What to Watch This Week: December 19 to 24

From artistic honours to awe-inspiring superheroes, we round up our top 10 shows to watch this week

1. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses – Crave (Stream)

Helen Mirren is one of the few British actors who didn’t appear in a Harry Potter movie, but she’s righting that wrong by serving as host of this four-part event series, described as “the greatest fan competition in Wizarding World history.” In the bracket-style tournament, teams of super-fans test their Potter trivia knowledge, with the winning squad of each round advancing to the grand finale. Also appearing are Harry Potter alums Tom Felton, Simon Fisher-Becker, Shirley Henderson, Luke Youngblood and celebrity fans such as Jay Leno and Pete Davidson.

2. Bob’s Burgers – Sunday, December. 19, 9 p.m., Fox

The Belchers’ No. 1 customer Teddy tries to convince Bob and Linda to join him in a neighbourhood Secret Santa exchange. Meanwhile, the kids have a yuletide mission of their own, as Tina and Louise try to help Gene replace a rare, treasured vinyl record he’s accidentally destroyed.

3. Dexter: New Blood – Sunday, December 19, Crave 1

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any messier for Dexter Morgan (sorry, Jim . . . he’s “Jim” now) and his Dark Passenger, Iron Lake’s resident serial killer threatens to hurt someone Dex cares for deeply. We’ve seen just how bloody those situations tend to turn out for our antihero in the past, and we’re not too confident this time will be the exception, as he transforms from predator to protector. Things aren’t much better on the homefront; aside from the constant, profanity-laced criticisms hurled his way by Ghost Deb, Dexter’s at a loss in his relationship with Harrison, which causes the rebellious teenager to seek out a very dangerous new father figure.

But hey, all in a day’s work when you’re a blood spatter analyst on the run for causing the grisly death of everyone you’ve ever cared about!

4. The Bachelorette – Tuesday, December 21, 8 p.m., City & ABC | Season Finale

Michelle Young has proven to be a fan fave during her time as the face of this franchise—even if some of her choices/eliminations have been all too predictable. Now, it’s anyone’s guess who she’ll pick to spend the rest of her life/the next few months with. (Well, unless you’ve peeped those abundant spoilers circulating online.)

5. Emily in Paris – Wednesday, December 22, Netflix | Season Premiere

When it comes to romantic comedy on the small screen, few deliver the bubbly fun quite so well as creator Darren Star, who built his career with the one-two punch of Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place, cemented it forever with Sex and the City and—after several one-season wonders—struck gold again with Younger. Most recently, however, he’s been the man behind Netflix’s wildly popular Emily in Paris, which returns this week for season two. The series revolves around young American marketing exec Emily Cooper (Lily Collins) and her glamorous but tumultuous reassignment to the City of Light.

This sophomore outing finds our Emily dealing with the repercussions of a love triangle between herself, her first French friend, Camille (Camille Razat), and her neighbour Gabriel (Lucas Bravo), a hunky chef who’s just opened a new restaurant.

Beyond trying to juggle her feelings for Gabriel and her devotion to Camille, Emily continues finding her way at work, which will require a much-improved grasp of the French language. So she’s taking classes—a decision that benefits her not just on the professional front, but the personal. Specifically, she makes friends with Alfie (Lucien Laviscount), a Brit who’s also forced to take French lessons for his job, but unlike our heroine couldn’t care less about being in Paris. Unsurprisingly, Emily sets out to show him why she fell for the city.

“I really hope people laugh and smile and get to have the same feelings of escapism and fun that they did the first season,” Collins told Glamour earlier this month. “I hope viewers find more of themselves in different characters, and feel seen and represented in the show. And I hope that we get a season three, because I really hope we get to come back and do this again.”

6. Hawkeye – Wednesday, December 22, Disney+ | Season Finale

Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) and his young protégé Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) cap season one of the most Christmasy Marvel adventure ever. The five episodes thus far have been just the right blend of action, heart and chuckles. Here’s hoping they hit the bullseye with tonight’s conclusion.

7. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – Wednesday, December 22, 7 p.m. & 7:30 p.m., FXX Canada

It may seem as though this season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has blown by, and… well, that’s because it has. After all, when FXX is airing back-to-back new episodes each and every week, it doesn’t take long to get from premiere to finale, particularly when there are only eight episodes in total!

The good news is that, in addition to year 15 having been a very solid season, it’s also far from the end, since the show’s already been picked up for another three seasons beyond this one.

In tonight’s two-part sendoff, the Paddy’s Pub Gang is still in Ireland. First up is an episode called “Dee Gets Stuck in a Bog,” in which the titular activity takes place while Sweet Dee is prepping for her date with an Irish doctor; we’ll also see Mac spending a day at the seminary to understand what’s involved in becoming a priest, while Frank and Dennis scheme to humiliate Charlie’s pen pal.

Then it’s “The Gang Carries a Corpse Up a Mountain,” which, once again, is pretty much a case of truth in titling, as Charlie resolves “to fulfil an old and mysterious Irish burial tradition.” (His friends are less than helpful.)

Flip ahead to page 62 for our full-page interview with series star/creator Rob McElhenney (a.k.a. Mac).

8. The 44th Annual Kennedy Centre Honors – Wednesday, December 22, 9 p.m., CBS

As life ever so slowly returns to normal after a couple life-changing years, it’s nice to see that some traditions remain intact. Such as this annual soirée, in which the venerable performing arts institute in Washington, D.C., fêtes the musicians, painters, actors, etc. who have made indelible contributions to American culture during their careers.

This year, there are a couple Canadians being inducted into that elite circle, including singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell and Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels.

“I’m grateful to the Kennedy Center for bestowing this honour on my work and I look forward to being a part of this prestigious celebration of the arts,” Mitchell said in a statement. “I wish my mother and father were alive to see this. It’s a long way from Saskatoon.”

“Being acknowledged here and included in this company is an honour in the truest sense,” added Michaels in a statement of his own. “I am deeply grateful.”

Tune in to see them receive that medal-studded rainbow ribbon, along with their fellow 2021 honourees: operatic bass-baritone Justino Díaz, Motown founder Berry Gordy and the one, the only Bette Midler.

9. Don’t Look Up – Friday, December 24, Netflix

In this dark sci-fi disaster comedy from director Adam McKay (Anchorman, The Big Short), Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence star as Dr. Randall Mindy and his grad student Kate Dibiasky, low-level astronomers who have made a terrifying discovery: a massive comet is on a collision course with Earth, which will create mile-high tsunamis and ensure the destruction of pretty much the entire planet upon impact. After managing to land a meeting with U.S. President Janie Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her smarmy son/chief of staff (Jonah Hill), who fail to comprehend the urgency of this situation, the pair decide instead to embark on a global media tour to warn everyone on the planet of the impending destruction headed their way from outer space.

Rounding out the cast of this star-studded feature are Timothée Chalamet, Cate Blanchett, Tyler Perry, Ariana Grande, Mark Rylance, Ron Perlman, Michael Chiklis, Himesh Patel, Paul Guilfoyle and Kid Cudi.

10. The Wheel of Time – Friday, December 24, Amazon Prime Video | Season Finale

This acclaimed drama based on the fantasy novels of Robert Jordan concludes its first season. Given the fact that Amazon has declared the series premiere to be among the streamer’s most-watched debuts ever, it’s a fairly safe bet that a second season will be arriving in due course.