The Best Shows and Movies to Watch This Week: John Cena’s Peacemaker, The Tragedy of Macbeth – TV Guide

This is a big week is a big for TV premieres and finales. On the premiere side, we'll see the debuts of two different DC superhero shows: The CW's Naomi, from executive producer Ava Duvernay, and HBO Max's Peacemaker, the John Cena-led spin-off of last summer's movie The Suicide Squad. They're very different kinds of shows, but the DC tent is a big one. There's also a new indie movie-style dramedy series coming to HBO and HBO Max on Sunday called Somebody Somewhere that we highly recommend, because creator-star Bridget Everett is the real deal. On the farewell side, there's the Season 1 finale of buzzy thriller series Yellowjackets Sunday on Showtime, and the series finale of cult favorite sci-fi show The Expanse on Amazon Prime Video on Friday. But the one release we're most excited about is the movie The Tragedy of Macbeth, which is coming to Apple TV+ on Friday.

Our list of editors' picks for the week of Jan. 10-16 is below, but if that's not enough and you're looking for even more hand-picked recommendations, sign up for our free, spam-free Watch This Now newsletter that delivers the best TV show picks straight to your inbox. You can also look at our massive collection of recommendations, as well as our list of suggestions ofwhat to watch next based on shows you already like.

Daniel Puig and Kaci Walfall, Naomi

Series premiere Tuesday, Jan. 11 at 9/8c on The CWAnother superhero show? Yes, but this one has the power of Ava DuVernay behind it. The Oscar nominee developed this origin story about Naomi (played by effervescent newcomer Kaci Walfall), a Superman superfan who discovers she may have more in common with superheroes than she thought. (Surprise, she's a superhero herself!) The teen-oriented series get ready for LOTS of social media is based on the DC Comics character created by Brian Michael Bendis and David F. Walker and delves into the hottest superhero trend going: the multiverse. Will Naomi ditch those glasses when she gets her powers? You bet. -Tim Surette [TRAILER]

Dillon Brandt, Lexi Brumback, La'Darius Marshall and Morgan Simianer,Cheer

Season 2 available Wednesday, Jan. 12 on NetflixSurprise! Bet you thought you'd seen the last of Cheer. The Emmy-winning Netflix docuseries about determined young athletes risking life and limb to fly through the air was the first big hit of 2020, but it's tumbled since then following allegations against starJerry Harris, who was arrested in 2020 on a federal child pornography charge. The unexpected second season will directly address the allegations against Harris, including interviews with the brothers who were the first to come forward. The new episodes will also follow the Navarro team as they deal with the pandemic and face off against rivals at Trinity Valley Community College. W-H-E-W! -Kelly Connolly [TRAILER]

Nick Zano and Caity Lotz, Legends of Tomorrow

Season 7 returns Wednesday, Jan. 12 at 8/7c on The CWNothing thrills me like a goodLegends of Tomorrow episode title. The midseason premiere, "Paranoid Android," finds the Waverider gang facing off against themselves (aren't we all!!) as they battle their android doppelgngers, some of whom are looking pretty buff. Here's hoping nobody has an identity crisis. -Kelly Connolly [TRAILER]

John Cena, Peacemaker

Series premiere Thursday, Jan. 13 on HBO MaxJohn Cena brings his The Suicide Squad DC Comics character Peacemaker a buff guy who wants peace so badly he's willing to be extremely violent about it to the small screen, with James Gunn writing all the episodes (it was a COVID "fun" project for him) and directing five of them. If you saw the surprisingly great The Suicide Squad (not to be confused with but of course it's going to be confused with the dudSuicide Squad), you know this has a chance to be really good, with Gunn riding the gross-out humor of The Suicide Squad into an origin tale of the best character from the film who wasn't a walking weasel. Joining Cena areSteve Agee,Danielle Brooks, andRobert Patrick. -Tim Surette [TRAILER]

Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth

Friday, Jan. 14 on Apple TV+Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand star in this much-anticipated adaptation of Shakespeare's Scottish play. It's the first solo film from a Coen brother McDormand's husband Joel directs, adapts, and produces along with her. If you love art movies, there's not much else that needs to be said to get you to watch this. I mean, it's Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand as Lord and Lady Macbeth. It feels historic. The Tragedy of Macbeth has been making the film festival rounds for months and been in select theaters since Christmas, but Jan. 14 will be when most people will be able to finally see it in all its black-and-white, Expressionist glory. -Liam Mathews [Trailer]

Shohreh Aghdashloo, The Expanse

Series finale premieres Friday, Jan. 14 on Amazon Prime VideoThe show Jeff Bezos saved from cancellation is coming to an end for good this time, with a finale that concludes the complex sci-fi tale of the war between the different factions in the colonized solar system. It's hard to imagine how the show is going to wrap everything up by the end of the show, considering how many storylines are still in play, but at least the finale is a supersized episode. The novels on which the series is based continue on past where the show is ending, so maybe if enough people watch the finale, Bezos will find some change between the seats on his rocket ship and give it a seventh season? Not likely, but he could make it happen if he wanted to.-Liam Mathews [Trailer]

Dina Shihabi, Archive 81

Series premiere Friday, Jan. 14 on NetflixBeware of the haunted videotape! This horror series which is based on a fiction podcast of the same follows a video archivist, Dan (Mamadou Athie), as he takes on a peculiar gig restoring tapes that were damaged in a fire 25 years earlier. The tapes were made by a documentary filmmaker named Melody (Dina Shihabi) who was investigating a bizarre cult that was based in a New York City apartment building. As Dan watches the tapes, he gets obsessed with finding out what happened to Melody and becomes convinced he can save her. It's a supernatural spine-tingler with a fantastic organ-driven score by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow, who previously collaborated on the music for Alex Garland projects including Annihilation. They do great work. -Liam Mathews [Trailer]

Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan: The Movie

Friday, Jan. 14 at 9/8c on ShowtimeAfter being unceremoniously, honestly kinda disrespectfully canceled in early 2020 after the Season 7 finale, Ray Donovan is returning for the send-off the Boomer-beloved crime drama deserves. The movie, co-written by showrunner David Hollander and Ray Donovan himself (Liev Schreiber), picks up where Season 7 left off, with Ray trying to find his incorrigible criminal father Mickey (Jon Voight) and stop him once and for all. It also weaves in formative stories from Ray's childhood, with younger Mickey played by Bill Heck. Depending on your age, you should either call your father or your son after you watch this and tell him you're grateful you're not Donovans. -Liam Mathews [Trailer]

Sophie Nelisse and Ella Purnell, Yellowjackets

Season 1 finale Sunday, Jan. 16 at 10/9c on ShowtimeWhenYellowjacketspremiered in November 2021 and seized our attention with its brutal premise (thinkLostmeetsLord of the Flies), some wondered if the Showtime thriller could end as explosively as it began. The answer is a resounding yes. This series about a high school girls' soccer team stranded in the wilderness for 19 months after a horrific plane crash packs twisty punches at every turn, with one of the biggest shocks taking place at the start of its most recent Episode 9. The finale airs Jan. 16, and you can expect more of what has made the ominous drama a true gem this winter season: riveting performances by a dynamic cast playing teen and adult versions of the soccer players, and key developments to an intricate plot with two timelines each with their own set of dark mysteries. -Kat Moon [Trailer]

Bridget Everett, Somebody Somewhere

Series premiere Jan. 16 on HBO, HBO MaxComedian Bridget Everett stars in this indie-com about a woman named Sam learning to find herself in Kansas after the untimely death of her sister. But it's not a sad show! In fact, Somebody Somewhere is about relishing the joys of friendship, expressing yourself, and embracing what makes you unique, but in that weird way that the choir club at high school used to do. Everett's chemistry with Sam's new BFF Joel (Jeff Hiller) is going to be a highlight of 2022. Plus there's fart jokes and party invitations written on ketchup packets. What's not to like? -Tim Surette [Trailer]

Ben Affleck and Tye Sheridan, The Tender Bar

Friday, Jan. 7 on AmazonBoston iconBen Affleck does his best New Yawk accent in thisGeorge Clooney-directed dramedy about an aspiring writer (played as a kid byDaniel Ranieriand as an adult byTye Sheridan) who lives on Long Island, has a deadbeat dad, and learns all of life's most important lessons from his bartender uncle (Affleck). It's definitely one of those "just guys being dudes movies," and will probably appeal to anyone who enjoyedBoyhood.-Allison Picurro [TRAILER]

John Reynolds, Meredith Hagner, John Early, and Alia Shawkat, Search Party

Season 5 premiered Friday, Jan. 7 on HBO MaxIn its fifth and final season,Search Partyis getting culty. After surviving the fire at the end of Season 4, Dory (Alia Shawkat) has apparently had some kind of spiritual awakening, and now feels it's her responsibility to deliver that enlightenment to others. (Keep in mind that she's killed two people.) To do so, she teams up with a billionaire played byJeff Goldblum, as one does, and ropes her friends, Drew (John Reynolds), Elliott (John Early), and Portia (Meredith Hagner) into it. I trust this show to take me on the wildest of rides for its last hurrah, just like it always does. -Allison Picurro[TRAILER]

Hunter Schafer and Zendaya, Euphoria

Season 2 premiered Sunday, Jan. 9 at 9/8c on HBO, HBO MaxThe badly behaved teens ofEuphoriaare back, baby. Somehow, the first season of this show aired all the way back in 2019, and aside from two special episodes in between, this is the first we've seen of Rue (Zendaya), Jules (Hunter Schafer), and their very chic peers in a while. Rue is still reeling after her relapse, and now she's wheeling around a suitcase full of pills that seems to be part of her new "amazing plan" to do... something. It's not quite clear, but it's almost certainly going to result in complete chaos. I can't wait to see how much glitter they all pour on themselves this season.-Allison Picurro [TRAILER]

Adam Devine, John Goodman, Edi Patterson, Danny McBride, and Cassidy Freeman, The Righteous Gemstones

Season 2 premiered Sunday, Jan. 9 at 10/9c on HBO, HBO MaxHallelujah!The Righteous Gemstones, creator-starDanny McBride's laugh-out-Lord funny satire of greedy evangelical megachurch pastors, is back for a long-awaited second season (the series premiered way back in August 2019). In Season 2, the Gemstone family is fending off attacks from interlopers trying to take down their megachurch empire. They're like the Duttons ofYellowstonebut intentionally funny. One of the biggest threats comes from journalist Thaniel Block (Jason Schwartzman), who's working on an expos of the Gemstones' wanton corruption. Meanwhile, the Gemstones partner in constructing a Christian timeshare community with Lyle Lissons (Eric Andrwith a crazy Southern accent).The Righteous Gemstonesis one of a select few comedy series currently on TV whose primary objective is to make you laugh so hard that snot shoots out of your nose every scene. -Liam Mathews [TRAILER]

Nicholas Ralph & Rachel Shenton, All Creatures Great and Small

Season 2 premiered Sunday, Jan. 9 at 9/8c on PBS"Pleasantly delightful" is an apt description for this adaptation of James Herriot's books about a veterinarian in northern England. The series was lauded by critics in Season 1 as an escape from pandemic panic due to its comforting light drama, sweeping English countrysides, and wistful romance as James (Nicholas Ralph and his swoony Scottish accent) bandages up critters, learns about country life, and romances the fair Helen (Rachel Shenton). Season 2 picks up with James returning to Yorkshire and seeing Helen for the first time since her marriage to another man fell through, so expect fluttery hearts and awkward, flirty glances. Lord, this show is adorable and wholesome.-Tim Surette[TRAILER]

See original here:

The Best Shows and Movies to Watch This Week: John Cena's Peacemaker, The Tragedy of Macbeth - TV Guide

Related Posts

Comments are closed.