Will you be watching The Watch?
Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Sunday, January 3. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
The Watch (BBC America, 8 p.m., two-hour series premiere): “Watching BBC America’s The Watch—at least, watching it as a fan of Terry Pratchett’s massively best-selling Discworld novels, on which it’s (very) loosely based—is a bit like listening to two songs running at the exact same time. There’s the surface-level tune, i.e., all the things that’ve been lifted directly from Pratchett’s long-running satirical fantasy series: the names, the plot points, the orangutan librarian. And then there’s the far weirder show that’s lurking underneath all the stuff ostensibly meant to lure the Pratchett fans in: a grungy effort that, for some reason, aspires to be the most punk-rock cop show ever made, complete with flashing neon lights, Pixies needle drops, and a liberal dosage of raised middle fingers.
But here’s the sad truth: Neither of the two disparate shows that The Watch seems to be trying to be is actually very good. And trying to listen to both at once is likely to give you the same headache you’d get if you were jamming ‘Where Is My Mind?’ in one ear and a half-remembered lute tune in the other.” Read the rest of William Hughes’s pre-air review.
Regular coverage
Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina (Netflix): binge coverage continues
Vikings (Amazon): binge coverage continues
Wild card
Call Me Kat (Fox, 8 p.m., series premiere): Mayim Bialik, Swoozie Kurtz, and Leslie Jordan star in this American remake of Miranda Hart’s beloved Britcom. (You can watch the original on Hulu.)
Supermarket Sweep (ABC, 8 p.m, first-season finale): This Leslie Jones-hosted reboot of the classic game show ends its first season—far too soon, if we may say so. Come back soon, Supermarket Sweep. Come back real soon.