

Yes, it threatens to go overboard, and sometimes does, but keeping it afloat are its two terrific leads. They anchor this warts-and-all romance that involves an ex-girlfriend (Adèle Exarchopoulos), Jessica’s ex-boyfriend’s social influencer girlfriend (Emily Ratajkowski) and kvetching relatives on her side (Rita Wilson and Rhea Pearlman) and his (Stephen Fry and Kaori Momoi).

Also working in its favor are the numerous smallish appearances from Jessica Alba, Kit Harrington, Rita Ora and more, as well as bigger ones from Naomi Watts and Richard E. Grant (as Jessica’s new party-hard boss and his wife), Andrew Scott (as a vain and needy director), director Janicza Bravo as Jessica’s co-worker who winds up looking up for a new love, and Andrew Rannells as the seemingly more with-it ex of Nora’s.

That’s a lot of star power to cram into a series and it’s a credit to both Stalter and Sharpe — who is so deft at portraying mental illness onscreen — that they are never outshined by any of them. OK, maybe just one, Jessica’s cute but terribly ugly dog Mia.

Details >> 3½ stars; drops July 10 on Netflix.