Poker Face and 6 Other Shows to Watch This Week

Looking for your next binge-watch, or just need to fill an hour? Welcome to Your Weekly Watch List, our curated collection of the best shows on television. Here’s what to watch from Monday, January 23 through Sunday, January 29.

Big stars and even bigger premieres hit your TV this week, as Jason Segel and Harrison Ford headline a new comedy from the Ted Lasso team, Natasha Lyonne shows off her Poker Face, and The 1619 Project angers all the right people.

Notable TV Premieres This Week

American Auto: Tuesday, 8:30 PM ET on NBC

This workplace auto industry sitcom from the creators of Superstore returns for a second season of driven executive Ana Gasteyer’s comically frantic attempts to right the ship at a struggling Detroit car company. Can a brilliant boss who knows literally nothing about the industry she’s suddenly running be the formula for success? Well, no, but that’s the running joke of this promising vehicle for the former Saturday Night Live star.

Poker Face: Thursday, Peacock

If the synopsis, “Natasha Lyonne drives the country in her Plymouth Barracuda solving mysteries with her uncanny ability to tell when people are lying” doesn’t entice you to watch this 10-part mystery series, then what, exactly, will? How about the fact that Poker Face is the brainchild of Knives Out and Glass Onion writer/director Rian Johnson? Okay, one more try: The cast includes the likes of Adrien Brody, Benjamin Bratt, Cherry Jones, Chloë Sevigny, Clea DuVall, Danielle MacDonald, Ellen Barkin, Hong Chau, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Luis Guzmán, Tim Blake Nelson, and Tim Meadows. That oughta do it.

The 1619 Project: Thursday, Hulu

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones’ long-form New York Times feature is the basis for this striking and deeply necessary examination of the deliberately whitewashed history of Black Americans and the ongoing political effort to codify that blinkered and bigoted worldview into law. With Hannah-Jones hosting and narrating, The 1619 Project continues the author’s mission of telling history the way it happened, rather than how certain people would prefer it to be presented. As Stephen Robinson noted in his glowing review of this six-episode series for Primetimer, “Hannah-Jones has become a polarizing figure, and a significant number of white Americans, especially Republican politicians, have accused her of promoting racism, which is like blaming the mirror for your aging face.”

Wolf Pack: Thursday, Paramount+

Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Sarah Michelle Gellar returns to supernatural TV as the star and executive producer of this series about a group of high school students whose run-in with a wolf-y menace rouses both an ancient evil and the slayer-esque government official sent to stop it. While Wolf Pack’s plentiful fangs, full moons, and monster hunters (plus the involvement of Teen Wolf executive producer Jeff Davis) all scream werewolf, the trailer does not suggest Gellar will be running into Seth Green’s Oz, sadly.

Shrinking: Friday, Apple TV+

Another no-brainer of a watch this week, Shrinking is the latest collaboration from Ted Lasso’s Bill Lawrence and Brett “Roy Kent” Goldstein. Jason Segel plays a grieving therapist whose decision to start telling his patients exactly what he thinks throws everyone’s lives into chaos. The dramedy also features Harrison Ford as a fellow therapist, continuing the Hollywood legend’s late-career TV streak, after Yellowstone spinoff 1923.

Full-Season Binge Releases

Extraordinary: Wednesday, Hulu

In a world where everyone is a superhero, what do you do when you’re stuck being just a regular person? That’s the premise of Extraordinary, a Hulu comedy about Jen (Máiréad Tyers), who is seemingly the only person to not receive her superpower upon hitting her 18th birthday. This British series follows Jen as she attempts to kickstart her stubborn power, navigate a world where every job application asks for your metahuman ability, and find out if being uniquely ordinary in a world of super-beings can be a gift of its own.

Finale Time

Leverage: Redemption Season 2: Wednesday, Amazon Freevee

The team of do-gooding grifters concludes their second season of scamming the worst of the worst in this revival series. Leverage: Redemption features most of the original cast, including the busy Aldis Hodge, whose computer hacker now steers the team’s larcenous efforts toward worldwide humanitarian goals. Not bad for a bunch of rascals.

If You Have...

An Hour

How I Met Your Father Season 2 Premiere: Tuesday, Hulu
The Winchesters Season 1 Winter Premiere: Tuesday, 9:00 PM ET on The CW

An Evening

The Bachelor Season 27 Premiere: Monday, 8:00 PM ET on ABC
NFL NFC Championship: Sunday, 3:00 PM ET on Fox
NFL AFC Championship: Sunday, 6:30 PM ET on CBS

A Full Day

Daniel Spellbound Season 2: Thursday, Netflix
Lockwood & Co. Season 1: Friday, Netflix

Up Next

The Great British Baking Show: The Professionals: Wednesday, February 1, Netflix
Dear Edward: Friday, February 3, Apple TV+
The 65th Annual Grammy Awards: Sunday, February 5, CBS

Dennis Perkins is a freelance entertainment writer with bylines at The A.V. Club, Paste, Ultimate Classic Rock, The Portland Press Herald, and elsewhere.