What to Watch This Week: November 13 to 19

From the new season of Kevin Costner's Yellowstone to this year's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, we round up our top 10 shows to watch this week

From the new season of Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone to this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, we round up our top 10 shows to watch this week

1. Yellowstone – Sunday, November 13, Paramount+ | Season PremiereYellowstoneParamount+

The series that single-handedly revived the western genre returns for a fifth go-round. As we pick back up with the Dutton clan, power rancher John (Kevin Costner) will be sworn in as governor of Montana, and if the previews are any indication, it seems like he’s ready to clean house in the capital. Once that dirty business is done, it won’t be long before he anoints his daughter Beth (Kelly Reilly) chief of staff. And that’s when the real carnage will begin.  

“As the kingdom gets bigger, it becomes more difficult to manage,” Reilly previewed to Vulture before hinting at new adversaries. “They’re coming. They’re infringing. It’s like what is really happening in Montana—it is being bought up by billionaires.”  

Meanwhile, season-five cast additions include Kai Caster as a young cowboy named Rowdy, Lainey Wilson as a musician, Lilli Kay as the Dutton’s new assistant and House of Lies fave Dawn Olivieri as corporate shark Sarah Atwood. 

2. Teletubbies – Monday, November 14, Netflix | Series Premiere

TeletubbiesNetflixIt’s been awhile, but the undeniably weird children’s show returns in this reboot, with Teletubbies Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po back to enchant a fresh generation of kids while confounding their parents in 26 new 12-minute episodes. Actor Tituss Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) serves as narrator. 

3. Run for the Money – Tuesday, November 15, Netflix | Series Premiere

Run for the MoneyNetflixIn the past year, it’s safe to say many North Americans have had their eyes opened when it comes to traditional children’s games and their vast potential on TV. We’re talking about the Emmy-winning South Korean drama Squid Game, of course, but also of this incoming Japanese game show, which is bound to attract at least some of that Squid Game audience. Run for the Money is a reality competition where celebrity participants can snag a cash prize based on how long they’re able to avoid being caught by menacing-looking Hunters decked out in black. In each episode, they’ll run desperately for as long as they can and try to outmanoeuvre their Hunters. Those who succeed win a pot of cash, and those who don’t… well, the consequences aren’t so dire as in Squid Game.  

The format may be new to us, but it’s a premise that first aired in Japan circa 2004 on Fuji TV. Since then, people of all ages have gotten hooked and it’s been nominated for all kinds of awards—including a 2010 nod in the non-scripted entertainment category at the International Emmys.  

In essence, the program is based on “onigokko,” the traditional Japanese game of tag. But here, producers are ramping things up well beyond what you may recall from your schoolyard days. Specifically, according to Netflix’s press release, season one features 29 participants, including “up-and-coming young actors, idols and artists, popular comedians, professional athletes and others, who will attempt to escape the clutches of the most feared Hunters yet.”

4. The Santa Clauses – Wednesday, November 16, Disney+ | Series Premiere

The Santa ClausesDisney+What began as a big-screen franchise spanning three films between 1994 and 2006 has finally spun off into a television show. Yes, the story of Scott Calvin (Tim Allen), the man who’s been filling the red suit lo these past 30 years, is now expanded to a limited series that picks up in the present day.  

This four-episode event revolves around Scott’s impending 65th birthday, a milestone which makes him painfully aware that his days as Santa are nearing an end. In addition, Christmas has been declining in popularity of late, leading to a decrease in his “Santa magic.” After Scott realizes that there’s a way for him to retire from his post, he takes Mrs. Claus (Elizabeth Mitchell) and the kids to live back in the real world. Alas, his poorly chosen replacement soon plunges the North Pole into calamity. 

5. The Sex Lives of College Girls – Thursday, November 17, HBO Canada | Season Premiere

The Sex Lives of College GirlsCraveIt might not be the easiest watch for parents on the cusp of sending their sons and daughters out into the world, but The Sex Lives of College Girls came roaring out of the gate to find an immediate fanbase among younger viewers during its first season on HBO Max.  

Co-created by Mindy Kaling, the series follows four college roommates as they start their post-secondary journeys, and it’s taking things slow in terms of how much time is covered, with season one only taking the students up through their fall break. Season two picks up as the girls are returning from that break.  

In case you missed it the first time around, the four leads of the show are Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet), who wrapped up season one by losing the scholarship that brought her to Essex in the first place, leaving her struggling to figure out how to pay for classes without letting the bad news slip to her parents; Bela (Amrit Kaur), whose steadfast desire to both have sex and become a comedy writer led her to start a female-only humour magazine; Leighton (Reneé Rapp), a legacy student who spent season one desperately trying to avoid being outed as a lesbian; and Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott), a soccer player who stirred up a scandal last season when she was found to be having an affair with her assistant soccer coach—a situation made all the more awkward by her mother being a United States senator.  

What can we expect from season two? The girls meet the new “hot guy” who’s moved in next door, Leighton comes out of the closet in a big way, Whitney gets jealous, and Kimberly at last finds a solution to her financial woes… or does she? 

6. Fleishman is in Trouble – Thursday, November 17, Disney+

Fleishman is in TroubleDisney+This limited series tells the story of recently divorced 41-year-old Toby Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg of The Social Network), who decides to take a stab at the brave new world of app-based dating—and is surprised to experience the kind of success he never had dating in his youth, before he got married at the tail end of medical school. But at the start of his first summer of sexual freedom, his ex-wife, Rachel (Homeland’s Claire Danes), disappears, leaving him with their kids, 11-year-old Hannah (Meara Mahoney Gross) and nine-year-old Solly (Maxim Swinton), and no hint of where she is or whether she plans to return. As he balances parenting, the return of old friends Libby (Lizzy Caplan) and Seth (Adam Brody), a potential promotion at the hospital that is a long time coming—and all the eligible women that Manhattan has to offer—he realizes that he’ll never be able to figure out what happened to Rachel until he can finally face what happened to their marriage in the first place. 

7. Pickled – Thursday, November 18, CBS

PickledCBSIf you’ve heard all about pickleball but don’t quite know what the fuss is about, you’re about to be schooled when this celebrity-studded special hits the airwaves. Yup, a celebrity pickleball tournament is just what the doctor ordered as we approach the end of the year, and considering Funny or Die is the producing partner, we’re expecting some serious silliness. Jimmie Allen, Murray Bartlett, Dierks Bentley, Jaime Camil, Will Ferrell, Max Greenfield, Luis Guzman, Phil Keoghan, Daniel Dae Kim, Sugar Ray Leonard, Tig Notaro, June Diane Raphael, Kelly Rowland, Paul Scheer, Aisha Tyler and Emma Watson are the 16 personalities filling up the brackets when we start, while exec producer Stephen Colbert will sing the national anthem with Kenny Loggins.  

It’s all for a good cause, of course, with calls-to-action during the broadcast to raise money for Comic Relief’s safety programs, which help families living in poverty. “If you love pickleball and you love celebrities and you love helping people, you’re going to love watching these celebrities help people by playing pickleball,” Colbert cheekily promised in a release. 

8. Spirited – Friday, November 19, Apple TV+

SpiritedApple TV+You’ve seen the story of Ebenezer Scrooge play out in endless screen adaptations of Charles Dickens’ immortal novella A Christmas Carol. But you’ve never seen one quite like this, which tells the tale from a most-unexpected perspective. Here, instead of experiencing the fateful Christmas Eve through Scrooge’s eyes, viewers see things from the POV of the Ghost of Christmas Present, played by Will Ferrell. What’s more, the “Scrooge” in question isn’t actually called Scrooge. He’s a guy named Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds), and he’s not going to just stand idly by and let himself get haunted.  

Indeed, Clint turns the tables on his ghostly guide, who is forced to relive and take stock of his own past, present and future.  

Another quirk? The whole thing is done as a musical, one directed by Sean Anders (Daddy’s Home and Instant Family), featuring songs written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the Oscar-winning team behind the tunes in La La Land, with choreography courtesy of Chloe Arnold (The Late Late Show With James Corden). Joining Ferrell and Reynolds in the cast, and bringing a little Oscar cred along with her, is none other than The Help’s Octavia Spencer. 

 So get ready to sing, dance and be merry (not to mention, exceptionally quippy)!

9. Mickey: The Story of a Mouse – Friday, November 19, Disney+

Mickey: The Story of a MouseDisney+What is the cultural significance of an imaginary 100-year-old cartoon rodent? Find out in this intimate look at one of the world’s most beloved and most iconic characters, Mickey Mouse, recognized as a symbol of joy and childhood innocence in virtually every corner of the globe. Dreamed up by Walt Disney at a low point in his burgeoning animation career, Mickey nevertheless became an overnight sensation when he starred in cinema’s first sync-sound animated short, 1928’s Steamboat Willie.  

Through the decades that followed, the character evolved into strikingly different versions of himself that, in retrospect, can be seen to reflect both his creator’s remarkable Hollywood career and the dramatic societal shifts in America that he came to represent—along with the controversies that occasionally followed. As a special bonus, this documentary also features an exclusive brand-new animated short, Mickey in a Minute.  

“Mickey Mouse is a symbol we see every day of our lives,” director Jeff Malmberg said in a statement about the film. “We all know Mickey, but he means different things to different people. We felt like Mickey deserved a documentary that was joyful but also honest. I’m glad that Disney allowed us to delve so deeply into the evolutions and meanings of the world’s most famous mouse.”

10.The 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony – Saturday, November 19, HBO Canada

2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction CeremonyHBO CanadaRecorded on November 5 at Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles, the annual Hall of Fame ceremony honours this year’s new crop of inductees: Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, Duran Duran, Eminem, Eurythmics duo Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon, Judas Priest, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Harry Belafonte, Elizabeth Cotton, music-biz attorney Allen Grubman, producer Jimmy Iovine and hip-hop pioneer Sylvia Robinson. As always, expect memorable speeches and some must-see performances.