What to Watch This Week: July 5 to 10

From star-studded games to streaming Oscar winners, we round up the top 10 shows to watch this week

1. The Big Interview with Dan Rather – Crave (Stream)

After his exit from CBS Evening News, veteran anchor Dan Rather landed at Mark Cuban’s AXS TV, where he’s hosted this acclaimed interview series for seven seasons. The show has finally arrived in Canada, with all 42 episodes from the sixth and seventh seasons now available to watch on Crave’s streaming platform. Season six leans heavily on music, featuring conversations with the likes of Robert Plant, Shania Twain and Cyndi Lauper, while other interviewees include Rob Reiner, Bryan Cranston, Dan Aykroyd and more.

2. The Order – Netflix

A few puffs of pulvis memoriae, delivered with precision by members of college wiccan society The Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose, leaves our valiant teen werewolves, The Knights of Saint Christopher, at a disadvantage in the second season of witty, sexy Netflix horror drama The Order. (And it seems viewers are happy to have it back, given that the show’s been “trending” on Netflix since the new episodes dropped in late June.) With no memory of the bloody battle that thwarted the Hermetic Order’s devilish chief warlock Edward Coventry (Max Martini)—or frankly, much of their identities pre-puffing (surely there’s a metaphor in there?)—the second season of the B.C.-shot series comes out of the gate with a surprisingly heavy dose of humour.

While many might consider Dennis Heaton’s creation a supernatural drama, in the vein of Hemlock Grove or Teen Wolf, Winnipeg-born star Louriza Tronco, who plays amusingly conniving witch Gabrielle Dupres, has her own ideas about the show she’s in. “The whole time last year, I was like, ‘Oh, The Order‘s a comedy,’” she reflects. Indeed, Tronco’s character has found herself in all kinds of entertaining situations while carrying out the Hermetic Order’s nefarious will; and as season two takes off, with Gabby still trying to earn her way back into the Order’s good graces after going a tad power-mad last year, the girl’s approach to her mea culpa assignment does elicit a few chuckles.

“At the end of season one, Gabrielle got a second chance from Vera [Katharine Isabelle], who is now the new Grand Magus. In order to be accepted back into the Order, her assignment is to keep a check on Jack [Jake Manley] and make sure that he doesn’t retrieve his memory,” Tronco explains. “Gabrielle does not like Jack, so she tries to use the situation to her advantage and makes him a little passion project.”

3. Defending the Guilty – Sunday, July 5, 7:15 p.m. & 10:15 p.m., BBC Canada | Series Premiere

This BBC Britcom looks at the funny side of criminal law, and yes, there actually is one. Will (Will Sharpe) is the idealistic legal pupil who lands a position working for an eccentric London barrister (Katherine Parkinson). Will quickly comes to realize his boss doesn’t respect him, all the clients they’re defending are guilty as sin and he’s fighting to hang onto his job while wondering if it’s all worth it.

4. Hollywood Game Night – Sunday, July 5, 8 p.m., NBC | Season Finale

Jane Lynch turns out the lights on her celebrity cocktail party for another season. Tonight’s teams include Community alum Yvette Nicole Brown and comedians Tone Bell and Amanda Seales on one side, with The Good Place‘s D’Arcy Carden, standup Iliza Shlesinger and Ellen‘s DJ tWitch on the other.

5. Godfather of Harlem – Wednesday, July 8, 10 p.m., City | Season Finale

The chickens come home to roost as Bumpy blackmails the mob—with disastrous results. Meanwhile, Teddy performs at the Apollo Theater and the world is rocked by the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Look for season two next year.

6. Burden of Truth – Thursday, July 9, 8 p.m., The CW | Season Finale

In case you weren’t aware, this Canadian legal drama has, for all of its three seasons, been enjoying a second life in the States (airing a few months after its CBC debut) on The CW—which apparently just can’t get enough of its former Smallville and Beauty and the Beast star Kristin Kreuk. If you didn’t catch the Winnipeg-shot show’s well-received run on CBC and have been glued to your screen each Thursday for season three, buckle up, because it’s a big night for corporate lawyer-turned-underdog champ Joanna Chang, as she and Billy finally go to trial against ClearDawn labs. Alas, the duo is still desperately searching for the evidence that will expose the fraudulent science the company used to essentially abduct children. Will Joanna manage to overcome the odds yet again? We wouldn’t bet against her.

7. Expecting Amy – Thursday, July 9, 9 p.m., 10 p.m. & 11 p.m., Crave1 | Series Premiere

On the heels of her quarantine cooking show with chef husband Chris Fischer comes this three-parter in which Amy Schumer invites us along for her motherhood journey. Watch as the superstar comic juggles doctor appointments, an upcoming standup gig in Chicago and her husband’s diagnosis of being on the autism spectrum.

8. Greyhound – Friday, July 10, Apple TV+

As movie theatres remain closed, studios with new films to release have three options: delay the premiere (which has been the case for the new James Bond film and the Top Gun sequel); release it on VOD (a route taken by the new Pete Davidson comedy The King of Staten Island); or sell it to a streaming service, which is why Tom Hanks’ latest is debuting on Apple TV+ and not in cinemas. Inspired by real events, Hanks stars as Captain Ernest Krause, a career naval officer with no actual combat experience who’s given command of Navy destroyer Greyhound in the Battle of the Atlantic. In his first wartime mission, Krause leads an international convoy of 37 ships on a treacherous mission across the Atlantic to deliver thousands of soldiers and much-needed supplies to Allied forces during the Second World War. Meanwhile, a wolfpack of German U-boats follows in hot pursuit. Also starring Stephen Graham, Rob Morgan and Elisabeth Shue.

9. Little Voice – Friday, July 10, Apple TV+ | Series Premiere

If your J.J. Abrams fandom is limited to movie franchises with the word “Star” in their title, then we can only imagine how far skyward your eyebrows shot when you heard he was among the producers of this series. After all, what would a guy who’s been working with Starfleet Command and the Rebel Alliance know about crafting “a love letter to the diverse musicality of New York?”

But Abrams’ back catalogue also features a great little series called Felicity, and we’re guessing that pop star Sara Bareilles—who co-creates and provides original music for this series—knew that and trusted he hadn’t lost his touch with young women in the big city. We also presume that if star Brittany O’Grady hadn’t watched that show before signing onto this one, then she’s probably binged it since.

O’Grady plays Bess, a talented musician who struggles to make her lofty dreams a reality—amusingly stumbling her way through rejection, bad romance and some deeply fraught family issues. Come for the music, stay for the dramedics and enjoy the show!

10. The Old Guard – Friday, July 10, Netflix

For years now, Netflix’s strategy of luring filmmakers to stream their projects instead of debuting them in theatres has paid off handsomely. Extraction, an action pic starring Chris Hemsworth, became Netflix’s most-watched original movie ever, seen by a whopping 90 million viewers in the first four weeks of its release.

That strategy now seems downright brilliant in a new normal in which movie theatres are shut down and people have been trapped at home for months.

Which brings us to The Old Guard, the latest big-budget flick that, pre-Netflix, would have premiered at a multiplex and not on a television screen.

Based on the acclaimed graphic novel, the film follows a covert group of tight-knit mercenaries led by a warrior named Andy (Charlize Theron). One thing that makes these particular mercs so unique is their mysterious inability to die, which has allowed them to use their skills to protect the mortal world for centuries.

Andy, in fact, is short for Andromache of Scythia. Born thousands of years ago, she’s died hundreds of times, only to be magically resurrected after each death. She’s an enigmatic figure whose story weaves throughout history, from providing the inspiration for Euripides’ play Andromache in 425 B.C. to fighting in the American Civil War.

But when the immortal team is recruited to take on an emergency mission and their extraordinary abilities are suddenly exposed, it’s up to Andy and Nile (KiKi Layne), the squad’s newest soldier, to help the group eliminate the threat of those who seek to replicate and monetize their power by any means necessary.