What to Watch This Week: January 10 to 15

From housewife drama to celebrity dance routines, we round up the top 10 shows to watch this week

1. The Real Housewives of Atlanta – Sunday, January 10, 5 p.m., Slice

Settle in for another week of histrionics and smack-talk as Cynthia, Kandi, Porsha and Kenya get to know new Housewife Drew Sidora. As the 13th season rolls along, one thing’s pretty clear: even without NeNe Leakes, the show’s not lacking in the drama department.

2. Tiger – Sunday, January 10, 8 p.m. & 12:15 a.m., HBO Canada

Tiger Woods is the type of singular talent seemingly pre-programmed for greatness from birth.

He gripped a golf club at two months old, was hitting drives on The Mike Douglas Show at two years and was repeatedly told by his father Earl that through golf he could make a difference. And, of course, he did.

His full story is conveyed in the new two-part HBO documentary Tiger, airing consecutive Sundays, January 10th and 17th. Directed by Matthew Heineman (The Trade) and Matthew Hamachek (Meet the Patels), the three-hour film follows the golf icon’s rise, fall and rebirth. Included is never-before-seen footage and interviews with those who know him best, like former caddie Steve Williams, golf great Nick Faldo, Earl Woods’ biographer and close friend Pete McDaniel, and Woods’ first true love Dina Parr. Also weighing in is Rachel Uchitel—the woman at the centre of a sex scandal that altered the course of Woods’ life and legacy, who here agrees to her “first-ever sit-down interview about their relationship.”

3. American Gods – Monday, January 11, Amazon Prime Video | Season Premiere

The grudge between the Old Gods (Odin, Bilquis, Czernobog, etc.) and the New Gods (Media, Tech Boy, Mr. World and so on) takes another step toward all-out war in season three. Yet as author/exec producer Neil Gaiman’s gritty, gory fantasy saga resumes, our hero Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) has basically tapped out. After the revelation at the end of season two that he is, in fact, the son of Odin (Ian McShane), who killed his wife as a bonding exercise, Shadow has left his old man in the dust and sought out a normal life in the quaint little town of Lakeside, Wisconsin.

But as he soon comes to learn, destiny is tough to outrun, and there’s something twisted lurking beneath the cheerful veneer of his new home. Meanwhile, Odin keeps making moves to rally the Old Gods for the battle to come, while also trying to bring Shadow back into the fold.

4. Weakest Link – Monday, January 11, 10 p.m., NBC

After a brief hiatus, the quiz show reboot hosted by five-time Emmy-winner Jane Lynch is back for the last half of season one. And if those first 10 episodes of withering put-downs were any indication, there’s absolutely zero room for Weak-lings.

5. Prodigal Son – Tuesday, January 12, 9:01 p.m., Global & Fox | Season Premiere

Plenty of folks have issues with their dad, but in most cases, the dad in question isn’t a notorious serial killer. Alas, not so for Malcolm Bright (Tom Payne). Yet the guy has managed to parlay his bumpy upbringing into a career as a brilliant profiler, lending his talents to the NYPD—albeit with occasional help from his incarcerated old man, Dr. Martin Whitly (Michael Sheen), a.k.a. The Surgeon.

As one of 2019’s biggest hits returns for season two, expect the writers to deliver more gruesome cases of the week, while digging even deeper into the twisted father-son bond at the core of the show—as the devilishly charismatic Dr. Whitly tries to tempt his boy to the dark side.

That said, as seen in the finale, Malcolm’s not the only Whitly kid who might be a chip off the old block, as his sister Ainsely (Halston Sage) proved she’s pretty handy with a blade during that standoff with Endicott. You could argue self-defence/he had it coming, but was there a bit too much gusto in her slicing and dicing? Either way, early looks at season two indicate this premiere will involve Malcolm and his sis scrambling to clean up—and cover up—their mess.

6. Two Sentence Horror Stories – Tuesday, January 12, 8 p.m. & 8:30 p.m., The CW | Season Premiere

This horror anthology is back with a second season of scares. “Inspired by the viral fan fiction of two-sentence horror stories, the series taps into universal primal fears, filtered through the anxieties of the most connected and inclusive generation,” teases The CW in a statement. “With dizzying advancements in technology, social progress, inequality and environmental degradation… the things that haunt us are still the same.”

7. The Masked Dancer – Wednesday, January 13, 8 p.m., CTV & Fox

Grammy winner Paula Abdul explains to TV Week what drew her back to reality TV with this season’s hit series.

Having been there, done that on American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance, what brought you back to reality competitions?
Well, you know, it had to be the right show, and this—when [they] called me, I was smiling from ear to ear. I’m such a big fan of The Masked Singer. So, the only thing I kept saying is, “How in the hell are we going to be able to guess who is dancing?” At least with singing you can be familiar with someone’s tone and phrasing, but with dancing—they said there’s going to be a lot of heavy weight on the clues. I wanted to have fun. And I’ll be honest with you: this is the most fun I have ever had on a reality competition. It was so different for me, and it was just so joyful.

Given your own dance background, what was it like watching these performers try to dance in these outfits?
The limited range of motion with the costumes for the head has to be so secure, because spotting is everything for dancers, especially when they are turning. So, it was amazing for me to see that they could have their core balance and not get vertigo. I mean, it was crazy, because they are turning all over the place; they are doing the skillful pirouettes, and they have, like, this little window to see out of.

Any insights into exactly how this series is cast?
What I love about the show is that you don’t have to be a dancer. It’s about being celebrated on that stage and having fun. And some of the people who didn’t have any dance training were the most entertaining… there are even some known singers that probably wouldn’t be on The Masked Singer because their voice is so identifiable and [this is] another chance for them to come on The Masked Dancer.

8. Go-Big Show – Thursday, January 14, 10 p.m., CTV Comedy

Host Bert Kreischer and four celeb judges—Rosario Dawson, Jennifer Nettles, Snoop Dogg and pro wrestler “The American Nightmare” Cody—watch contestants display utterly outrageous talents for a shot at $100,000. The antics include: “monster trucks, alligator trainers and stunt archery.”

9. Two Weeks to Live – Thursday, January 14, 8 p.m., Crave1

All eyes are on this eccentric new action dramedy for one big reason—it stars Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones. And of course, everyone wants to see how the star of a hugely successful series does on their next big TV project. Imported from the U.K., this show (which debuted January 7th) centres on Kim, a girl whose father was murdered when she was little; in the aftermath, she was raised by her mother (Fleabag‘s Sian Clifford), who decided to live off the grid in rural Scotland, filling Kim’s head with stories of the big bad world that exists beyond the safety of their hermit-like bubble. It’s a fine plan in terms of keeping Kim safe, but mom never considered what would happen when her daughter found out what civilization was really like. Things take an even stranger turn when, after visiting a local pub, a practical joke is played on Kim, causing her to believe that everyone on earth has but two weeks left to live. The end result: our young heroine sets off on a mission to kill the man who killed her dad.

10. WandaVision – Friday, January 15, Disney+

With the arrival of the Disney+ streaming service, viewers have already seen the world of Star Wars expand onto the small screen, and this week the Marvel Cinematic Universe does the same thing with WandaVision.

The show focuses on Vision (Paul Bettany) and Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), last seen in the wildly successful Avengers films.

As is usually the case with Marvel projects, WandaVision has been shrouded in secrecy, although some recently released trailers indicate the series will be very different from anything that’s come before.

That’s because WandaVision recasts the characters—a super-powered android and a woman with jaw-dropping telekinetic abilities—as characters in a 1950s black-and-white sitcom, complete with wacky neighbours, punchlines met with a laugh track and comedy bits in which Wanda uses her powers to do household chores, not unlike Elizabeth Montgomery in Bewitched.

At some point in the show, the sitcom switches decades, transforming from I Love Lucy to The Brady Bunch, the black and white giving way to bold colours.

Yet things are not what they seem. In the trailer. Wanda is met by a neighbour, who greets her with, “Wanda! What’s up?” Confused, Wanda responds, “Who are you?” Suddenly, she’s not the only one who’s out of sorts. “I don’t know,” the neighbour replies, her happy face now registering fear.

Without speculating too much, it appears the couple have been trapped inside some kind of sitcom illusion, which becomes apparent when furniture begins flickering and their neighbours suddenly pause as if a switch has been flipped.

The trailer concludes with explosions and convoys of soldiers in jeeps, all of which will be made clear as the series progresses.