TV production has come roaring back into action after Hollywood devolved into chaos for much of 2023, but the good news is that a few handfuls of anticipated shows will be back in action for January 2024. Not only that, but Reacher will keep punching bad dudes all the way into the new year while that Amazon Prime crowd-favorite show has already begun filming a third season.
Additionally, there’s plenty to anticipate with a chilly new season of HBO’s True Detective (it’s time for a lengthy ladies’ night) and an AMC show, Monsieur Spade, that offers a new take on an old hardboiled detective. The latest Band Of Brothers followup will also debut on Apple TV+, and Kevin Smith’s Masters Of The Universe will take a final lap on Netflix, which is where Sofía Vergara will team up with the Narcos guys in a ladies’ night for drug-lording, too. Clearly, a few common themes are running through this winter on television, so get warmed up in your living room and prepare to enjoy.
Here are the must see shows for January.
The Brothers Sun: Season 1 (Netflix series streaming 1/1)
Everything Everywhere All At Once star Michelle Yeoh is seemingly, you know, everywhere… all at once, and there are no complaints there, except possibly from this piano player from the awards circuit. Creators Brad Falchuk (Glee, American Horror Story) and Byron Wu (The Getaway) bring us the story of Bruce (Sam Song Li), who begins to realize that his mom, Eileen (Yeoh), hasn’t exactly been forthcoming about her past. Soon enough, it becomes obvious that a family business exists and has already been joined by older brother Charles (Justin Chien), a powerful assassin. Expect both comedy and action as roundhouse kicks collide.
Echo: Season 1 (Disney+ series streaming 1/10)
The MCU’s having a rough time lately other than the Jonathan Majors-free aspects of Loki, but nonetheless, Disney+ shows are coming, albeit at a less breakneck pace than a few years ago. Following a Hawkeye reveal, Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) receives her Echo origin story after her ruthless NYC adventures follow her to her hometown. The series co-stars Vincent D’Onofrio as Kingpin/Wilson Fisk and will reportedly even include Charlie Cox as Daredevil/Matt Murdock (although the Daredevil standalone show is currently undergoing significant retools before its own airtime).
Ted: Season 1 (Peacock series streaming 1/11)
Everything is being revived or rebooted, so Seth MacFarlane is taking another swing with this profane teddy bear. This series will act as a prequel film to the films starring Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, and Amanda Seyfried, but don’t worry, MacFarlane’s voice will return to drop all of those F-bombs because the franchise demands it.
Monsieur Spade: Season 1 (AMC/Acorn series streaming 1/14)
Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade returns, but this ain’t no Maltese Falcon. Instead, the not-afraid-to-be-bad Clive Owen follows up his A Murder At The End Of The World performance as a new incarnation of the hardboiled P.I. This story follows his quest to uncover an apparent serial killer of nuns, but things grow potentially supernatural as Spade vanquishes secrets and follows leads to solve the series of brutal murders. Despite the macabre subject matter at hand, expect Owen to embody Spade with a flourish.
True Detective: Night Country (HBO series streaming on Max 1/14)
Can Season 4 recapture the magic of Season 1? At the very least, this new story seems to be hitting some of the same atmospheric and tonal notes as the original story starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, who shall not be seen but are executive producing. There will be plenty of literal and figurative chills while Jodie Foster’s detective teams up with an old colleague portrayed by Evangeline Navarro. Together, they will attempt to unearth frozen truths involving horrors that took place during a Polar Night when an entire research died under mysterious circumstances. Are your teeth chattering already? Same.
Griselda (Netflix series streaming 1/25)
Here comes “the Godmother” of cocaine. Original Narcos co-creator Doug Miro and Narcos: Mexico executive producer Eric Newman team up to tell the story of Colombian drug cartel leader Griselda Blanco, a prolific cocaine trafficker as portrayed by Sofia Vergara. We haven’t seen the Modern Family star get dramatic on TV yet, so this series should attract eyeballs for more reasons than one. Griselda reigned in Miami in the 1970-’80s, and her tour of terror included operating under 20 aliases, moving hundreds of kilos per month, and ordering dozens of murders.
Masters of the Universe: Revolution (Netflix series streaming 1/25)
Kevin Smith (along with his worst tweet) is wrapping up his oddly controversial 1980s revival series on Netflix, and hey look, there’s still plenty of He-Man to be found here. Skeletor has become newly mechanized, and he’s still going for the soul of Eternia, but Tesla is now Sorceress Tesla, so hopefully, she will save everyone’s ass once and for all. The ragers will love that, for sure.
Masters Of The Air: Season 1 (Apple TV+ series streaming 1/26)
Here’s a stellar Band Of Brothers followup from Steven Spielberg (Amblin Television) in conjunction with Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman (Playtone). This new series is based upon Donald L. Miller’s book of the same name about the “Bloody Hundredth,” i.e. the 100th Bomb Group, who risked everything they had to conduct bombing raids upon Nazi Germany. Austin Butler dropped his Elvis voice to portray a U.S. major alongside Callum Turner. There’s a “Buck” and a “Bucky” in the character list, and there’s also the ever-present Barry Keoghan joining in the camaraderie while the U.S. carries out perilous missions to take down Hitler’s Third Reich. It’s an adventure-filled yet harrowing viewing experience but fully worth the ride.
Expats: Season 1 (Amazon Prime series streaming 1/26)
Nicole Kidman (who appears to have firmly shifted to TV after HBO’s The Undoing and Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers) headlines this adaptation of the Janice Y. K. Lee’s 2016 novel, The Expatriates. According to Amazon’s synopsis, this series chronicles “the vibrant lives of a close-knit expatriate community: where affluence is celebrated, friendships are intense but knowingly temporary, and personal lives, deaths and marriages are played out publicly–then retold with glee.”