What to Watch This Week: January 20 to 25

From beach bods to Wall Street woes, we round up the top 10 shows to watch this week

From beach bods to Wall Street woes, we round up the top 10 shows to watch this week

1. Supergirl – Sunday, January 20, 5 p.m., Showcase; 8 p.m., The CW

Now that the Arrow-verse’s highly anticipated “Elseworlds” crossover event series has wrapped and Superman is getting ready to retire his cape after seeing his cousin’s destiny, it’s time to narrow our focus back to Kara Danvers and her attempts to balance superheroism with everyday life in National City.

First up, we’ll see the fallout of Agent Liberty’s arrest and where that leaves the swelling anti-alien movement. Will his wife and passionate followers take up his cause while he’s behind bars, or does his takedown put a pin in their xenophobic plans, at least for now?

We’re also going to ?learn more about our hero’s nefarious double, Russian Kara, who could prove to be Supergirl’s most fearsome foe yet.

2. Shameless – Sunday, January 20, 8 p.m., Crave1

The Gallagher family returns for the back half of season nine, which will bid adieu to the woman who’s been “the heart of the show” since episode one. While it is true that the show about the colossal Gallagher family struggling to get through the day on the wrong side of the Chicago tracks has enough characters to tell stories for decades to come, most misadventures have thus far been anchored by big sister Fiona, played by Emmy Rossum, coming to the rescue of her father and siblings. It’s understandable, therefore, that when Rossum announced she was leaving the show at the end of this ninth season, even her cast mates had a moment of pause about where they were headed. After all, it’s already a family shaken, not stirred, by Ian (Cameron Monaghan, in a now-recurring role) serving time in prison, Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) possibly headed off to West Point and Frank’s continuously chaotic endeavours, which this season focus on his ongoing relationship with the fun but bipolar Ingrid (guest star Katey Sagal).

3. Black Monday – Sunday, January 20, 9 p.m., Crave1 I Series Premiere

Black Monday signifies one of the most devastating days in Wall Street history, but enough time has passed for some—or at least for the folks at U.S. network Showtime—to find humour in it.

The comedically toned series debuts Sunday with House of Lies veteran Don Cheadle returning to the cable channel as another tireless wheeler-dealer… a broker involved in the October 19, 1987 event cited as the worst crash ever to rock the stock market. Ultimately, he sees it as an opportunity against the old-thinking financial establishment.

Also starring are Andrew Rannells (Girls) as a financial-world novice, and Regina Hall (Girls Trip) as The Street’s first female head trader.

With Paul Scheer, Bruce Dern and Horatio Sanz also featured, the program counts Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg among its executive producers.

4. Siesta Key – Tuesday, January 22, 7 p.m. & Midnight, MTV Canada I Season Premiere

Get ready to dip into the second-season return of this Laguna Beach-inspired series. It picks up with the crew (and a couple of new faces) quarrelling over love, heartbreak and of course, volatile friendships. Like we’d expect anything else!

5. Big Burn: American Experience – Tuesday, January 22, 6 p.m. & 11:30 p.m., WTVS; 9 p.m., KCTS

Given the tremendous? damage done by the? wildfires that raged ?through California in late?2018, this instalment of? American Experience is? well worth revisiting—or ?possibly visiting for the ?first time—as a reminder? that this past wildfire ?season wasn’t the worst? in U.S. history. That? distinction, as detailed in a ?doc titled Big Burn, is still? held by the so-called Great? Fire of 1910, which in only? 36 hours was responsible? for the death of at least 78 ?firefighters and burned ?through more than three million acres across North Idaho, western Montana, portions of eastern Washington and even southeastern British Columbia.

6. NOVA – Wednesday, January 23, 6 p.m. & 11:30 p.m., WTVS; 9 p.m., KCTS

This is hardly NOVA‘s first time ?around the block when it comes ?to looking into the hot topic of volcanoes—see what we did there?—but the show’s exploration into the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii isn’t just ancient history. There’s been a relatively recent spike in activity, one which included a deadly eruption in April 2017. Viewers will have the opportunity to follow both scientists and residents of the island as they delve into this fiery fixture of the Hawaiian landscape and determine why it’s suddenly so problematic.

7. The Magicians – Wednesday, January 23, 7:15 p.m. & 10:15 p.m., Showcase I Season Premiere

With all its finger-spells, sexually charged reveries and twisty-turny plots, we’ve known from early ?on that this paranormal psychodrama was no mere Harry Potter knockoff; indeed, over the course ?of three seasons, the characters and their dabbling in dark magic have made the floppy-haired boy wizard’s adventures seem downright Disney-esque.

That trend continues in the fourth-season premiere, which picks up following our mystical grad students’ successful attempt to restore magic to the world—though not everyone in the enchanted sector actually has access to it.

When the curtain rises, the Library has taken control of the magical faucet and is doling out power as it sees fit, which means that when Quentin, Alice and the rest of the gang return they have to get by without the assistance of spells.

To make matters worse, their memories have also been wiped, so they have no recollection of either their true selves or the stupendous things they’re capable of conjuring. Oh, and Elliott is currently possessed by a monster.

8. Siren – Thursday, January 24, 5 p.m. & 10 p.m., ABC Spark I Season Premiere

Bristol Cove is suddenly drowning in mermaids at the start of season two, as even more of the mythical creatures mysteriously appear. Are they out for revenge, or something altogether more complex? Something tells us Ben and Maddie will waste no time in getting to the bottom of it.

9. Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes – Thursday, January 24, Netflix I Series Premiere

Our ongoing fascination with serial killers and the reprehensible things they do continues to serve as fodder for scripted crime dramas and deep reality dives alike, but this week the trend hits a whole new level, ever deeper, ever darker. The streaming service that brought us cautionary tales like Making a Murderer and The Keepers now offers up the story of one of the most notorious killers of our time, Ted Bundy. The four-part series debuts on the 30th anniversary of his execution in Florida, and features exclusive interviews with the man once dubbed the “Jack the Ripper of the United States.” An enigma who defied all expectations of what a serial killer looks and acts like thanks to his attractive physique and refined social graces, Bundy notoriously managed to gain female followers even after his arrest in 1978 and subsequent trial for the murder of an estimated 30 women. This unsettling series was inspired by Stephen G. Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth’s book of the same name, and includes more than 100 hours of exclusive footage acquired during interviews with Bundy in 1980 while he was on death row. In it the über-monster opens up about his motives, methods and maniacal disposition.

10. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt – Friday, January 25, Netflix I Season Premiere

TV has come a long way in terms of offering female-driven sitcoms, but it’s still depressing that, in addition to the beginning of the end of Broad City, this week also delivers the final installments of Kimmy Schmidt’s comedic adventures. Kimmy (Ellie Kemper) finds herself in a position she’s never experienced–one which might actually force her to put herself first for a change. Should that actually come to pass, will Titus, Jacqueline, and Lillian be able to set aside their tendency toward selfishness and accept Kimmy’s decision? (If so, you know it won’t be easy!) In addition, the series will offer up a double-length episode which sounds like it’ll land somewhere between It’s A Wonderful Life and Sliding Doors by contemplating how the lives of the show’s primary characters would’ve turned out if Kimmy had never ended up being kidnapped and living in a bunker.