The calendar turns to 2022 this week, which means both a wave of specials on New Year’s Eve — typically one of the bigger nights of the year for network TV — and a host of premieres once the hangover clears. Among the broadcast debuts are the final season of This Is Us and Black-ish. The streaming menu is a bit light on premieres, but it features both a new Star Wars series on Disney+ and a look back at the Harry Potter movie franchise on HBO Max.
Below is The Hollywood Reporter‘s rundown of premieres, returns and specials over the next seven days. It would be next to impossible to watch everything, but let THR point the way to worthy options for the coming week. All times are ET/PT unless noted.
The Big Show
With the third season of The Mandalorian set for a 2022 debut, Disney+ squeezes in a Star Wars series just under the wire for this year with The Book of Boba Fett. The spinoff of The Mandalorian follows the legendary bounty hunter (Temuera Morrison) and fellow hired gun Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) as they return to Tatooine and attempt to gain a foothold in the galactic underworld by taking over the territory once controlled by Jabba the Hutt. Jennifer Beals, David Pasquesi and Sophie Thatcher also star. The series premieres Wednesday on Disney+ and will have new episodes weekly.
Also on streaming …
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and a host of other Harry Potter movie alumni gather to celebrate two decades of the franchise in HBO Max’s special Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts (Saturday). The second installment of Netflix’s true-crime anthology Crime Scene is subtitled The Times Square Killer (Wednesday). Season four of Cobra Kai debuts Friday on Netflix.
On broadcast …
New Year’s Eve: The second COVID-affected New Year’s Eve will feature a somewhat more celebratory atmosphere than in 2020 — but still one rife with precautions against the virus. Several networks will mark the turning of the calendar with primetime and late-night specials on Friday, with ABC’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve (8 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.) marking its 50th anniversary. CBS has New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash (8 and 11:30 p.m.), and NBC will air 2021: It’s Toast! in primetime (8 p.m.) followed by Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party (10:30 p.m.), hosted by Miley Cyrus and Pete Davidson.
Final seasons: A pair of Emmy-winning series begin their final seasons on Tuesday. NBC’s This Is Us begins its sixth season of tugging at viewers’ heartstrings at 9 p.m., following the Pearson siblings in the past and present. Black-ish opens its eighth season at 9:30 p.m. on ABC, with Michelle Obama guest starring in the premiere.
Also: The annual Tournament of Roses Parade will have coverage from both ABC and NBC at 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT Saturday. Fox’s Next Level Chef premieres at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT Sunday following NFL coverage. Around the World in 80 Days (8 p.m. Sunday, PBS) stars David Tennant as Phileas Fogg. The Bachelor begins a new season at 8 p.m. Monday on ABC. Monday also brings the premieres of Fox’s 911: Lone Star (8 p.m.) and The Cleaning Lady (9 p.m.) and NBC’s Kenan (8 p.m.). On Tuesday, ABC debuts Judge Steve Harvey (8 p.m.) and Abbott Elementary ahead of Black-ish, and NBC’s rookie comedies American Auto (8 p.m.) and Grand Crew (8:30 p.m.) settle into their regular homes.
On cable …
College football: The College Football Playoff includes a team — the undefeated Cincinnati Bearcats — from outside the “power five” conferences for the first time. Cincinnati plays Alabama in the first semifinal at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT Friday on ESPN. The second matchup features Georgia and Michigan at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT. New Year’s Day brings wall-to-wall bowl games starting at noon ET/9 a.m. PT (Penn State vs. Arkansas in the Outback Bowl on ESPN2) and running through primetime (Mississippi vs. Baylor in the Sugar Bowl on ESPN).
Also: Parks and Recreation and Good Girls star Retta hosts HGTV’s five-episode search for the Ugliest House in America (10 p.m. Monday). If you’ve spent any time on real estate sites, you know the competition is fierce.
In case you missed it …
With Love is not the kind of romantic comedy that believes in piling on complications for its characters. In fact, “there are few problems on With Love that can’t be solved with an eloquent declaration of love or a mad dash to the airport or, in one case, a heroic punch to the face,” writes THR critic Angie Han. And while that makes the limited series, about an extended Mexican American family from One Day at a Time‘s Gloria Calderón Kellett a little too saccharine at times, “the fantasy it’s selling is still a joyful one.” All five episodes are streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video.
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