What to Watch This Week: January 22 to 27

From a one-off revival of ‘Teen Wolf’ to a new comedy starring Harrison Ford (yes, seriously), we round up our top 10 shows to watch this week

1. The Way Home – Sunday, January 22, W Network | Season Premiere

W NetworkFamily drama is the messiest kind. Which means it’s not much fun in real life, but utterly irresistible for audiences. That’s exactly what we’re expecting from Hallmark’s new series, which might just be able to fill the Chesapeake Shores-sized hole in our hearts. 

The show follows three generations of women: Kat (Chyler Leigh), her 15-year-old daughter Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow) and Kat’s mother Del (Andie MacDowell). As things kick off, we learn that 20 years ago Kat moved away from her small Canadian town of Port Haven in the wake of some undisclosed trauma. As a result, she became estranged from her mum, whom young Alice has never even met. But when Kat’s marriage ends and she’s laid off, Del convinces her to return. It’s not easy at first, and it’s certainly not the homecoming anyone pictured. Eventually though, broken relationships are mended and these women forge a new path together… albeit with a few bumps in the road along the way.

2. The Bachelor – Monday, January 23, City & ABC | Season Premiere

CitytvZach Shallcross easily won North American hearts when he competed for Rachel Recchia’s affections on season 19 of The Bachelorette. The guy made it all the way to the Top 2 before he abruptly left the series following the all-important overnight date, claiming Rachel was no longer showing her true self, and that he felt blindsided. “One of the things I fell in love with was she made me feel, like, special,” he told the cameras upon his exit. “I cared for her, and I question if any of that was real or if that was just an act.” Later, after Zach was officially announced as the next Bachelor, he apologized to Rachel, saying he never meant to question her character.  

That standup move endeared the tech executive to even more women, prompting host Jesse Palmer to throw a new twist into the Bachelorette finale. There, Palmer introduced five of the women who will compete for Zach’s love when The Bachelor kicks off tonight, giving the lead a chance to hand out the First Impression rose a bit early. That bud went to a New Jersey resident named Brianna, who posed for a selfie with Zach in front of the Bachelor Mansion. (She also gave him a copy of the pic to remember her by.)  

That means Brianna is safe from elimination in the premiere, but we can’t say the same for any of her competitors. Watch as they all play a little catch-up, entering the mansion and trying to make their own positive impressions on Zach—who now has the tough task of figuring out which of the ladies he could imagine spending the rest of his life (or, at least, longer than a selfie) with. 

3. American Masters, Tuesday, January 24, WTVS & KCTS

PBSThis new American Masters documentary looks at the life and career of Roberta Flack, following the legendary singer’s singular journey from entertaining patrons in a piano lounge to her meteoric rise to international music stardom during the 1970s. With such hits as “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly,” Flack’s musical virtuosity proved to be inseparable from her commitment to civil rights, something that remained consistent throughout her career. Telling her story in her own words, the film features exclusive access to Flack’s personal archives, in addition to interviews with the likes of Rev. Jesse Jackson, Peabo Bryson and many others. 

4. Dirty Old Cars – Wednesday, January 25, History | Series Premiere

The History ChannelAll over America can be found classic cars trapped in barns, garages and warehouses, which have gone undriven for decades, covered in grime and mold. But every now and then, someone recognizes one of these lost treasures, pulls it out of the debris and brings it to an automotive expert who specializes in restoring these rusting, rotting jalopies to their former glory while making some big money by selling them to collectors. 

5. Extraordinary – Wednesday, January 25, Disney+ | Series Premiere

Disney+Superhero-centric series are certainly nothing novel nowadays, but Extraordinary takes the concept in a different direction. Created by Emma Moran, the action revolves around Jen (Mairead Tyers), a young woman who’s on the cusp of turning 25 and lives in a world where everyone—that’s right, everyone—develops some sort of superpower on their 18th birthday.  

The thing is, Jen’s still powerless, and as you might imagine, that makes her more than a little bit of an outsider. It’s also making her really, really depressed.  

Described by the show’s press release as feeling “like a caterpillar surrounded by butterflies,” Jen is in a state of arrested development, which is why she’s found herself with a dead-end job at a party supply store and occasionally hooking up with a guy named Luke (Ned Porteous). Thankfully, she’s got her best friend, Carrie (Sofia Oxenham), who’s also her roommate, but since Carrie’s got a boyfriend—Kash (Bilal Hasna)—privacy is limited. Follow Jen as she soldiers through life, trying to kickstart her powers while enduring constant reminders of everyone else’s marvelous abilities.

6. Teen Wolf: The Movie – Thursday, January 26, Paramount+

Paramount+It’s been six years since we said goodbye to the ferociously angsty lycanthropes of Teen Wolf, but viewers are finally getting the film sequel they’ve been promised. It features the return of many fan-favourite characters from the show’s six-season run, including Tyler Posey as head of the pack Scott McCall, Holland Roden as Lydia Martin, Crystal Reed as Allison Argent and Superman himself, Tyler Hoechlin, as Derek Hale.

Alas, one familiar face who won’t be a part of this new movie is Dylan O’Brien, who played Scott’s best pal, Stiles Stilinski. “The show couldn’t be more dear to me. It was the first thing I ever did and so many people there are extremely dear to me,” O’Brien told Teen Vogue about the decision not to return. “Ultimately, I just decided it was left in a really good place for me and I still want to leave it there. I wish them well and I’m going to watch it the first night it comes out.”

Stiles or no Stiles, Teen Wolf: The Movie picks up as a terrifying new evil emerges in Beacon Hills, forcing the wolves into beast mode once again. To save the day, Scott must gather new and old allies alike to mount the biggest fight of their lives; we’re talking Banshees and Werecoyotes and Hellhounds, oh my! “I’m most excited to see them age,” Posey teased to Entertainment Weekly. “High school was such a character in itself on the show, so I’m excited to see how it’s going to be without that sort of character of a school involved. It will be interesting.” 

7. Wolf Pack – Thursday, January 26, Paramount+ | Season Premiere

Paramount+This new series follows a teenage boy and girl whose lives are changed forever when a California wildfire awakens a terrifying supernatural creature and drives it to attack a highway traffic jam beneath the burning hills. Wounded in the chaos, the pair are inexplicably drawn to each other, and to two other teenagers who were adopted 16 years earlier by a park ranger after another mysterious fire. As the full moon rises, they discover that what connects them is the bite and blood of a werewolf.

8. Lockwood & Co. – Friday, January 27, Netflix | Series Premiere

NetflixJonathan Stroud’s novels get the TV treatment, with a series that revolves around two teenage boys in the U.K. who team up with a psychically gifted girl to bust ghosts in London. Ushering it all to the screen is family-friendly fantasy director Joe Cornish, of Attack the Block and The Kid Who Would Be King fame.

9. You People – Friday, January 27, Netflix

NetflixKenya Barris, creator of black-ish, makes his feature film directorial debut with this comedy in which millennials Ezra (Jonah Hill) and Amira (Lauren London) meet and fall in love. While the fact that Ezra is white and Jewish and Amira is Black and Muslim is of little concern for the couple, the same cannot be said for their families. That becomes clear when Ezra introduces Amira to his folks (David Duchovny and Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Ezra meets Amira’s parents (Eddie Murphy and Nia Long).  

While the concept may seem stolen from Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?, Barris told Complex his intention was to take viewers’ expectations and flip them upside down, with Murphy’s role close to Spencer Tracy’s character. “We wanted to say times have changed and there is a wokeness and a Black pride that we didn’t see back then,” Barris explained. “So we wanted to say how would that happen now? How would we do that? And I think that’s what makes it as far from Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? as we wanted it to be.” 

10. Shrinking – Friday, January 27, Apple TV+ | Season Premiere

Apple TV+Anyone who still needed proof that the TV landscape’s changed has gotten it in a big way lately, thanks to the arrival of Harrison Ford in not one but two series. First came 1923, and now comes Shrinking. This time, Ford is a supporting player in an ensemble that’s led by How I Met Your Mother alum Jason Segel. Created by Bill Lawrence (Scrubs), Brett Goldstein (Ted Lasso) and Segel himself, Shrinking revolves around a therapist named Jimmy (Segel) whose grief in the wake of his wife’s death leads him to start delivering advice to clients that’s decidedly blunter than it should be. (Ford, meanwhile, plays a fellow therapist/mentor to our troubled protagonist.) 

Jimmy’s radical new approach goes against everything he’s been trained to do. But, just maybe, it’ll help his patients truly conquer their issues. Then again, maybe not.