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This Week on TV

TV Week editor Brent Furdyk gives us the lowdown on the hottest shows streaming and airing right now

TV Week editor Brent Furdyk gives us the lowdown on the hottest shows streaming and airing right now

 

1. WandaVision

Anticipation has been off the charts for the first Marvel Studios series for Disney+, and WandaVision does not disappoint. It may, however, confuse, given that the half-hour series places Avengers members Vision (Paul Betanny) and Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) in a 1950s, I Love Lucy-style black-and-white sitcom, complete with laugh track.

All the elements are there, including the wacky next-door neighbour (Kathryn Hahn) and Viz’s boss and the missus (Harvey Melamed and That ’70s Show’s Debra Jo Rupp) showing up unexpectedly for dinner, leading Wanda to use her telekinetic abilities to whip up a three-course meal from scratch.

The second episode sees a new opening to the faux sitcom, which has now shifted from the ’50s to the ’60s, while the third bumps up to the next decade, resulting in wildly colourful Brady Bunch look.

Yet through it all, something’s a bit off. A date in a curious wall calendar is spotlighted, and neither Vision nor Wando can remember why. Vision’s co-workers, impressed with his computational abilities (he is an android, after all) don’t seem to know what exactly their company does, while every so often, in between punchlines, Wanda can hear a distant voice calling her name, and at one point discovers a toy helicopter in her yard—brightly coloured and standing out amidst the rest of the black-and-white world.

It’s a mystery that unfolds in what’s arguably one of boldest, most audacious projects in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Streaming now on Disney+

 

2. One Night in Miami

Watchmen star Regina King makes her directorial debut with this what-if drama that imagines a fictional one-night 1964 meeting between a quartet of Black icons—Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), pre-Muhammad Ali Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), NFL star Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) and soul singer Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom, Jr.).—discussing how they can use their celebrity to contribute to the civil rights movement amidst the social upheaval in America during the mid-1960s.

Streaming now on Amazon Prime Video

 

3. Prodigal Son

The second season of Fox’s dark and deadly drama kicks off later than expected thanks to the pandemic, but fans will find it worth the wait due to the new addition to the cast: Oscar winner Catherine Zeta Jones. She plays the resident MD at Claremont Psychiatric, charged with overseeing imprisoned serial killer Dr. Martin Whitley (Michael Sheen) when he’s placed on infirmary duty.

Premieres Tuesday, Jan. 19 at 9 p.m. on Global & Fox

 

4. Two Weeks to Live

Game of Thrones‘ Maisie Williams stars in this HBO Max series as Kim Noakes, who’s been raised in almost total isolation by her unhinged survivalist mother, taught to believe the End of Days is always right around the corner. When Kim ventures to a local pub, she falls victim to a practical joke when footage of a nuclear blast is played on a television, leading her to believe that everyone on the planet has just two weeks to live. She decides to use what she thinks are her final days to embark on a chilling mission of revenge, to kill the man who murdered her father in front of her eyes when she was a child.

Premieres Thursday, January 21 at 8 p.m. on Crave1

 

5. Walker

Chuck Norris is nowhere to be seen in this modern-day reimagining of Walker, Texas Ranger, with Supernatural‘s Jared Padalecki starring as the titular Texas Ranger. In this new version, Walker is a widower who returns home after spending two years on a deep-undercover assignment, realizing he now needs to reconnect with the family he left behind. Meanwhile, he becomes increasingly suspicious about the circumstances that led to the death of his late wife.

Premieres Thursday, January 21 at 8 p.m. on The CW

 

6. Losing Alice

This psychological thriller focuses on Alice (Ayelet Zurer), a 48-year-old female film director who set aside her career in order to raise her family, and now feels like an irrelevant dinosaur. A chance encounter with an ambitious 24-year-old screenwriter named Sophie (Lihi Kornowski) leads her into a Faustian bargain that will achieve the power, success and relevancy she so desperately craves — at the cost of her moral integrity.

Premieres Friday, January 22 on Apple TV+

 

7. Euphoria: F*** Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob

It’ll be awhile before viewers see a second season of this acclaimed drama in which Zendaya stars as Rue, a teenage addict struggling with recovery. In the meantime, series creator Sam Levinson is serving up this standalone one-off episode focusing on Rue’s friend Jules (Hunter Schafer).

Premieres Sunday, January 24 on HBO Canada