What to Watch This Week: November 27 to December 2

From the return of ‘Gossip Girl’ to a new animated take on Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol,’ we round up our top 10 shows to watch this week

1. King Tweety – Sunday, November 27, Teletoon

TeletoonIn an all-new Looney Tunes flick, Tweety Bird is unexpectedly given the crown to a small tropical island, dragging Granny and Sylvester along with him! Canadian Eric Bauza voices both Tweety and Sylvester, while the rest of the cast features such cut-ups as Flula Borg (Pitch Perfect 2) and Riki Lindhome (Another Period). 

2. Candace Cameron Bure Presents: A Christmas… Present – Sunday, November 27, CTV Life

CTV LifeServing as both star and exec producer of this holiday movie, Full House alum Candace Cameron Bure plays Maggie Larson, described as an “overly scheduled” real estate agent, wife and mother who decides that she and her family will spend Christmas with her widowed brother and his daughter. While staying with her sibling, however, Maggie is forced to set aside her type-A, hyper-controlling personality and go with the flow, which helps her to better appreciate her family while also providing a reminder about the true meaning of Christmas.

3. Romesh Ranganathan: They Cynic – Tuesday, November 29, Netflix

NetflixIf you’ve spent any time in the United Kingdom of late, then you’re probably well familiar with Romesh Ranganathan: not only is he a standup comic of some note, he’s also the star of a couple reality series—The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan and Rob and Romesh Vs., co-starring fellow comedian Rob Beckett. That’s all in addition to hosting the hit British panel show A League of Their Own.  

For many on this side of the pond, however, The Cynic could well be their first exposure to the comedian. Compiled from the three final performances of his recent tour, all of which took place at the Hawth Theater in Crawley, England, the material revolves mostly around things that annoy Ranganathan, including his kids, his wife spurning his requests for sex, Piers Morgan and racism in football. (How’s that for a range of topics?)

4. Snack vs. Chef – Wednesday, November 30, Netflix | Series Premiere

NetflixThese days, there are cooking competitions about brunch, desserts, Halloween and crime scenes. So why has it taken so long for someone to come up with a kitchen battle dedicated to that most ubiquitous of daily foods—the snack? Well, as they’ve always been wont to do, Netflix is filling that marketplace void.  

In a new series, 12 chefs go head-to-head to see who can recreate some of the world’s most iconic snacks—think Ho Hos, Oreos and Cheetos, among others. They will also be tasked with inventing their own original delicacies, inspired by one of those classics. On the line: $50,000.  

The stakes are undeniably high, but keeping things light are standup comics Hari Kondabolu and Megan Stalter, who share hosting duties. 

5. Gossip Girl – Thursday, December 1, Crave | Season Premiere

CraveIf you were worried the revival of this soapy teen series wouldn’t be nearly so outrageous as the original, season one proved otherwise. Between throuples, revenge blogs, schemes, and themes of wealth, privilege and class, this new class understood the assignment. As we return for part two, the ante is, of course, being upped. The entire season-one cast is back, but they may be overshadowed by the return of original Gossip Girl star Michelle Trachtenberg, who dusts off her role as reckless socialite Georgina Sparks. “She’s the same, and that’s what I think is so fun,” Trachtenberg teased to Teen Vogue. “We’re all older, Georgina is older, yet has the exact same energy.” Sounds like the new kids should watch their backs. 

6. Branson – Thursday, December 1, HBO Canada | Series Premiere

HBO CanadaSixteen days before Sir Richard Branson was scheduled to make a potentially historic flight as the first passenger to reach space in his own spacecraft in July 2021, the billionaire entrepreneur sat down for a conversation with acclaimed filmmaker Chris Smith, in light of the risk that lay ahead. Smith ultimately takes viewers on an expansive and intimate 70-year journey, from the Virgin mogul’s upbringing as the son of a spirited, tough-love mother in Britain, to his pursuits of extreme, personal daredevilry that serve both to grow his businesses’ brands and feed his insatiable, lifelong thirst for high-stakes adventure.  

With added insight from family members, business associates, and journalists, and illustrated by decades of archival and home video footage, this four-part series reveals the ups and downs of a man driven by taking bold risks in both his business and personal life, reflecting on the costs and rewards of his relentless optimism and pushing boundaries. In addition to Branson himself, other interviewees include close colleagues, Virgin employees and his family, including revealing excerpts from conversations with Joan, his wife of 33 years, his sisters, his daughter Holly and son Sam, along with an extensive personal archive of his late mother Eve, whose lively presence continues to loom large in Branson’s life. 

7. Scrooge: A Christmas Carol – Friday, December 2, Netflix

NetflixThis new CGI-animated adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic tells the familiar tale of penny-pinching miser Ebenezer Scrooge (voiced by Luke Evans), who takes an eye-opening journey through his own past, present and future on Christmas Eve, courtesy of a trio of ghosts who teach him the error of his cheapskate ways. Also featuring the voices of Jessie Buckley, Olivia Colman, Jonathan Pryce, Johnny Flynn and James Cosmo.

8. Three Pines – Friday, December 2, Prime Video

Prime VideoLove yourself a good old-fashioned mystery? How about one that happens to be produced in Canada, even as its narrative spans the entire globe? When Three Pines hits streaming, it brings novelist Louise Penny’s beloved Inspector Armand Gamache to life.  

Shot in Montreal and rural Quebec, the series stars Emmy-nominee Alfred Molina as Gamache, who, in this eight-part first season, travels to the small town of Three Pines, where the quirky inhabitants are only overshadowed by the unusually high number of homicides. The good news is that the inspector is a top-notch solver of mysteries, but the even better news is that he has a stellar team helping him along the way. They include “the combative and troubled Sergeant Jean-Guy Beauvoir (Rossif Sutherland), the intelligent Indigenous working mother Sergeant Isabelle Lacoste (Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers) and the accident-prone rookie Agent Yvette Nichol (Sarah Booth).”  

The first two episodes drop this week and introduce the initial murder inquiries. However, as the show unrolls, it also weaves in a dark, serialized story involving police failings, stereotypes and corruption at the heart of the provincial Sûreté du Québec police force. Two new episodes drop each Wednesday, all culminating in a December 23 conclusion.  

Far from the quirkier vibe of recent detective dramas like Magpie Murders and Annika, Three Pines is expected to have a much more serious, Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle kind of vibe. 

If the show catches on, Louise Penny has written 18 standalone books revolving around this particular sleuth and his complex forays into the underworld, so there’s no risk of running out of material for followup series.

9. Lady Chatterley’s Lover – Friday, December 2, Netflix

NetflixIn this new adaptation of the classic D.H. Lawrence novel, Emma Corrin (who played Princess Diana in The Crown) stars as Constance, who steps into a life of wealth and privilege when she marries Sir Clifford Chatterley (Matthew Duckett) and assumes the title of Lady Chatterley. Their happy marriage, however, sours when he returns wounded and scarred from the First World War. No longer able to walk, Clifford treats his wife as a nursemaid, leaving her more lonely than she thought possible. For a while, Constance’s only companion is housekeeper Mrs. Bolton (Joely Richardson, who played Constance in Ken Russell’s 1993 TV series adaptation). Everything changes with the arrival of Oliver Mellors (Jack O’Connell), the new gamekeeper. What begins as a tentative flirtation soon explodes into passion, leading Constance to a sexual awakening. But as their affair becomes the subject of local gossip, she faces a life-altering decision: follow her heart or return to her husband and endure what Edwardian society expects of her.

10. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules – Friday, December 2, Disney+

Disney+It may seem like only yesterday that Disney dropped the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid animated film onto its nascent streaming service, but when the film’s sequel lands, it’ll actually be one day short of a full year. Time flies when you’re having fun… or even if you’re not, apparently. The latter definitely applies when we talk about the trials and tribulations of hapless middle-schooler Greg Heffley. This time, however, there’s a slight shift in focus, with the new flick delving into the complicated relationship between Greg and his older brother, Rodrick. (Like the title didn’t already give it away, right?)  

Rodrick, for better or worse, is a lazy, spikey-haired, undisciplined high school student who spends far too much of his life playing with his band, the delightfully named Löded Diper. Mind you, he still finds plenty of time to torment Greg when their parents go out of town for the weekend, leaving Rodrick in charge. 

Once again, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers’ Brady Noon voices Greg, while the rest of the cast is a largely Canadian affair, with Hunter Dillon (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before) as Rodrick, Chris Diamantopoulos (Silicon Valley) as dad and Erica Cerra (The 100) as mom.