Jan. 17 – Jan. 23
Wolf pack drama, workplace weirdness & a real reality-show schmoe
All times Eastern.
FRIDAY, Jan. 17
Severance
The hit workplace thriller series returns for season two, with Adam Scott (above) as the head of a company where employees must undergo a surgical procedure that “severs” their memories. What could go wrong? With John Turturro, Christopher Walken and Patricia Arquette (Apple TV+).
Yellowstone Wolves: Succession
The vast national park is the ultimate stage for wolf drama—pack bonds, rivalries, invasions, exiles and killings. Explore this wild world and the people devoted to protecting it (7 p.m., National Geographic).
SATURDAY, Jan. 18
Dinner and a Movie
Hosts Jason Briggs and Jenny Mollen guide you through the heavy metal pileup of Transformers (8 p.m., TBS).
Girl in the Garage: The Marcela Borges Story
Paige Hurd, Stephen Bishop and Brad James star in this ripped-from-the-headlines tale about what happens when a man invites a friend and her children to move temporarily into their home…and some very bad things (Lifetime).
SUNDAY, Jan. 19
Laid
Stephanie Hsu stars a woman who finds out her former lovers are dropping like dead flies, sending her back into her own sexual timeline for answers. The series proclaims itself as a “f*ked up rom-com.” So, consider yourself warned! (Netflix).
MONDAY, Jan. 20
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
Winner of nine Emmy Awards, this 1974 drama became one of the most acclaimed TV movies ever, with Cicely Tyson starring as a woman born into slavery in the 1850s who lived to be more than 100 years old and witness the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement (4:45 p.m., TCM).
TUESDAY, Jan. 21
The Joe Schmoe Show
This series (hosted by Cat Deeley) resurrects the franchise which began more than two decades ago, and this time “stars” a real-life electrician from Baltimore who thinks in a TV competition, not realizing he’s actually in a fake reality series a la The Truman Show (9 p.m., TBS).
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 22
Prime Target
A brilliant young mathematician (Leo Woodall) is on the verge of a major tech breakthrough when he finds out an unseen enemy is trying to destroy it. Enter a beautiful TSA agent (Quintessa Swindell) to help unravel the conspiracy, which could affect all the computers in the world (Apple TV+).
What are UFOs?
For decades, unidentified flying objects have captivated our imaginations. But what are they, really? Alien visitors? Results of research and tech from other governments, or our own? What would it take for an ET to traverse the cosmos to buzz over our cornfields and neighborhoods? (9 p.m., PBS).
THURSDAY, Jan. 23
1923
Season two of the Yellowstone prequel series sees Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren (above) returning to their roles as the proto-Duttons (Paramount+).
Harlem
Season three begins of the hit comedy series about four young women dealing with motherhood, sisterhood and the complications of friends and family (Prime).
NOW HEAR THIS
Always the “country-est” of the Beatles, Ringo Starr‘s new album Look Up finds him getting some rootsy assists from Billy Strings (“Breathless”), Alison Krauss (“Thankful”), Molly Tuttle (“Look Up”), Larkin Poe (“String Theory”), and other Americana-esque harmonizers and pickers. T Bone Burnett produced and wrote several songs, and that’s Nashville studio whiz Paul Franklin on the pedal steel. As for Ringo’s part, well, all he had to do was drum, sing…and “Act Naturally.”
The Media Tourist 