A new Bachelor and the latest “+” streaming service headline a busy Monday in TV land
Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Monday, January 4. All times are Eastern.
Top picks
The Bachelor (ABC, 8 p.m., 25th-season premiere): It is our responsibility to alert you to this simple fact: The new Bachelor is a guy you probably know nothing about. He’s never been in the franchise before, and you have not yet developed any sort of emotional connection with him. This means if you’re one of those people who watched a lone season of one of these shows and then got lured back because the next lead was someone you liked from a previous season and now it’s been eight long years and you don’t know how to quit, this is your moment! Fly free! Liberate yourself from the tyranny of Chris Harrison! For the rest of you (and definitely for us here at The A.V. Club, for better or worse), meet Matt James.
Okay, he’s charming, but we still want justice for Mike Johnson. Watch for Gwen Ihnat’s drop-in recap of the premiere.
discovery+: It is, without exaggeration, not remotely possible for us to sum up all the offerings included in the launch of the latest plus-sign streaming service. There are, uh, a lot, and we’re barely back from the holiday. (Thanks a bunch, Discovery.) Suffice it to say if you like zit-popping, ghost-hunting, home décor, nature documentaries, or basically any genre of nonfiction programming, there’s something here for you. According to a press release, discovery+ (capitalization not ours) will include more than 55,000 episodes at launch from some 2,500 “current and classic shows from Discovery’s iconic portfolio of networks, including HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, OWN, Travel Channel, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet,” as well as new programming from Chip and Joanna Gaines, Will Packer and Kevin Hart, Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis, Duff Goldman, Amy Schumer, Carla Hall, David Schwimmer, and Sir David Attenborough, among others.
More from TV Club
30 Coins (HBO, 9 p.m. and 10:20 p.m., series premiere): This horror series from HBO Europe and HBO Latin America kicks off tonight with back-to-back episodes. In them, you’ll meet an exorcist who becomes the local priest of a small Spanish town, after which, if you’ll forgive the pun, all hell breaks loose. In her pre-air review, Marissa De La Cerda was impressed by the series’ fusion of religious horror and fantasy.
Regular coverage
Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina (Netflix): Binge coverage continues
Wild cards
The Hustler (ABC, 10 p.m., series premiere): You can unclench your fists—this is not a TV remake of the Paul Newman movie. Craig Ferguson hosts this “mystery trivia game show” in which a group of five contestants work together to answer 10 trivia questions and pocket a cash prize. The twist: One of the contestants knows all the answers already but can’t get caught as the one in the know.
Antiques Roadshow (PBS, 8 p.m., 25th-season premiere): Like The Bachelor, AR is celebrating a major milestone; unlike The Bachelor, its producers did not feel compelled to bring in Tyler C.’s hot friend to mark the occasion.