What to Watch This Week: March 20 to 25

From epic dramas to horror frights, we round up our top 10 shows to watch this week

1. DMZ – Crave (Stream)

Set in a dystopian future, this series from Ava DuVernay (When They See Us) follows the harrowing journey of fearless medic Alma Ortega (Rosario Dawson), who sets out to find the son she lost during the evacuation of New York City at the outset of a bitter civil war. Standing in her way is Parco Delgado (Benjamin Bratt), the charismatic and deadly leader of one of the most powerful gangs in the lawless demilitarized zone (DMZ).

2. Fresh – Disney+

This new horror movie follows a fetching young woman named Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones, Normal People), who meets an alluring single man named Steve (Sebastian Stan, recently seen in Pam & Tommy) at the grocery store. Given her ongoing frustration with the calibre of guys she’s been paired with on dating apps, Noa decides to throw caution to the wind and give Steve her number. After their first date, Noa is smitten and accepts Steve’s invitation for a romantic weekend getaway. Love appears to bloom, until Noa makes the terrifying discovery that her paramour has been hiding some very particular—and highly unusual—appetites.

3. Riverdale – Sunday, March 20, 8 p.m., The CW

Following last fall’s “RiverVale” miniseries, season six of the small-town soap begins in earnest this week, as Archie, Betty, Veronica and the rest of these wildly reimagined comic-book characters smoulder their way back onto the airwaves on a brand-new night.

4. Bob’s Burgers – Sunday, March 20, 9 p.m., Fox

Feeling slighted by her teacher during a unit on Ancient Greece, the ever-unpredictable Louise teams up with classmates Millie (guest voice Molly Shannon) and Regular Sized Rudy (guest voice Brian Huskey) to take her revenge. Meanwhile, Bob finally gets to enjoy “a room of his own.”

5. Canada’s Got Talent – Tuesday, March 22, 8 p.m., City | Season Premiere

Get ready for the cavalcade of unusual acts that’ll take the stage in this revival of the long-defunct Canadian version of the Got Talent franchise. Hosted by singer Lindsay Ell, the judges are Lilly Singh (formerly of NBC talk show A Little Late With Lilly Singh), erstwhile WWE star Trish Stratus, musician Kardinal Offishall and Howie Mandel, who’ll bring his years of experience as an America’s Got Talent judge to his homeland as dancers, singers, illusionists, comedians and every imaginable talent in between compete in front of the judges, a live studio audience and the entire nation.

“This group of blockbuster talent span music, comedy, film, television and sports entertainment,” said executive producer Scott McGillivray (a.k.a. host of HGTV’s Income Property) about the show’s judges. “Between them, they have been discovering, nurturing and inspiring performers for decades. We can’t wait to see which new amazing talent they champion on our CGT stage!”

6. Hello (Again) – Friday, March 25, CBC Gem (Stream) | Series Premiere

After his leading-man turn in Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings this past September, Kim’s Convenience alum Simu Liu is now a bona-fide Hollywood movie star (albeit one who makes random appearances on Selling Sunset, thanks to a newfound friendship with celeb realtor Chrishell Stause). But, commendably, the guy hasn’t forgotten his roots.

Here, Liu teams with Canadian writer Nathalie Younglai (Coroner) to co-create another “gem” for CBC’s streaming service.

Across nine 10-minute episodes, viewers will be plunged into the whirlwind love affair between an overworked line cook (Alex Mallari, Jr.) and a medical resident (Rong Fu). Alas, things don’t quite work out… until a mischievous supernatural girl decides to send them back in time for a second chance at romance.

7. Bridgerton – Friday, March 25, Netflix | Season Premiere

Let’s get this unpleasantness out of the way right now: the Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page) won’t be around for season two of Shonda Rhimes’ sexy reimagining of Regency-era England.

It’s unfortunate, no one’s happy about it… and yet, the show that took the Internet by storm and delivered an unexpected gift to its captive COVID audience on Christmas Day 2020 has a deep bench of hot young lords and ladies lookin’ to climb that social ladder. And it’s about to offer us a few more to swoon over.

Still hewing closely to author Julia Quinn’s source material, this new season covers the events of the second novel, The Viscount Who Loved Me. Which means Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) takes centre stage this time ’round, as the former playboy decides it’s time to settle down and find a wife. Luckily, he’s already identified a very marriageable woman: Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran). The only problem is, her older sister Kate (Simone Ashley) is completely against the match and will do anything to stop it… which ends up creating a most unlikely love triangle.

“Contrary to popular belief, Kate is quite sure that reformed rakes do not make the best husbands—and Anthony Bridgerton is the most wicked rogue of them all,” reads the novel’s official synopsis. “Kate’s determined to protect her sister—but she fears her own heart is vulnerable. And when Anthony’s lips touch hers, she’s suddenly afraid she might not be able to resist the reprehensible rake herself.”

So, to sum up—in case you were worried—this season will be every bit as salacious as the last… Duke be damned!

8. Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls – Friday, March 25, Prime Video

A little while back, Amazon Studios announced they’d secured a first-look deal with pop superstar Lizzo. Now, at last, we get to see what the “Good as Hell” diva has been doing with that deal.

The offbeat competition follows Lizzo as she goes on the hunt for confident and “badass” women who can join her crew of Big Grrrls (the affectionate nickname given to her plus-size backup dancers) on a forthcoming global tour.

As we open, she invites 10 ladies, selected from tens of thousands of online applicants, to live together in the Big Grrrls House — where they’ll fight to prove to their would-be boss and themselves that they can shine on the world stage.

Of course, Lizzo can’t be expected to make such crucial decisions all on her own. That’s why she’s calling on legendary choreographer Tanisha Scott, as well as O.G. “Big Grrrls” Chawnta’ Marie Van, Shirlene Quigley and Grace Holden, to help her weed out the pretenders. Throughout these eight episodes, the panel will also be joined by an array of guest judges, including choreographer Charm La’Donna, body movement expert Rashida KhanBey Miller and multi-platinum singer/songwriter SZA.

9. Olivia Rodrigo: Driving Home 2 U (A Sour Film) – Friday, March 25, Disney+

Pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo takes fans on a road trip from her hometown of Salt Lake City to Los Angeles, where she recorded her debut album, Sour. Along the way, she recounts memories of writing and creating the album and shares her feelings as a young woman navigating a specific time in her life. In addition to intimate interviews and never-before-seen footage from the making of the album, the film features 11 songs from Sour performed with brand-new arrangements in unique locations, with special guest appearances by fellow musicians Jacob Collier, Blu DeTiger and Towa Bird.

10. Pachinko – Friday, March 25, Apple TV+ | Series Premiere

Based on Min Jin Lee’s 2017 novel, this intimate epic from After Yang director Kogonada traces four generations of one Korean family, starting at the turn of the 20th century with a forbidden romance that begets a saga of heartache, sacrifice and hard-won survival, stretching from Korea to Japan to America.