Turn & Smile Sunday TV Guide: January 12, 2025
What to watch, what we've been watching, & what excites us for January 13th to 19th!
Welcome back, Couch Potatoes! This week we bring you another Sunday TV Guide filled with more premiers to fill your week with.
Be sure to let us know what you’re looking forward to the most, and what you’ve enjoyed so far!
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What We’ve Been Watching
Mason: I started watching Beast Games on Amazon. I’m not very far in, but I don’t really like it. This show seems like poverty tourism - I’m just watching people cry about how desperately they need the prize money. My tolerance for reality TV starts and ends with pranking French Canadians. That’s just the way I’ve always been.
That said, if you are someone who likes competition shows like “Hole In The Wall,” “American Ninja Warrior,” or “American Gladiators” you’re going to enjoy Beast Games.
Larissa: I might goaded Mason into watching Beast Games. In my opinion, Beast Games is changing reality TV forever.
A major TV network leveraging a YouTuber hasn’t really been done since Food Network’s failed attempt at a partnership with the Try Guys (RIP). Amazon partnering with Mr Beast is genius. I expect more fusion between traditional networks and new media influencers.
The prize pot is $5 MILLION. In this age where people are willing to do stupid shit like go on Beast Games because of poverty, expect more big-money prize shows to crop up as a response, as well as more production money for the shows from the networks. We might be on the verge of a Competition Show Golden Era.
What We’re Excited To See
Mason: Harley Quinn returns to MAX! Harley Quinn returns to MAX!!
Larissa: I’m definitely checking out With Love, Meghan on Netflix. I’ve been a fan since Suits, and I think she’s been more than regal with all the drama she has endured.
What We’re Talking About
Mason: I knew someone who worked for a tech company that made wearable bracelets that monitored your exhaustion. They gave me one with a comped account, but whenever I checked it I got tired. I took more naps before I stopped wearing that than I did my first time through Kindergarten—two stars for manipulating me to sleep more. Do not recommend. Must stay up. Must watch more TV.
…Now I’m hungry. What’s the best thing to binge while binge-watching? For all our readers, give us your answer in our footer poll!
Larissa: The fate of the 2025 Grammy’s is up in the air, with other award shows, like the Critics Choice Awards, cancelled with the fires in LA raging on. This award season in general is looking grim.
At least we can still escape apocalyptic reality in the short term with some exciting new premieres this week! Take a look at what’s new on TV below!
New To Streaming
January 13th to 19th
Severance (Apple TV+)
Season 2 of this series that originally debuted… Three years ago(???)… comes to Apple TV+ by everybody’s favourite deputy city manager,
Ben Wyatt. I mean Adam Scott. Severance is a sci-fi thriller series directed by Ben Stiller about an employee at a fictional company who agrees to a procedure that would separate his work memories from his personal memories.
Public Disorder/ ACAB (Netflix)
Public Disorder is based on the Italian book ACAB: All Cops Are Bastards by Carlo Bonini. It follows a riot squad as tensions rise and they struggle to keep their work separate from their lives. Bonini’s book was also adapted into a well-received Italian film in 2012. The series is also Italian.
XO, Kitty (Netflix)
Serious question— is… is it 2018 still? I only ask because the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before franchise feels very of its time to me, but it’s been a sleeper hit for Netflix with women and emotionally self-aware middle school boys. XO, Kitty is a spinoff TV series that follows Katherine (the titular Kitty), a secondary character in the films, and her adventures in love at a boarding school in Seol, South Korea (the better of the two Koreas). Season 2 is coming this week.
Single's Inferno (Netflix)
This unique South Korean reality TV show combines “Survivor” with “Love Island.” Young Korean singles are plopped onto an island about an hour away from Seoul and tasked with getting off the island while trying to find a match. Season 4 of this popular series begins this week.
With Love, Meghan (Netflix)
Meghan Merkle, the Duchess of Sussex, comes to us in a lifestyle docuseries that promises a lot of guests, too, in a series that will blend how-to’s with candid conversations.
Lovers Anonymous/ Adsiz Asiklar (Netflix)
This Turkish romantic drama is about a man who lost his trust in love as a kid. He meets someone full of trust and love at his job at a “love hospital” (I couldn’t tell you what that is even if you paid me) who makes him question everything.
The Roshans (Netflix)
A docuseries about the life and times of the Roshan family— an iconic family of Bollywood stars— The Roshan family has produced four renowned performers. The series is originally in Hindi but as always it comes with subtitles and dubbing in other languages.
Young, Famous & African (Netflix)
This South African reality TV series follows famous South African entertainment icons and their turbulent relationships.
Alpha Males (Netflix)
Somehow we missed this Spanish comedy about 4 men in their 40s adjusting to new gender norms last week. Season 3 already dropped, but we can still announce a premier for this show. It’s coming back for Season 4 next year, and Netflix has promised to produce Dutch, Italian, and French versions of this show, too!
Black Warrant (Netflix)
Another one we accidentally missed last week. Black Warrant is based on the book “Black Warrant: Confessions of a Tihar Jailer” by Indian authors Sunetra Choudhury and Sunil Gupta. It is about Sunil Gupta’s time as a junior jailer at Tihar Jail.
FBI: True (Paramount+)
Season 6 of this true crime docuseries that interviews FBI agents about their most infamous and challenging cases debuts this week.
A Real Bug’s Life (Disney+)
A docuseries from Nat Geo (National Geographic), a media company owned by the same studio that brought us the animated film A Bug’s Life, this live action series looks very closely at the world of bugs and brings us all of the running-off-a-cliff drama you might expect from a Disney Nature documentary.
Harley Quinn (MAX)
People of a certain age may remember Harley Quinn from “Batman: The Animated Series,” an original character to that children’s cartoon who has since exploded in popularity. The Harley Quinn series from MAX (formerly HBO MAX & HBO Go), is very decidedly not meant for children but is an adult-focused animated comedy that sees the former psychiatrist try to clime to the top of Gotham’s seedy underbelly after breaking up with her abusive boyfriend, The Joker. Voiced by Kaley Cuco in one of her best performances since PanAm, this series— technically an “Elseworld” story set outside the upcoming DC cinematic Universe— is a very interesting take on the titular character.
Mermicorno: Starfall (MAX)
This new children’s series follows a group of Mermicorn friends— half unicorn/ half mermaid— as they set out on an adventure to save the ocean from evil.
SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night (Peacock)
This docuseries showcases auditions and stories from SNL’s most famous cast members of the past 50 years.
Molly-Mae: Behind It All (Prime Video)
This reality TV show follows Love Island: UK alum Molly-Mae Hague as she adjusts to the challenges of motherhood and launches her most recent business, a new clothing brand. Hague has previously been accused of being classist (Thatcherite), and has run afowl of UK regulators for improperly running sweepstakes and failing to disclose sponsored content. At least this time she can trust Amazon to give her image a nice chrome sheen.
La Liberación/ The Liberation (Prime Video)
This new Spanish language series is about three women who try to convince another woman to drop her sexual assault allegations against a famous director.
NFL Icons (MGM+)
Season 4 of this docuseries highlighting and celebrating NFL greats hits MGM+ and Prime Video this week
New To Cable
January 13th to 19th
Baylen Out Loud (TLC)
22 year old Tik Tok influencer Baylen Dupree will share her life with Tourettes Syndrome in this reality TV series from TLC.
Death by Fame (Investigation Discovery)
This docuseries unveils the mysteries surrounding the deaths, and murders, of some of the most famous people. Season 4 premiers this week, however past seasons seem to be available through MAX.
The Curious Case Of Natalia Grace (Investigation Discovery)
The final chapter of “The Curious Case Of Natalie Grace,” officially titled “The Curious Case Of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter,” premiers this week on Investigation Discovery, and comes to MAX some time after that.
Night Court (NBC)
The third season of this revival sitcom that originally ran from 1984 to 1992 debuts this week. This revival brings back a lot of stars from the original series but follows True Blood alum Melissa Rauch who plays the daughter of a legacy character on the series. Catch it this week on NBC.
Scam Goddess (Freeform)
Freeform brings us this series based on the very popular podcast of the same name that details popular cons and scams by “A Black Lady Sketch Show” alum Laci Mosley.
Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
Neocon libertarian “comedian” Bill Maher, who sometimes likes to flaunt himself as a “rational liberal” brings back his talk show of angry talking heads yelling at each other to no end. Fun little fact about Bill Maher: he wanted to force his writers back to work while they were on strike last year. Anyway, season 23 of “Real Time with an Aging Blowhard” premiers this week on HBO.
The Couple Next Door (Starz)
This British psychological thriller series based on the Dutch TV show “Nieuwe Buren” is about the fallout and aftermath of an affair between married sets of neighbours. Season 2 returns this week.
Thank you again to all of our sofa taters and couch potatoes for joining us on this exploration of what’s to come. Be sure to subscribe and do the other internet things below if you like this newsletter and want more. And don’t snooze on the poll, either! Your answers help us a lot!
Severance 🔥🔥🔥