We’re almost ready, everyone. January – the most difficult month – is almost over. But before that happens, we still have to watch a lot of TV.
And this week the new TV has many different flavors to offer: the fantastic charm of the new Masters of the universe; into the bloody glory of war Masters of the air; lives intersect in big ways (Expats) and surreal (The Bachelor).
Plus episode 3 of True Detective: Nightland looms on Sunday, after the stunning cliffhanger of the final part. And for those of you watching this week’s NFL playoff games, we salute you.
Here are this week’s best TV premieres and finales:
New shows on Netflix
Masters of the Universe: Revolution
Genre: He-Man
Date of publication: January 25, with five episodes
Showrunner/creator: Kevin Smith
Form: Chris Wood, Mark Hamill, Liam Cunningham and more
If you liked it Masters of the Universe: Revelationthe latest animated adaptation of Kevin Smith’s He-Man, which you should be hyped for Revolution, which continues from the end of that one. Now Prince Adam, King Randor and company must fight the new version of Skeletor, who was last infected with some kind of technovirus.
New shows on Hulu
The Bachelor
Genre: ‘Romantic’ ‘reality’ show
Date of publication: January 22 at 8pm EST, with one episode; January 23 on Hulu
Host: Jesse Palmer
Form: Joey Graziadei, and a bunch of women who want to date him
The Bachelor is back with another single man who’s done looking for love in all the wrong places — namely, he’s done looking for love in The bachelorettewhere he came in second for season 20. Now 28-year-old Joey Graziadei the Single, and hoping to give his last rose to his true love.
New programs on Prime Video
Expats
Genre: Drama
Date of publication: January 26, with two episodes
Showrunner/creator: Lulu Wang
Form: Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, Ji-young Yoo and more
Lulu Wang, director of The goodbyeadapts the novel by Janice YK Lee The expats — what a sentence to say! Set in Hong Kong in 2014, the six-episode series follows a group of foreigners whose lives overlap after a tragedy.
New shows on Paramount Plus
Sexy beast
Genre: Precursor
Date of publication: January 25, with one episode
Showrunner/creator: Michael Caleo
Form: James McArdle, Emun Elliott and more
This show is not the Netflix dating show of a similar name where people dress up as animals to date each other (that is Sexy animals). Rather, this is the longest-lived prequel to Jonathan Glazer’s 2000 crime film the same name – Sexy beast. The show focuses on the early relationship between Gal (James McArdle) and Don (Emun Elliott) in the 1990s.
New shows on Peacock
In knowing
Genre: Stop-motion comedy for adults
Date of publication: January 25, with all episodes
Showrunner/creator: Zach Woods, Mike Judge and Brandon Gardner
Form: Zach Woods, Carl Tart, J. Smith Cameron and more
Co-created and starring Zach Woods, In knowing follows the trials and tribulations of creating NPR’s third most popular show (aka In knowing). Each episode will not only showcase all the work that goes into creating one episode of the talk show, but will also feature a major celebrity guest (not in Claymation, as in the rest of the show).
New shows on Apple TV Plus
Masters of the air
Genre: Men at war
Date of publication: January 26, with two episodes
Showrunner/creator: John Shiban and John Orloff
Form: Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Barry Keoghan and more
It’s easy to write off a war story like this as “a time when men were men and women were happy with it.” But Masters of the air – based on the 2007 book Masters of the Air: American bomber boys who fought the air war against Nazi Germany by Donald L. Miller, and companion of Band of brothers And The Pacific ocean – goes deeper than that, showing the challenges, pitfalls, victories and battles of the “Bloody Hundredth” Air Force Bomb Group.