The best shows and movies to watch on TV this week were so numerous, we had a difficult time narrowing it down just to the seven recommendations below. So what almost made the cut? Showtime’s docuseries The Reagans (Sunday, 8pm), HBO’s true crime series Murder on Middle Beach (Sunday, 10pm), Disney+’s The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special (Tuesday), Hulu’s war drama No Man’s Land (Wednesday), HBO’s documentary Crazy, Not Insane (Wednesday), and HBO Max’s new Adventure Time special (Thursday). There, now you absolutely cannot complain that there is nothing to watch on TV this week.
Our full list of editors’ picks for the week are below, but if this isn’t 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, or check out the best shows and movies in November on Netflix and Amazon Prime.
The Crown
Season 4 premieres Sunday on Netflix
Season 4 is already being hailed as the best season of the decadent drama so far as Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman) butts heads with prime minister Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson) and the series enters the glorious 1980s. But the biggest addition to the cast of characters is Princess Diana (Emma Corrin), who will wed Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor) this season. This is Colman’s last season as the queen; Imelda Staunton will take over the role in the final two seasons of the series.
Big Sky
Series premiere Tuesday at 10/9c on ABC
David E. Kelley‘s track record of hits (Big Little Lies, Ally McBeal, Boston Legal, and more) and misses (many that we choose to forget) gets put to the test in this broadcast series that probably would have been better off on streaming. Set in the law-optional expanse of Montana, the twisty and scattered Big Sky follows a few private detectives (Kylie Bunbury, Katheryn Winnick, Ryan Phillippe) who chase down a killer who is taking women off the street. Further complicating things, the detectives include female rivals who are sleeping with the same man. This is ABC’s big new show of the season, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a mess. In the first 20 minutes alone, there’s an abduction of a prostitute, a female fistfight in a bar, a car chase, and enough Top 40 hits from multiple decades for a new edition of Now That’s What I Call Music. There are seeds that the many female characters will turn into badasses down the line, but the instances of violence against women (and trans people) in the pilot was a bit too much for me. I guess what I’m saying that despite the bombardment of commercials you’ve seen, you don’t have to watch it.
We Are the Champions
Series premiere Tuesday on Netflix
Boo on normie sports! Rainn Wilson (The Office) narrates this exotic sports docuseries that covers unusual competitions from around the world like frog jumping, hot chili pepper eating, and dog dancing. The series walks that balance of tone between “OMG this is a real sport lolwut?” and some great personal stories of the athletes competing for pride, making it good times all around. I’ve watched most of it, and the cheese rolling episode is phenomenal.
I Hate Suzie
North American series premiere Thursday on HBO Max
It’s OK to watch someone during the worst time of their life, really! It’s good for learning from their mistakes, enjoying a little schadenfreude, and in the SkyTV series I Hate Suzie, it’s also very funny. Billie Piper delivers an award-worthy performance as she absolutely becomes Suzie Pickles, an actress whose career and family get blown to bits when her phone is hacked and racy photos are leaked on the internet. The scramble to save face and her marriage is a bumpy one for Suzie, who goes through the wringer in the dark comedy that isn’t afraid to mix raunch with sharp observations about celebrity. There’s an element of horror to the show as the walls close in on Suzie and she retreats into some self-destructive behavior in strange places, and the anxiety it produces is almost too much, in a great way. Season 1’s eight 30-minute episodes will all drop at once.
Supernatural
Series finale Thursday at 9/8c on The CW
Carry on, wayward sons! Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester hit the end of the road with the Season 15 finale of The CW’s longest running show. Are we expecting a happy ending? A *gulp* tragic ending? Or the bittersweet ending of a couple sibling demon hunters whose lives will never be the same once they hang ’em up? All I know is tears will deservedly be shed. The finale will be preceded by an hourlong special celebrating the series. Cue up the Kansas.
Animaniacs
New rebooted series premiere Friday on Hulu
We never endorse corporations mining our childhoods for reboots of cherished properties that we grew up on, but we’re making an exception for Hulu’s continuation of the 1993 classic Animaniacs. Yakko, Wakko, and Dot return for more incredibly zany adventures, parodies, and sketches that are fit for both kids and adults and updated for today’s audiences (The Brain’s latest plot for world domination is becoming an Instagram meme). This is a reboot of a cartoon done right; there was nothing changed in the look or style (aside from going widescreen, as they note in their opening number), so these may as well be lost episodes from the original run.
Small Axe
Friday on Amazon Prime
Filmmaker Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave, Widows) laughs at television anthologies. He’s doing a MOVIE anthology for Amazon (and BBC One), releasing five different movies portraying black life in England from the 1960s to 1980s. First up is critically acclaimed Mangrove, a courtroom drama telling the story of the Mangrove 9, a group of peaceful Black protesters who were wrongfully arrested and charged with inciting a riot. New films from the series will air each of the next four Fridays.
Stop searching, start watching! TV Guide’s Watch This Now! page has even more TV recommendations.
