What to Watch This Week: November 15 to 20

From supernatural send-offs to regal dramas, we round up the top 10 shows to watch this week

1. The Crown – Netflix | Season Premiere

After three years of immersing ourselves in the fascinating and heartbreaking lives of the British Royal Family, the fourth season of the lavish drama from Peter Morgan introduces us to two cultural obsessions other than the woman donning the crown. Set between 1977 and 1990, there are three women occupying the national stage in equal measure: Queen Elizabeth II (Olivia Colman), Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson) and Diana, Princess of Wales, played by series newcomer Emma Corrin.

While the shared moments between Britain’s first female prime minister and the queen of England are a window into a complicated and intriguing liaison, it is, no doubt, the tragic relationship between Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor) and Diana that audiences have been salivating for.

2. 2020 People’s Choice Awards – Sunday, November 15, 6 p.m., E!

If you haven’t quite got your fill of socially distanced awards shows yet, there’s another one coming at you live this week from the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, where pop star Demi Lovato will emcee.

While the show is bound to look a little different thanks to safety protocols, that isn’t stopping all of your fave celebs from collecting a little hardware, as voted on by their adoring fans. Jennifer Lopez is slated to receive the Icon trophy, while Tyler Perry is this year’s People’s Champion. Beyond that, the ceremony of course still plans on fêting stars in a wide range of categories across pop culture, including film, TV, music, standup comedy, fashion and social media. Contenders include everyone from Issa Rae and Janelle Monáe to Jamie Foxx and Tom Hanks to Esther the Wonder Pig and Doug the Pug.

3. Temple – Sunday, November 15, 6 p.m., Showcase | Series Premiere

In this dark dramedy, Mark Strong (1917) stars as Dr. David Milton, a talented and successful surgeon. After his life is shattered by personal tragedy, he partners up with a lonely yet resourceful young man named Lee (Daniel Mays) to start a literal “underground” clinic, hidden in the labyrinth beneath the streets of London. There, he treats patients who can’t—or won’t—seek care in a hospital, including criminals, illegal immigrants and others. Meanwhile, he has another mission, which leads him to push his moral boundaries, as both a doctor and a man, in ways that may finally bring his whole enterprise crashing down.

4. The Good Lord Bird – Sunday, November 15, 8 p.m., Crave1 | Series Finale

John Brown and his army prepare for a last stand against the federal troops at Harpers Ferry. As we already know from the premiere, Brown’s got a date with the hangman, but tune in anyway to see Onion risk life and liberty to see his mentor off.

5. Bob’s Burgers – Sunday, November 15, 9 p.m., City & Fox

Time flies when you’re having fun, and episodes fly by just as quickly when they’re extremely funny, so it’s kind of amazing to realize that this week’s Bob’s Burgers is the 200th episode of the series. And thankfully, there’s no end in sight, as the show’s got at least two more seasons in the works, plus Bob’s Burgers: The Movie coming sometime in 2021.

But back to the the big 2-0-0: at Comic-Con, creator Loren Bouchard teased this week’s milestone episode by describing it as “a little bit of a Rashomon story,” before backpedalling to say, “Not really, but there are three kids, three levels of guilt, that pertain to a disastrous event.”

That event would seem to be the breaking of Bob’s flattop on the morning of the Ocean Avenue Business Association’s Ocean Fest on Ocean Avenue. Oh, the humanity!

6. We Are the Champions – Tuesday, November 17, Netflix | Series Premiere

The Office‘s Rainn Wilson is executive producer of this quirky new docuseries exploring some of the weirdest—yet oddly inspirational—competitions imaginable, ranging from chili eating to dog dancing to frog jumping to cheese rolling, in which thousands of people gather each spring in a bucolic English village to watch intrepid runners chase a giant wheel of cheese as it rolls down a very steep hill.

7. For Life – Wednesday, November 18, 10 p.m., CTV & ABC | Season Premiere

When ABC’s powers that be renewed this series for a second season, they had no idea just how timely it would become months later, in today’s racially charged climate.

Based on real-life events, the first season introduced us to Aaron Wallace (Nicholas Pinnock). The wrongly convicted Black man became a lawyer while in prison to try and clear his own name, in the process helping other disenfranchised cons; Wallace is of course a fictional stand-in for Isaac Wright, Jr., who did much the same, ultimately battling his way to freedom.

This season, on the heels of increased awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement and during a time when there are widespread calls for prison reform, the show promises to continue capturing the zeitgeist while delivering poignant, uplifting stories of injustice undone.

8. Jersey Shore: Family Vacation – Thursday, November 19, 5 p.m. & 9 p.m., MTV Canada | Season Premiere

In the year we’ve had so far, it’s almost ridiculous to think about celebrating Jerzdays, a.k.a. that most hallowed of holidays on which we hold our loved ones tight and watch new episodes of Jersey Shore (or its myriad spinoffs). Because, of course, the Gym + Tan + Laundry lifestyle is tough to pull off amidst a pandemic. But while this ensemble of reality-TV legends won’t exactl y be up to their typical debaucherous ways in tonight’s two-hour season-four debut, they have found a way to keep the party going. Like the rest of the world, JWOWW, DJ Pauly D et al. have been hamstrung by coronavirus—in a season that finds the cast quarantining at a resort together, along with their respective fams.

Yet being in such close quarters may just make for some real emotional fireworks, considering what went down at Angelina’s wedding in the season-three finale. As the guys try to bring the girls back together after “that speech,” it’s anyone’s guess whether they’ll be able to put their differences aside, or if it’s going to be the most awkward year yet.

Of course, for many fans, it’s already more than awkward now that Snooki is no longer part of the show. The longtime star quit after season three of this reboot, and though her friends were “praying to the tanning gods” that she would change her mind, it seems the woman legally named Nicole Polizzi would rather focus on new business ventures and her three kids. “Even though I decided to end my participation in this show for my own personal reasons, Jersey Shore is still my family,” Snooki shared on Twitter last month. “I’m reading comments that fans won’t tune in since I quit, but please still support my roomies. They’re gonna kill it!”

9. Supernatural – Thursday, November 19, 5 p.m. & 8 p.m., CTV SCi-Fi; 9 p.m., The CW | Series Finale

For the past 15 years, our fair province has been home to actors Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, as Sam and Dean Winchester hunted down demons, angels, vampires, the occasional ghostly pirate ship and whatever else the world needed saving from. It’s almost hard to accept that it all wraps up this week, first with an hour-long commemorative special at 8 p.m. and then with the big finale immediately afterwards.

Indeed, fans have been preparing themselves for a good long while now, as the series, slated to wrap last spring, was shut down due to COVID; production eventually resumed and the final batch of episodes began airing in October. Of course, in addition to the fans, the guys themselves have now had a lot of extra time to reflect on their show and its looming end. And in the humble opinion of Mr. Padalecki, of all the 327 episodes they’ve shot, tonight may just be their finest hour. “I couldn’t be more pleased with the way it turned out,” the actor teased during a virtual PaleyFest panel. “The series finale is my favourite episode of all time.”

While the plot of that episode has of course been kept under wraps for more than a year now, we do know that it will focus heavily on the brothers’ ever-fraught yet tight-knit bond—which is exactly how it should be. “It’s a fantastic way for the show to wrap up,” Ackles added during the panel, admitting that he too was nervous about how things would end. In fact, wanting to give fans the perfect sendoff may have even kept him up at night. “The more I thought about it, the more that I mulled over all the different possibilities of what could happen, and maybe what should happen, it’s interesting to think that I kept coming back to what ended up happening.”

10. The Real Right Stuff – Friday, November 20, Disney+

You likely already know about the new Disney+ series The Right Stuff, which chronicles the origins of the U.S. space program, but once you’ve seen the dramatization, it’s time to take a look at the Real deal. Filmmaker Tom Jennings helms this two-hour doc, which combines archival film and radio broadcasts, home movies and interviews to chronicle one out-of-this-world journey.