What to Watch This Week: March 21 to 26

From conspiracy theories to heroic rescues, we round up the top 10 shows to watch this week

1. The Simpsons – Sunday, March 21, 7 p.m., City; 8 p.m., Fox

Only a few weeks after the announcement that the series has been renewed for two more seasons, the Simpson family reaches yet another major milestone this Sunday: episode 700, which centres on a secret from Flanders’ past and a secret room in the Simpson home.

2. Q: Into the Storm – Sunday, March 21, 8 p.m. & 9 p.m. (repeating at 11:40 p.m. & 12:40 a.m.), HBO Canada | Series Premiere

Imagine your reaction, a decade ago, if someone said that, by 2021, millions of people would become true believers in a bonkers conspiracy theory claiming that Hillary Clinton and Tom Hanks are part of a vast, sinister cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who drink babies’ blood and operate a worldwide child sex-trafficking ring out of the basement of a pizza joint—but will one day be vanquished by the host of The Celebrity Apprentice.

Yet here we are, navigating a strange and uncertain new world where facts don’t matter and reason means nothing to those who’ve been taken in by QAnon, the cult-like conspiracy theory that continues to spread dark disinformation like a wildfire.

A new six-episode HBO Max docuseries, Q: Into the Storm, takes a deep dive into the QAnon phenomenon, debuting with two back-to-back episodes, and continuing with two episodes per night on consecutive Sundays.

The result of a three-year global investigation, the program chronicles the evolution of the mysterious online entity known only as “Q,” who purports to be a high-level U.S. government official. As the press release notes, “Q” has “used conspiracy theories and information warfare to game the Internet, hijack politics and manipulate the way people think.”

Yet what could once be easily dismissed as a laughable delusion targeting the
tinfoil-hat crowd has become dangerously real to QAnon’s legions of adherents, sucked into a topsy-turvy belief system that sends them down online rabbit holes to spend countless hours attempting to decipher the cryptic clues that “Q” scatters like bread crumbs.

The series undertakes a labyrinthine journey to unmask who “Q” actually is, while exploring how a bizarre conspiracy theory, spawned in the darkest corners of the Internet, has managed to dupe millions.

3. Hoarders – Monday, March 22, 5 p.m. & 9 p.m., A&E | Season Premiere

Shakespeare wrote that parting is such sweet sorrow, but the Bard was clearly talking about love, not old magazines. A&E’s other, non-Intervention intervention series returns for season 12 this week, helping one man part with the clutter that’s both figuratively and literally weighing him down.

4. Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil – Tuesday, March 23, YouTube Originals | Series Premiere

Grammy-nominated performer Demi Lovato opens up with a stunningly honest new television offering that launches this month on YouTube. TV Week spoke with her about the new venture.

What exactly motivated you to let people inside your life like this, after all you went through with the overdose in 2018 and the health problems afterwards?
Over the past couple years, I’ve heard a lot of stories about my life, and what people think has happened. I wanted to set the record straight and I wanted to reveal it all for my fans and say, “Hey, this is who I am and this is where I’m at today and this is the journey that got me here.” And if it helps you, then I hope that it can, because that was ultimately my purpose in putting this out—was to be able to help people that have been on the same path as I have.

What did you learn about yourself in making this series?
It’s so much more than just mental health. My life is now about spiritual growth and how I can help everyone, even people that don’t have mental illnesses—how we can help elevate everyone’s vibrations so that we can live in a more positive planet.

Why do you think you’re so open with your fans?
I’m a truth-teller and truth-tellers on this planet help other people seek truth within themselves. If we don’t acknowledge our feelings… we’re never going to experience the internal growth that we need, that we need to survive and that we need to help make this world a better place.

There’s that old cliché that artists need to be high to create…
The best work that I make is when I’m present and when I am aware of what’s going on in my life. I feel like, in ways, that we have looked up to a lot of icons that have maybe passed from tragic overdoses… A lot of people think that we have romanticized them; but I think what we’ve actually done is just respected them for being so honest and so vulnerable in telling their truths.

5. The Day Sports Stood Still – Wednesday, March 24, 8 p.m. & Midnight, HBO Canada

This documentary chronicles the unprecedented sports shutdown in March 2020, from the abrupt stoppage to athletes’ prominent role in the cultural reckoning on racial injustice that escalated during the pandemic to the complex return to competition in the summer and fall.

6. For Real: The Story of Reality TV – Thursday, March 25, 6 p.m. & 1 a.m., E! | Series Premiere

Before he became a TV personality and host of his own late-night show Watch What Happens Live, Andy Cohen was an executive at the Bravo channel, responsible for bringing the Real Housewives franchise to television. With that kind of reality TV cred, he’s an obvious choice to host this seven-part “limited event series” that delves into the history of the reality genre, rewinding the clock to revisit some of its most iconic events.

In each episode, Cohen will explore a pivotal theme or moment from reality television, sit down with some of the biggest, most memorable names in the unscripted world and include commentary from industry pioneers, producers and journalists. The series will take a deep dive into dating, competition, extreme makeover and “celebreality” series, among others, providing some often-shocking revelations from the industry executives, producers and journalists who helped catapult reality programming into the pop culture zeitgeist.

7. Search and Rescue: North Shore – Thursday, March 25, 10 p.m., Knowledge

On top of tracking down a missing, out-of-bounds snowboarder, this week the team must sift through the aftermath of an avalanche that’s dragged two snowshoers down a mountain. But in happier news, Ryan has a baby!

8. Superstore – Thursday, March 25, 8 p.m., Global & NBC | Series Finale

After six seasons, Cloud 9 is closing its doors… or, OK, maybe the store itself isn’t, but Superstore the show certainly is, as the NBC hit wraps with an hour-long finale. That said, there’s a spinoff in the works that would follow Cloud 9 worker Cheyenne and her deadbeat husband Bo.

9. Bad Trip – Friday, March 26, Netflix

This hidden-camera comedy from the producer of Jackass and Bad Grandpa follows two best friends (Eric André and Lil Rel Howery) as they embark on a cross-country road trip full of hilarious, inventive pranks, pulling its real-life audience into the mayhem. Also starring Tiffany Haddish and Michaela Conlin.

10.The Irregulars – Friday, March 26, Netflix | Series Premiere

Buckle up. This isn’t your father’s Sherlock Holmes. Even though it does, unlike the recent Benedict Cumberbatch version, take the action back to Victorian England, here there’s supernatural shenanigans afoot and a bit more blood thtan we’re used to. Another big change: Holmes isn’t our main character.

Rather, the show centres on a group of street kids called the Irregulars (plucked from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories), whom the renowned detective and his faithful sidekick Dr. Watson turn to for intel. Except in this show, the kids aren’t so much sources as they are the ones who do all the actual work while getting none of the glory.

“Our series is what if Sherlock was a drug addict and a delinquent and the kids solve the whole case whilst he takes credit,” creator Tom Bidwell explained recently in an interview with the BBC, noting that he’s been working on The Irregulars for a full decade. “It’s my dream project and my oldest idea.”