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What To Watch This Week: Relax With Our Top 8 TV & Movie Picks (January 27–February 2)

Entertainment writer Randy Harward recommends the best shows, movies, and more on TV this week, including Paradise, Dark Match, Mo, and Common Side Effects.

A collage of images from Paradise, Dark Match, Mo, and Common Side Effects, shows covered in CableTV.com’s What to Watch This Week column for Jan. 27– Feb. 2.
Clockwise from left: Paradise (Disney/Brian Roedel), Dark Match (Shudder), Mo (Netflix), Common Side Effects (Warner Bros. Discovery).

New on TV this week

This week’s What To Watch picks include Only one thriller this time (Paradise), the fourth season of Mythic Quest, the second seasons of Common Side Effects and Mo, a rasslin’ horror movie, the first hour-long comedy special from Liza Treyger, an SNL special about the musical guests, and a “stoner meta-comedy.” Now let’s hit the couch!

Night owl? Peep what’s on late-night TV this week.

New on Peacock this week

Ladies and Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music | NBC, Peacock | Documentary

Special, Monday, January 27: Oz Rodriguez and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson direct this special, which chronicles a half-century of Saturday Night Live’s storied musical guests. We expect it might cover classic performances from The Blues Brothers (laying down “Soul Man” in 1978) or David Bowie, Klaus Nomi, and Joey Arias (“The Man Who Sold the World” in ‘79). It could also reflect on controversies (Sinead O’Connor shredding the Pope in ‘92; Rage Against the Machine protesting host Steve Forbes in ‘96), hilarious disasters (Ashlee Simpson lip-synching in ‘04), and The Replacements’ drunken majesty of 1986. And don’t forget new hotness like Chappell Roan’s “The Giver” from last year. Airs live on NBC, streams on Peacock.

New on Netflix this week

Liza Treyger: Night Owl | Netflix | Stand-up comedy

Special, Tuesday, January 28: After doing two half-hours—one for Comedy Central, the other for Netflix’s The Degenerates)—Ukrainian-born stand-up comic Liza Treyger finally gets a one-hour special. There’s no trailer for it yet, but here’s a bit from one of Treyger’s YouTube shorts, where she frets about America sliding into fascism. “I’m really scared I’m still going to be annoying in the labor camp. I’m petty. I feel like I’m going to be going up to people in the camp going, ‘Who’d you vote for in 2016?’ as I’m digging a mass grave.” (Want more? See clip we’ve linked.)

New on Hulu this week

Paradise | Hulu | Drama

Series premiere, Tuesday, January 28: When a peaceful community of prominent, affluent people is rocked by a shocking murder, it prompts a high-stakes investigation. That’s all we get from Hulu as far as a synopsis goes, but this drama-thriller’s cast bodes well for the series’ quality. Roll call!: Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us), James Marsden (Jury Duty), Julianne Nicholson (Law & Order: Criminal Intent), Sarah Shahi (Sex/Life), Nicole Brydon Bloom (The Gilded Age), Aliyah Mastin (Broadway’s The Lion King), and Percy Daggs IV star. We get a binge-able three episodes tonight, and the rest weekly on Tuesdays.

Click on your favorite streaming service below to see new releases and classic recommendations from our TV critics.

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New on Apple TV+ this week

Mythic Quest | Apple TV+ | Comedy

Season four premiere, Wednesday, January 29: The Apple TV+ series about a game studio producing the titular MMORPG video game returns for a fourth season. From Apple TV+: “Back under the same fluorescent office lights, the reunited team at Mythic Quest confronts new challenges amongst a changing video game landscape as stars rise, egos clash, relationships bloom and everyone tries to have a little more ‘work-work’ life balance.” For the unfamiliar, the series’ creators are Charlie Day, Rob McElhenney, and Megan Ganz (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia). Two episodes stream today.

New on Netflix this week

Mo | Netflix | Comedy

Season two premiere, Thursday, January 30: Almost three years after comedian Mo Amer’s (Ramy) eponymous comedy debuted, it’s finally back with a second season. The show’s inspiration is Amer’s life—he grew up in Houston as a Palestinian refugee—and the plot follows Mo as he seeks U.S. citizenship. Netflix teases tears and laughter for this season—which is also the series’ last. Look for guest appearances from Mo’s fellow comics Matt Rife and Hannibal Buress.

All eight episodes stream on Netflix starting today.

New on Shudder this week

Dark Match | Shudder | Horror

Movie, Friday, January 31: Wrestling luminary and heavy-metal frontguy Chris Jericho headlines this horror movie where a regional wrestling company takes a dicey gig in the woods and ends battling a crazy cult leader in a “pay-per-view fight to the death.” It sounds a little like last year’s Screambox original, Here for Blood. Here’s hopin’ Dark Match is as much fun as that. Sara Canning (Influencer, The Vampire Diaries), Steven Ogg (The Walking Dead, Snowpiercer) and Michael Ecklund (Antlers) also star.

New on Adult Swim and Max this week

Common Side Effects | Adult Swim, Max | Adult animation, comedy

Series premiere, Friday, January 31: In this animated comedy-thriller, two one-time high-school lab partners create a fungal panacea, only to become targets of Big Pharma and the DEA. From co-creators Joseph Bennett (Scavengers Reign) and The Office writer Steve Hely, and producers Mike Judge (Idiocracy, Beavis & Butt-Head) and Greg Daniels (The Office). Judge also provides the voice of the antagonist, pharmaceutical company CEO, Rich Kruger. We get two episodes live on HBO tonight, and they’ll stream the next day on Max.

  TV Tan Podcast

Bill Frost and Tommy Milagro serve up TV news, reviews, and cocktails every week—at 500+ episodes over 10 years, it’s the longest-running television podcast ever (confirmation pending). Subscribe to TV Tan Podcast now on SpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicYouTubeAmazon PodcastsAudible, or your favorite podcast app. [NFSW]

New movie releases available to rent/buy on VOD this week

Extremely Unique Dynamic (2025)

Stoner comedies are hit-or-miss. They can be magically funny—even if you’re not high—or tragically disappointing—even if you are razzle-dazzled. Katherine Dudas’ “stoner meta-comedy” could go either way, but the premise has us curious. It’s like this: Two Canadian best buds decide to make a movie about making a movie that stars two friends who are making a movie. Whoa. That could be hard to follow for the faded (but still a ton of fun). Extremely Unique Dynamic comes to video-on-demand (VOD) on Tuesday, January 28.

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