SO MUCH TO WATCH
A guide to the shows we're excited to see arriving on the small screen
It's cold and there's a pandemic. So for the next few months, the wisest move might be to hunker down indoors with the remote close at hand. As we enter a new year, hopeful it will be nothing like 2020, it seems there is more TV than ever before. Here are shows and specials we're most excited to see. (All dates are subject to change.)
AVAILABLE NOW HISTORY OF SWEAR WORDS (NETFLIX)
Nicolas Cage turns the air blue as the host of a new unscripted comedy series exploring the origins of curse words. It features interviews with culture experts, etymologists and historians. Definitely not safe for children.
JAN. 6
CHICAGO FIRE, CHICAGO MED, CHICAGO P. D . (NBC, CITYTV)
Dick Wolf's unstoppable Chicago franchise returns with all-new episodes set in the Windy City.
JAN. 7 THE CHASE (ABC)
James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter star in this nine-episode revamp of the British game show, where three competitors face off against the Chaser, a ruthless quiz genius determined to stop them. Holzhauer, Jennings and Rutter will swap spots as the Chaser.
JAN. 10 AMERICAN GODS SEASON 3 (AMAZON PRIME VIDEO)
Inevitable war builds between the Old Gods of Mythology and our New Gods of Technology in this adaptation of Neil Gaiman's award-winning fantasy novel.
TIGER: DOCUMENTARY (CR AVE)
The two-part documentary takes revealing look at the rise, fall and comeback of golf icon Tiger Woods.
JAN. 12 THE RESIDENT SEASON 4 (FOX, CTV)
The doctors of Chastain Memorial Hospital return in storylines that will take place in a post-COVID world. “This pandemic is so heavy and tragic and we just wanted to give people hope. We just wanted to give people a sense that there was going to be a medical show after COVID, we were still going to save people's lives and still be heroic,” co-showrunner Andrew Chapman says.
PRODIGAL SON SEASON 2 (FOX, GLOBAL)
Last year's top-rated drama continues Tom Payne's FBI agent drawn back into constant contact with his serial killer father (Michael Sheen) to help him solve horrible crimes.
JAN. 15 WAN DA VISION (DISNEY+)
In this mash-up of classic television and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) — two super-powered beings living picture-perfect suburban lives — begin to suspect everything is not as it seems. Expect a wild plot line, which writer Jac Schaeffer teases is “half classic sitcom and half, full MCU spectacular.”
JAN. 14 CALL YOUR MOTHER (ABC, GLOBAL)
Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) plays an empty-nester mom who decides to reinsert herself in her children's lives.
JAN. 18 9-1-1 SEASON 4 (FOX, GLOBAL)
Members of the 118 are forced to spring into action when a landslide threatens citizens of Los Angeles. The new season won't ignore the coronavirus
entirely, but show runner Tim Minear tells the Hollywood Reporter it won't “become subsumed in it.”
9-1-1 LONE STAR SEASON 2 (FOX, CTV)
The rescue squad must deal with an emergency that the Texas-set show has never encountered before when this Rob Lowe-led 9-1-1 spinoff returns.
JAN. 22 FLACK (AMAZON PRIME VIDEO)
Anna Paquin stars as Robyn, a publicist working for a cutthroat London PR company, who is adept at keeping her clients' lives on track as her own crumbles.
JAN. 26 SNOWPIERCER SEASON 2 (NETFLIX)
It's another season of the post-apocalyptic drama in which Earth has frozen over and the last surviving humans live on a giant train circling the globe.
JAN. 29 THE SISTER ( C R AV E )
Adapted by Neil Cross from his own novel, Burial, the British psychological thriller centres on a married man (Russell Tovey), who finds his life turned upside down when an unwelcome face from his past turns up on his doorstep with shocking news.
FEBRUARY BILLIE EILISH: THE WORLD 'S A LITTLE BLUR RY (APPLE TV+)
The upcoming music doc tells the meteoric coming-of-age story of the 19-year-old pop superstar, who released her groundbreaking debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? in 2019 and won Grammys for best new artist, album of the year, record of the year, song of the year and best pop vocal album.
FEB. 5 THE SNOOPY SHOW (APPLE TV+)
Charles M. Schulz's beloved beagle and his feathered best friend Woodstock tackle all new adventures in this animated Peanuts spinoff.
FEB. 7 THE EQUALIZER (CBS, GLOBAL)
Queen Latifah headlines a revamp of the hit 1980s show. In the reboot, Latifah plays Robyn McCall, a former CIA agent and single mom who steps in to help those with “nowhere else to turn.”
FEB. 11 CLARICE DEBUT (CBS, GLOBAL)
Rebecca Breeds (The Originals) stars as FBI Agent Clarice Starling in this Silence of the Lambs sequel that takes place in 1993, one year after Hannibal Lecter's disappearance. But don't expect the new show to bring the cannibalistic serial killer into its storyline. Executive producer Alex Kurtzman says they were “banned” from even mentioning the iconic character, who has been played by Brian Cox, Anthony Hopkins and Mads Mikkelsen.
FEB. 14 AMERICAN IDOL SEASON 21 (ABC)
Judges Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan and Katy Perry return alongside host Ryan Seacrest, with the quartet filming segments remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
MARCH 19 THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER (DISNEY+)
The series will follow the adventures of Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), but, as Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige says, in a way that allows for a “much deeper dive into both of their pasts and both of their presents post (Avengers) Endgame.” Daniel Bruhl returns as the evil Baron Zemo, with Emily VanCamp back as Sharon Carter. Wyatt Russell is set to join the cast as John Walker, who in the comics goes by the name U.S. Agent.
MAY LOKI (DISNEY+)
Tom Hiddleston's slithery god of mischief returns to fill us in on what happened after he disap
peared with the Tesseract during the time heist scene in Endgame. Owen Wilson co-stars.
DECEMBER THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT DEBUT (DISNEY+)
Season 3 of The Mandalorian will not debut this fall, as series creator Jon Favreau turns his attention to his upcoming Boba Fett spinoff. The new addition to the Star Wars universe will be set within the timeline of The Mandalorian and star Temuera Morrison as the titular bounty hunter.
DATE TBA DEXTER: REBOOT( CR AVE)
Original showrunner Clyde Phillips returns alongside series star Michael C. Hall to redeem the popular serial-killer drama seven years after its much-hated season 8 finale. “It's a great opportunity to write a second finale for our show,” Phillips says.
THE FRIENDS REUNION SPECIAL (CR AVE)
Originally slated for May, the unscripted reunion will include all six cast members — Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc. “It's going to be super,” Aniston promises.
LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME DEBUT (NBC, CITYTV)
SVU fan favourite Christopher Meloni reprises his beloved role as Elliot Stabler, who returns to the NYPD to battle organized crime after a personal loss.
STRANGER THINGS SEASON 4 (NETFLIX)
After production on Netflix's hit sci-fi show was halted in March due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, filming resumed in October with more creep-inducing mayhem set to descend on the fictional town of Hawkins, Ind. Star David Harbour tells People you'll “see a lot of your favourite characters doing the thing that you love them for ... but you'll also see them twist it and turn it into other colours and other flavours.”