What to Watch This Week: December 5 to 10

From reality romance to festive favourites, we round up our top 10 shows to watch this week

1. Harlem – Amazon Prime Video

This 10-episode ensemble comedy from executive producers Tracy Oliver (Girls Trip) and Amy Poehler follows a group of stylish and ambitious best girlfriends in New York City’s Harlem neighbourhood, the mecca of Black culture in America, as they level up from their 20s into the next phase of their careers, relationships and big city dreams. Meagan Good, Grace Byers, Shoniqua Shandai and Jerrie Johnson star.

2. Mixtape – Netflix

Set in 1999 on the eve of Y2K, quirky 12-year-old Beverly Moody (Gemma Brooke Allen) discovers a broken cassette containing a mixtape made by her parents, who died in a car crash when she was just an infant. Raised by her grandmother (Modern Family‘s Julie Bowen), a former teen mom who finds it unbearably painful to discuss her late daughter, Beverly sees this mixtape as an opportunity to learn about her parents, and embarks on a journey to find all the songs on the tape. Along the way, she befriends a quirky neighbour (Audrey Hsieh) and a cranky record store owner (Nick Thune) who holds the key to helping her discover and fully appreciate these obscure tunes.

3. The National Christmas Tree Lighting – Sunday, December 5, 8 p.m., CBS

LL Cool J hosts this annual holiday celebration at America’s capitol, featuring performances from Billy Porter, Chris Stapleton, H.E.R., Kristin Chenoweth, Maren Morris and Patti LaBelle, all singing Christmastime favourites.

4. Scrooged – Monday, December 6, 3 p.m. & 9:30 p.m., AMC

Looking for a holiday watch that’s a little less saccharine than It’s a Wonderful Life? Richard Donner’s dark, satirical riff on A Christmas Carol is the flick for you, casting Bill Murray as a ruthless television executive who’s confronted by three demented spirits while mounting a TV revival of the Dickens classic.

5. 9-1-1 – Monday, December 6, 8 p.m., Global & Fox

It’s anything but a silent night for Station 118, as Christmas Eve yields a slew of deeply fraught emergencies across L.A. On a more personal note, Eddie is at a loss trying to guide his young son Christopher through an emotional conundrum.

6. The Bachelorette – Monday, December 6, 8 p.m., City & ABC

We’re nearly at the finish line on another season of our fave female-led date-off—which means it’s now time for the also-rans to sit down, drown their sorrows and dish on every last one of this season’s intimate encounters, face-palm moments and, of course, who they think will end up getting that final rose.

Bachelorette Michelle Young has made no bones about it: she’s not just here for some hot-tubbing, jet-setting and 15 minutes of fame. She wants a real relationship… and, as we all know, not every suitor comes into a show like this for “the right reasons.”

From Nayte’s first-impression rose to Brandon’s meme-worthy reactions to Michelle’s family theatrics—everything will be up for discussion and dissection.

Ultimately, all of this week’s hot goss will build to one of the most memorable finales ever later this month; or at least, that’s what Tayshia Adams, who co-hosted the season alongside Alberta’s own Kaitlyn Bristowe, had to say. “I don’t think we’ve seen an ending like what happens in a couple of seasons now,” Tayshia teased in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. “We’ve seen a lot. So there’s a lot of highs and lows. It’s all good things. I would just say [Michelle] definitely leans into her heart and puts it all out on the line.”

For her part, Michelle told ET in a previous interview: “You can’t predict everything that is going to happen to you in your relationship, but knowing that I have a person that is going to stick it out and has that same mindset is incredibly important.”

7. Abbott Elementary – Tuesday, December 7, 7:30 p.m., Global; 9:30 p.m., ABC | Series Premiere

This new workplace comedy, set in an elementary school, follows a group of dedicated teachers—and a slightly tone-deaf principal—as they navigate the Philadelphia public school system. Despite the odds stacked against them, they are determined to help their students succeed in life, and though these public servants may be outnumbered and underfunded, they love what they do—even if they don’t love the school district’s less-than-stellar attitude toward educating children.

8. Our Kind of People – Tuesday, December 7, 9 p.m., CTV, CTV2 & Fox

It feels like we’ve only just started getting to know the rich and shameless residents of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, yet here we are at the fall finale… which may also serve as the series finale since, despite early buzz, this Lee Daniels-produced soap hadn’t been renewed for a back nine as of press time.

9. CSI: Vegas – Wednesday, December 8, 10 p.m., Global & CBS | Season Finale

The revival event of this TV season concludes as Hodges goes missing, and the rest of the team scrambles to save both him and the reputation of the Crime Lab. CSI: Vegas has been billed as a “limited series,” but let’s not switch off the lights just yet… remember what happened with Big Little Lies, X-Files and 24?

10. The Masked Singer – Wednesday, December 8, 8 p.m., CTV & Fox

Season six of Fox’s deliriously over-the-top sing-off has continued offering us just the sort of pure, unvarnished absurdity we need if we’re to endure this pandemic—along with some of the most random celeb reveals to date! So far, the famous faces underneath all those mascot costumes have included: NBA star Dwight Howard, Larry the Cable Guy, Mama June and Honey Boo Boo and Grammy-winner Toni Braxton.

In tonight’s penultimate episode, audiences get a very special treat, as the final two contestants in Group B perform solo, then retake the stage for a duet with one of the panellists. Specifically, one will croon with Robin Thicke, the other with Nicole Scherzinger—after which the loser will be unmasked and sent packin’.