PBS docs take you around the world
Documentary films take you from the Alps to one day across America. A witch/ vampire romance returns and a teenage poet’s story gets a second installment.
Contenders: Shows to keep on your radar
• “Dickinson” returns (Apple TV+). This season of the show, which stars Hailee Steinfeld as a teenage Emily Dickinson, focuses on another reason why her poemsmay have been published posthumously: Dickinson’s ambivalent relationship to fame.
• Season two of “A Discovery of Witches” debuts on Sundance Now. In this installment, Matthew (Matthew Goode) and Diana (Teresa Palmer) are hiding in Elizabethan London, where they continue their search for the mysterious “Book of Life” and Diana seeks a witch teacher to help her control her powerful magic.
• Tune in for shots of rolling English countryside and plenty of nostalgia in the latest adaptation of James Herriot’s veterinary memoirs, “All Creatures Great and Small” (Jan. 10, “Masterpiece” on PBS, 9 p.m. ET).
• “All American Stories” (Jan. 11, The CW, 8 p.m. ET; Feb. 1, 9 p.m.
ET) profiles eight athletes who overcame obstacles to pursue their goals. They share their inspiring stories with host Yogi Roth, with commentary by co-host Spencer Paysinger, who defied the odds to make it to the NFL.
• Actor Jared Leto’s documentary “A Day in the Life of America” (Jan. 11, “Independent Lens” on PBS, 10 p.m. ET) was shot over the course of one day (July 4), using 92 crews filming across all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
• Documentary filmmaker Stanley Nelson explores the relationship between race, class, incarceration and crack cocaine in the 1980s in “Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy” (Jan. 11, Netflix).
• Season four of “The Resident” premieres (Jan. 12, Fox, 8 p.m. ET) followed by season two of “Prodigal Son” (9 p.m. ET).
• Canadian supernatural drama “Trickster” makes its U.S. debut (Jan. 12, The CW, 9 p.m. ET). The story focuses on an Indigenous teen who starts to see strange things, which turns his already dysfunctional family life upside down.
• Full of diverse wildlife and extreme seasonal fluctuations, the Alps connect eight countries and span 750 miles. Explore these majestic mountain ranges in “Nature: The Alps” (Jan. 13, PBS, 8 p.m. ET).