Bonus Edition: Your curated list of must-see shows and films dropping in January
As this week’s edition of my Substack was solely focused on an analysis of one show, Station Eleven, to be true to the spirit of this blog, I want to be sure to give you all some recommendations of shows that are launching this month that you can all start to get excited about now.
Assuming you’ve already finished current seasons of Yellowjackets and Dexter: New Blood (Showtime), Cobra Kai and Emily in Paris (Netflix) and Vienna Blood and All Creatures, Great & Small (PBS Passport), here are some upcoming shows that should get you excited.
In order of excitement:
Ozark on Netflix.
Season 4, Part 1 releases on January 21st.
Good for: Cerebral, get-it-done oriented people that love Breaking Bad style drama - the sort that keeps you guessing and on the edge of your seat observing the antics of a seemingly “good” family going bad. Marty and his family up the ante in the Missouri Ozarks, trying to launder $500 Million in 5 years. This season has them going for broke with a Mexican drug cartel.
Starring: Jason Bateman, Laura Linney
Most chilling quote from the trailer: “Your greatest threat comes from the inside, Marty. Never forget that.” as the camera pans on Marty’s son…
The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window on Netflix.
Season 1 releases on January 28th.
Good for: Wine and true crime pairing aficionados that need a laugh and with Kirsten Bell (The Good Place) in the lead role here starring alongside Mary Holland (Happiest Season) and Tom Riley (as the hunky neighbor) in an oddball murder mystery, it’s a win-win for everyone.
Starring: Kirsten Bell, Tom Riley
Most chilling quote from the trailer: “And I’m here because I woke up this morning convinced I’d witnessed a murder.” (in what looks to be an AA group)
Search Party on HBO Max.
Season 5 now playing.
Good for: Those with a sense of self-effacing and absurdist tendencies as well as loyalty to a show that started off strong in the first few seasons and has gone a bit rogue and dark in the past 2 seasons, this one included. The foursome who make up the millennial “Search Party” each earn their right to live another day. They are all great comic talents. Notably, Dory Sief (Alia Shawkat) as the chief narcissist of the group without any iota of self-awareness of just how bad she is is also bewitching to watch.
Starring: Alia Shawkat, Meredith Hagner, John Paul Reynolds, John Early, Jeff Goldblum (this season)
Most chilling quote from the trailer: ALL of them. That’s part of this show’s charm.
The Righteous Gemstones on HBO Max.
Season 2 now playing.
Good for: Slapstick, low-brow humor crowd that does satire well and abides by Danny McBride (Vice Principals) humor. I’m not too frou-frou to admit I go for it. This one centers on a world-famous televangelist family with a long tradition of deviance, greed and charitable work. (per the HBO description)
Starring: John Goodman, Danny McBride, Edi Patterson, Adam Devine, Eric Roberts & Jason Schwartzman (this season)
Most chilling quote from the trailer: “You gonna try and blackmail me to sell your story. Let’s not waste time.” (Goodman)
Per the reference above on McBride’s former show, Vice Principals. It’s not a new show but an entertaining one which paired McBride with Walton Goggins (Boyd Crowder, Justified) who sparred beautifully off one another.
Speaking of Justified, it’s been confirmed that there’s a new limited series launching based on Elmore Leonard’s novel, City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit. If you recall the show ran for 6 seasons from 2010-2015 and starred Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, a deputy who often took justice into his own hands up against some pretty heinous villains in rural Kentucky. The new Elmore Leonard reboot which just got greenlit. Per the description of the show from Deadline:
The show returns to Givens’ story eight years after he’s left Kentucky and now is based in Miami, balancing life as a marshal and part-time father of a 14-year-old girl. A chance encounter on a Florida highway sends him to Detroit and he crosses paths with Clement Mansell, aka The Oklahoma Wildman, a violent sociopath who’s already slipped through the fingers of Detroit’s finest once and wants to do so again.
Sounds like a trend of old shows being brought back and with good reason - they were really good. First with Dexter: New Blood - the reboot taking place 10 years into the future from where Dexter ended and now Justified. Curious to see if this show and Raylan himself stand the test of time. But sounds like Walton Goggins (Boyd Crowder) won’t be coming back based on the show’s premise which makes me a bit sad. Either way, we’ll be watching.
Don’t rush to see aka 1.5 hours+ of time I’m never getting back:
Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania on Prime.
Verdict: My kids recommend it. My husband and I were in pain watching it and I fell asleep watching it because sometimes your body just shuts down when it’s in pain. That said, we all love the Hotel Transylvania franchise of movies. They are fun and who doesn’t love the Adam Sandler-Andy Samberg father and son-in-law combo. It works. Only this time even Adam Sandler (Drac) didn’t show up for this mess of a movie and it couldn’t seem to really get a theme going, apart form oddball Johnny, aka Samberg, being an outcast (both because he’s human and also because he’s weird), which was pretty much the running joke of the other 3 films.