If you think you’ve heard the theme song for True Detective: Night Country before, you’re right: “Bury a Friend,” from Billie Eilish’s 2019 debut album, was chosen by showrunner Issa López because the lyrics eerily mirror the plot of the show. Watch last night’s fantastic True Detective: Night Country premiere on Max and see/hear it for yourself.
This week’s What to Watch recs include the 75th Primetime Emmys, new dystopian sci-fi drama The Kitchen, the premiere of comedian Taylor Tomlinson’s After Midnight, Mandy Patinkin whodunnit Death and Other Details, the long-awaited return of cringe comedy Chad, and NBA on MLK Day basketball action. The couch awaits!
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What’s new this week
Special, Monday, January 15, 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET: Didn’t we just have an awards show last week? That was the Golden Globes—this is the Primetime Emmys, the Super Bowl of TV celebrities handing each other golden trophies. The shows you know (like Succession, The Bear, and Ted Lasso) will compete against the shows you’ve forgotten (remember Fleishman Is in Trouble?) while host Anthony Anderson sidesteps the Jo Koy curse and the rest of us wonder, “Where’s Poker Face?”
NBA on MLK Day | Multiple channels | Sports, basketball
Coverage begins Monday, January 15, 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. PT: Settle in for 11 NBA games on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, including Houston Rockets at Philadelphia 76ers (NBA TV), San Antonio Spurs at Atlanta Hawks (TNT), Golden State Warriors at Memphis Grizzlies (TNT), and Oklahoma City Thunder at Los Angeles Lakers (NBA TV). The rest of the games will be available through regional sports networks, while all of the games will be on NBA League Pass. Remember to hydrate.
What to watch on Netflix this week
American Nightmare | Netflix | Documentary
Docuseries premiere, Wednesday, January 17: In 2015, a home invasion led to the kidnapping of Denise Huskins. The abductor planned to extract a ransom from Huskins’ boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, but instead set her free days later. But, for months, local Vallejo police and news media called the couple’s story a hoax—until a man was arrested on connected evidence in a nearby county. “This case didn’t require Sherlock Holmes,” Quinn told People. “This required basic police work.” All three American Nightmare episodes stream on January 17.
The Kitchen | Netflix | Drama, sci-fi
Movie premiere, Friday, January 19: As dystopian future thrillers go, The Kitchen has a taste of everything: Mad Max, Blade Runner, and Attack the Block appear to be in the mix, and that’s just from the trailer. The Kitchen is set in 2040 London, where billionaires literally rule from on high, and everybody else has to fend for themselves down in the slums, including disillusioned Izi (Kane Robinson) and 12-year-old Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman). Will the unlikely pair escape The Kitchen? All dystopian sci-fi signs point to probably.
What to watch on Hulu this week
Death and Other Details | Hulu | Drama, mystery
Series premiere, Tuesday, January 16: It was originally titled Career Opportunities in Murder and Mayhem, but Death and Other Details carries the same sense of archness in fewer words. The 10-episode Hulu original follows detective Rufus Coteworth (Mandy Patinkin) as he works to solve a locked-room murder on a luxury Mediterranean cruise liner. It sounds a bit Knives Out, but the series’ creators were actually inspired by classic Agatha Christie—which makes Patinkin the new Hercule Poirot.
A Shop for Killers | Hulu | Action, drama
Series premiere, Wednesday, January 17: After the death of her adoptive uncle, college student Jian (Kim Hye Jun) discovers the seemingly innocent shopping mall he ran is a front for a secret group that sells weapons to assassins. Now that she knows, Ji is targeted for death by the group, and she learns why her uncle trained her in mercenary survival skills as she was growing up. K-drama A Shop for Killers is a nail-biting thrill ride, and Hulu is upping the tension by only releasing one of eight episodes per week.
What to watch on Paramount+ this week
After Midnight | CBS, Paramount+ | Game show, comedy
Series premiere, Tuesday, January 16: For over 600 episodes from 2013 to 2017, Comedy Central’s @Midnight let comedians loose to lambast internet and pop culture trends on a low-budget/low-stakes “game show” on cable. Reboot After Midnight, the long-awaited Late Show with Stephen Colbert replacement lead-out for James Corden is the same show with a new host: Taylor Tomlinson. If you noticed that After Midnight will actually air before midnight in some time zones, points!
The Woman in the Wall | Paramount+ with SHOWTIME | Drama, thriller
Miniseries premiere, Friday, January 19: Troubled Lorna Brady (Ruth Wilson, an MVP of playing troubled) is prone to sleepwalking bouts and wakes up to find … a dead woman in her house. During a different murder investigation, Detective Colman Akande (Daryl McCormack) finds clues that lead to Lorna. Is she a sleepwalking killer? There’s much more than that to the tense and twisty The Woman in the Wall, a six-episode miniseries that will premiere January 19 on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, then air January 21 live on SHOWTIME.
W2W wildcards of the week
Eric Andre Live Near Broadway | Adult Swim, Max | Comedy
Special, Thursday, January 18: It’s not part of a new Eric Andre Show season, and it’s certainly not “live,” but Eric Andre Live Near Broadway does feature cameos by show favorites The Grim Reaper and The Fridge Keeper, as well as Emmy/Tony-winning actor Billy Porter. The half-hour special, recorded at Terminal 5 in New York City, also promises “ranch-covered nightmares,” according to Andre, and you can expect several more condiments to be splattered all over the front row. Not for the squeamish.
Chad | The Roku Channel | Comedy
Season 2 premiere, Friday, January 19: What a ride for Nasim Pedrad’s Chad: The show was created for FOX in 2016 but moved to TBS in 2019, where season 1 aired in 2021. It was picked up for a second season by TBS, which was filmed to air in 2022, but then the network abruptly canceled Chad and declined to release it. The Roku Channel came to the rescue, and now season 2 of Chad can finally be seen (Roku also has season 1). What’s it about? Chad (played by Pedrad) is an obnoxious 14-year-old boy … and that’s it. A cringe comedy for the ages.
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