What to Watch This Week: April 22 to 27

From Coop grilling Comey to Corden stopping traffic, we round up our top 10 shows to watch this week

From Coop grilling Comey to Corden stopping traffic, we round up our top 10 shows to watch this week

1. The Alienist – Netflix | Series Premiere

In New York City’s Gilded Age, an alienist was a mental health professional who evaluated a defendant’s competency to stand trial. In the chilling thriller based on Caleb Carr’s bestseller, the police seek out alienist Dr. Lazlo Kreizler (played by German- Spanish actor Daniel Brühl) to help them hunt down a ritualistic killer, the likes of which they have never encountered.

The victim of the brutal crime is an adolescent male prostitute, whose body has been mutilated beyond the point of recognition. As if one gruesome murder is not enough, it matches the pattern of several other recent murders. Together with his trusted friend, newspaper illustrator John Moore (Luke Evans), and NYPD secretary Sara Howard (Dakota Fanning), Kreizler sets out to find a true monster.

The series is an unprecedented undertaking for U.S. network TNT?and production company Paramount Television, which took three years to bring it to the screen.

2. Westworld – Sunday, April 22, 8 p.m. & Midnight, HBO Canada | Season Premiere

The last time we saw handsome Wild West hero Teddy Flood (James Marsden), he was staring in horror as his one true love—rancher’s daughter Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood)—murdered their creator, Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins), in cold blood.

As that word “creator” hints, Teddy’s shock also stemmed from a dawning realization of his true identity. Instead of being human lovebirds in the Old West, he and Dolores are actually highly sophisticated robots in a vast theme park, where affluent guests don period clothes and use Teddy, Dolores and their artificial kindred for, well, whatever tickles their fancy—adventure, violence, sex, it’s all on the table.

Except now, as HBO’s Emmy-winning sci-fi thriller returns for season two, the oppressed robots are waking up to claim dominion over this world, where up till now they’ve just been very expensive toys for humans. While Dolores has no qualms about leading a violent rebellion of the robotic Westworld “hosts,” Teddy struggles with an existential crisis of sorts, which means he and his sweetheart sometimes are not on the same page.

It’s a conundrum that more than one of his fellow bots will also be forced to grapple with this year. And Westworld, which has ?won both popular and critical success, promises to just keep getting bigger: In season one, we learned that Westworld is only one of six interlinked parks owned and operated by a shadowy corporation called Delos.

3. The Late Late Show Carpool Karaoke Primetime Special 2018 – Monday, April 23, 10 p.m., CBS

Revisit memorable moments from The Late Late Show‘s “Carpool Karaoke” segments from the past year, in addition to a brand-new one, featuring host James Corden. Viewers will also be treated to highlights from the various productions of “Crosswalk: The Musical,” with stars such as Hugh Jackman performing Broadway song-and-dance numbers for baffled motorists at actual L.A. crosswalks.

4. Genius: Picasso – Tuesday, April 24, 6 p.m. & 7:15 p.m. (repeating at 9 p.m. & 10:15 p.m.), National Geographic | Season Premiere

After the success of the first Genius, starring Geoffrey Rush as Albert Einstein, National Geographic embarks on telling the story of a different sort of savant in the form of Pablo Picasso. The world-renowned Spanish painter not only imagined and interpreted the world in new and unorthodox ways, but behind the canvas was a man whose relentless creative drive came at the expense of most people in his life. Portraying this artistic genius is Antonio Banderas, who himself was born in Picasso’s hometown of Málaga.?

5. James Comey: Truth, Lies & Leadership Town Hall – Wednesday, April 25, 5 p.m. & 9 p.m., CNN

Former FBI Director James Comey continues his media blitz in support of his just-published tell-all in this live special. Comey will answer questions about the book’s many revelations in a town-hall setting, moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

6. Suits – Wednesday, April 25, 6 p.m., Bravo | Season Finale

It’s a bittersweet finale for #suitors this week, since the two-hour episode marks the exits of soon-to-be-Royal Meghan Markle ?and co-leading man Patrick? J. Adams. Their characters, Rachel and Mike, are walking down the aisle—giving Suits fans a long-awaited payoff and Royalists a sort of placeholder until Markle’s real-life nuptials with Prince Harry in May.

Meanwhile, this episode serves as an intro to a recently green-lit spinoff starring Gina Torres, whose character Jessica Pearson exited the show back in 2016. Her new series, which has yet to receive a premiere date, will follow Pearson as she “adjusts to the dirty world of Chicago politics.”

As for Suits and the Rachel-and-Mike-sized hole in its cast, that’ll be filled next season with Katherine Heigl as Samantha Wheeler, a new partner who joins the firm and creates chaos for Harvey.

7. Archer – Wednesday, April 25, 10 p.m., Teletoon | Season Premiere

If you thought the adventures of Sterling Archer couldn’t get any weirder after last year’s noir-inspired “Dreamland” theme, you were wrong: this season is set in 1939 and finds the titular booze-addled spy reimagined as a one-eyed sea pilot.

8. Quantico — Thursday, 10 pm, CTV & ABC | Season Premiere

In the new season, Alex (Priyanka Chopra) is living an idyllic existence? far removed from the CIA when she reluctantly agrees to join a black-ops task force after a friend is taken hostage by a dangerous arms dealer known as the Widow. Marlee Matlin joins the cast as a former agent who has her own history with the Widow.

9. The Rachel Divide — Friday, April 27, Netflix

Rachel Dolezal made headlines back in 2015 when the then-head of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP?—who had professed to being? African-American—was outed by? a TV journalist, who offered ?irrefutable evidence that she was ?actually a white woman ?masquerading as black. A media ?firestorm ensued, costing Dolezal ?her job while earning her the disdain of millions, opening discussion of whether a white person can become a black person simply because he or she “identifies” as one. In this new documentary, filmmaker Laura Brownson follows the controversial “trans-racial” activist as she travels with her sons and her adopted sister Esther, capturing the intimate story of a damaged character who lands squarely in the crosshairs of race and identity politics in America. In addition, the doc explores how Dolezal, years after the headlines, continues to provoke negative reactions from those who view her as the ultimate example of white privilege run amok.

10. The Week Of — Friday, April 27, Netflix

Adam Sandler and Chris Rock play fathers whose kids are getting married to each other, with the film focusing on the week leading up to the wedding, which turns out to be “the longest week of their lives,” given that they can’t stand each other. Co-stars include Saturday Night Live alum Rachel Dratch, Allison Strong (The Blacklist) and Sandler favourite Steve Buscemi.

Also notable: this is the final film ?in Sandler’s current deal with Netflix. Given the success he’s had with the preceding three, however, it’s hard? to imagine that there won’t be a concerted effort made from both sides to extend this arrangement.