Television doesn’t sleep. Backstage is breaking down, month by month, the buzzy shows and performances that merit attention from awards voters and couch potatoes in the ever-expanding landscape of the small screen.
Happy 2023! Now that the holidays are past and winter isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, it’s time for TV buffs everywhere to settle into their favorite pastime: sinking deep into the sofa cushions. Fortunately, the small screen gods are providing a slew of new and returning shows to help you pass those long, chilly nights.
If you’re looking to slide into nostalgia, check out Mindy Kaling and Charlie Grandy’s fresh take on “Scooby-Doo,” “Velma,” featuring a diverse, star-studded cast (Jan. 12 on HBO Max). Elsewhere, NBC is reviving “Night Court” three decades after the original wrapped, with original cast member John Larroquette plus a slew of newbies (Jan. 17). Netflix is returning to an old sitcom well with “That ’90s Show”—which, considering “That ’70s Show” premiered in 1998, is a little terrifying (Jan. 19).
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In the land of genre, AMC is continuing to build out its so-called Immortal Universe with “Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches” (Jan. 8), and Apple TV+ is airing the final season of M. Night Shyamalan and Tony Basgallop’s supernatural psychodrama “Servant” (Jan. 13). On TNT, you can catch the across-the-pond premiere of U.K. time-travel series “The Lazarus Project,” starring “I May Destroy You” Emmy nominee Paapa Essiedu (Jan. 23). Meanwhile, teen ghost hunters are coming to Netflix on Joe Cornish’s “Lockwood & Co.” (Jan. 27).
If crime is what you crave, Netflix is kicking off the new year with “Kaleidoscope,” a twisty heist series starring Giancarlo Esposito (Jan. 1). The newly minted MGM+ is airing the third season of Forest Whitaker–led mob drama “Godfather of Harlem” (Jan. 15); and Fox is dipping into the anthology format with courtroom procedural “Accused,” which will feature everyone from Rhea Perlman to Abigail Breslin to Margo Martindale (Jan. 22).
Keep reading for our top three picks of new series, plus a full list of everything else hitting your TV screens this January.
“The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House”
Acclaimed Japanese indie director Hirokazu Koreeda, whose “Shoplifters” won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2018, is shifting to the small screen with this Netflix drama series. “The Makanai” follows Kiyo (Nana Mori), a teenager who moves to Kyoto to become a live-in cook (called a makanai) for apprentice geishas (maiko). The story is based on a popular manga series by Aiko Koyama. Koreeda has made a point of bringing up-and-coming Japanese filmmakers onto the project, including Megumi Tsuno, Hiroshi Okuyama, and Takuma Sato. Expect plenty of subtle character work and lovingly filmed food porn. The series drops Jan. 12.
“The Last of Us”
Hands down the most highly anticipated series of January is this HBO adaptation of Neil Druckmann’s acclaimed 2013 video game. Co-conceived by Druckmann and Emmy-winning “Chernobyl” creator Craig Mazin, “The Last of Us” combines personal drama and epic thrills in a post-apocalyptic America swarming with cannibalistic mutants. Pedro Pascal shucks off his Mandalorian armor to play Joel, a smuggler who must bring the teenage Ellie (“Catherine Called Birdy” breakout Bella Ramsey) safely across the country. The series also features small-screen faves like Murray Bartlett, Melanie Lynskey, Gabriel Luna, and Nick Offerman. When the show drops Jan. 15, it seems primed to scratch an itch for fans of “The Walking Dead” and “Station Eleven” alike.
“Poker Face”
And then there’s the show we’re most excited about: this Peacock mystery-comedy, created by “Knives Out” mastermind Rian Johnson and starring “Russian Doll” legend Natasha Lyonne—truly a match made in TV heaven. Lyonne plays Charlie Cale, whose ability to tell whether someone is lying makes her an ideal, if unlikely, case cracker. Billed as an episodic detective tale in the vein of “Columbo” (which is fitting, considering how often Lyonne gets compared to Peter Falk), the series will follow Charlie as she travels across the country in her Plymouth Barracuda, getting to the bottom of the strangest of crimes. The case-of-the-week format allows for plenty of juicy guest stars, ranging from frequent Johnson collaborators Adrien Brody and Joseph Gordon-Levitt to Lil Rel Howery and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” breakout Stephanie Hsu. “Poker Face” heads to the streamer on Jan. 26.
ABC
Jan. 3 – “Will Trent” premiere
Acorn TV
Jan. 23 – “Under the Vines” Season 2
Adult Swim
Jan. 22 – “YOLO: Silver Destiny” premiere
ALLBLK
Jan. 12 – “A House Divided” Season 5
AMC/AMC+
Jan. 8 – “Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches” premiere
Apple TV+
Jan. 13 – “Servant” Season 4
Jan. 20 – “Truth Be Told” Season 3
Jan. 27 – “Shrinking” premiere
Disney+
Jan. 4 – “Star Wars: The Bad Batch” Season 2
Jan. 11 – “Gina Yei” premiere
Fox
Jan. 2 – “Fantasy Island” Season 2
Jan. 8 – “Alert” premiere
Jan. 22 – “Accused” premiere
Freeform
Jan. 30 – “The Watchful Eye” premiere
Hallmark Channel
Jan. 15 – “The Way Home” premiere
HBO/HBO Max
Jan. 12 – “Velma” premiere
Jan. 13 – “I Don’t Like Driving (No me gusta conducir)” premiere
Jan. 15 – “The Last of Us” premiere
Hulu
Jan. 9 – “Koala Man” premiere
Jan. 24 – “How I Met Your Father” Season 2
Jan. 25 – “Extraordinary” premiere
Credit: Patrick Wymore/Hulu
MGM+
Jan. 15 – “Godfather of Harlem” Season 3
NBC
Jan. 17 – “Night Court” premiere
Jan. 24 – “American Auto” Season 2
Netflix
Jan. 1 – “Kaleidoscope” premiere
Jan. 4 – “The Lying Life of Adults” premiere
Jan. 5 – “Copenhagen Cowboy” premiere
Jan. 5 – “Ginny & Georgia” Season 2
Jan. 5 – “Woman of the Dead” premiere
Jan. 11 – “Sexify” Season 2
Jan. 12 – “The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House” premiere
Jan. 12 – “Vikings: Valhalla” Season 2
Jan. 13 – “Sky Rojo” Season 3
Jan. 13 – “Trial by Fire” premiere
Jan. 19 – “Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre” premiere
Jan. 19 – “That ’90s Show” premiere
Jan. 19 – “Women at War” premiere
Jan. 20 – “Fauda” Season 4
Jan. 20 – “Represent” premiere
Jan. 20 – “Shahmaran” premiere
Jan. 20 – “Shanty Town” premiere
Jan. 25 – “Against the Ropes” premiere
Jan. 27 – “Lockwood & Co.” premiere
Jan. 31 – “Cunk on Earth” premiere
Paramount+
Jan. 15 – “Mayor of Kingstown” Season 2
Jan. 26 – “Wolf Pack” premiere
PBS
Jan. 8 – “All Creatures Great and Small” Season 3
Jan. 8 – “Ms. Scarlet & The Duke” Season 3
Jan. 8 – “Vienna Blood” Season 3
Peacock
Jan. 1 – “Paul T. Goldman” premiere
Jan. 26 – “Poker Face” premiere
Prime Video
Jan. 6 – “The Rig” premiere
Jan. 13 – “Hunters” Season 2
Jan. 20 – “The Legend of Vox Machina” Season 2
Showtime
Jan. 15 – “Your Honor” Season 2
Starz
Jan. 6 – “BMF” Season 2
Sundance Now
Jan. 12 – “One Lane Bridge” Season 3
Jan. 26 – “Clean Sweep” premiere
TBS
Jan. 16 – “Miracle Workers” Season 4
TNT
Jan. 23 – “The Lazarus Project” premiere