Every month, streaming services add movies and TV shows to their libraries. Here are our picks for some of January’s most promising new titles.
(Note: Streaming services occasionally change schedules without giving notice. For more recommendations on what to stream, sign up for our Watching newsletter here.)
New to HBO Max
‘The Righteous Gemstones’ Season 2
Starts streaming: Jan. 9
With “Succession” and “Yellowstone” both on hiatus, fans of stories about larger-than-life businessmen and their deeply damaged offspring can redirect their attention to the second season of HBO’s pitch-black social satire “The Righteous Gemstones.” Danny McBride, who also created the series, stars as Jesse, the eldest son of Eli Gemstone (John Goodman), an evangelical pastor leading a thriving megachurch. Season 1 dealt with a series of scandals that rocked the Gemstones, widening the divisions between the libertine Jesse and his two siblings, the unpredictable Judy (Edi Patterson) and the pious Kelvin (Adam DeVine). Expect these new episodes to build on what McBride and his team did with their first run, which mercilessly mocked a family of pompous, hypocritical Southern preachers and established the complex history that provides context for their corruption.
‘Peacemaker’ Season 1
Starts streaming: Jan. 13
Before the writer and director James Gunn made the blockbusters “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “The Suicide Squad,” he worked on two low-budget, subversive superhero movies: “The Specials” and “Super.” Gunn’s new TV series, “Peacemaker,” is ostensibly a spinoff of “The Suicide Squad,” following the dimwitted, hyper-macho antihero Christopher Smith (John Cena) as he starts working with an eclectic splinter group of rogue government operatives. The spirit of “Peacemaker,” however, is more aligned with Gunn’s earlier, grubbier films, which make crime and crime-fighting alike seem like warped endeavors, suffused with a strange melancholy. Equal parts violent and comic, the show explores the psyches of the men and women who dabble in costumed adventuring.
‘The Gilded Age’ Season 1
Starts streaming: Jan. 24
The “Downton Abbey” creator Julian Fellowes turns his attention to 1880s New York City with his long-in-development “The Gilded Age,” another opulent melodrama about the mores and machinations of high-society types and their poorer relations and servants. The star-studded cast includes Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon as eccentric sisters who take in their bankrupt niece (Louisa Jacobson); Denée Benton as an aspiring writer defying the racial stereotypes of the age; and Carrie Coon as a shrewd social climber married to a nouveau riche tycoon (Morgan Spector). Those are just a few of the dozens of characters Fellowes weaves through stories of romance, politics, resentments, betrayals and the social upheaval that defined the end of the 19th century.
Also arriving:
Jan. 1
“Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts”
Jan. 7
“Search Party” Season 5
Jan. 9
“Euphoria” Season 2
Jan. 16
“Somebody Somewhere”
New to Apple TV+
‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’
Starts streaming: Jan. 14
The latest big-screen adaptation of Shakespeare’s Scottish play marks the solo feature-filmmaking debut of Joel Coen, working without his longtime creative partner and brother, Ethan Coen. Denzel Washington takes on the role of the ambitious Lord Macbeth, while Frances McDormand plays his wife, who encourages him to do whatever he must — even commit murder and destroy families — to seize power. Kathryn Hunter gives a striking performance as a trio of prophetic witches, playing them as unnervingly alien. The acting is terrific across the board, and the direction is as visually dynamic and snappily paced as Coens classics like “Miller’s Crossing” and “Fargo.”
Also arriving:
Jan. 7
“El Deafo”
Jan. 21
“Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock”
“Servant” Season 3
Jan. 28
“The Afterparty”
New to Prime Video
‘A Hero’
Starts streaming: Jan. 21
The two-time Oscar-winning Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi has made one of his best movies yet with “A Hero,” a gripping morality play that persistently subverts its audience’s expectations. Amir Jadidi plays Rahim, a luckless but likable entrepreneur who has been unemployed and stuck in a debtors’ prison since a business deal that went awry. When his girlfriend finds a purse containing gold coins, a furloughed Rahim decides to return it, and the resulting good publicity initially turns his fortunes around. But the seemingly selfless act also raises questions about his real motivations and the circumstances of the discovery. As the scrutiny intensifies, Rahim scrambles to cover his tracks, in what becomes a riveting story about a good person making terrible choices for the right reasons.
Also arriving:
Jan. 7
“The Tender Bar”
Jan. 14
“Do, Re & Mi”
“Hotel Transylvania: Transformania”
Jan. 21
“As We See It” Season 1
Jan. 28
“Needle in a Timestack”
New to Hulu
‘I’m Your Man’
Starts streaming: Jan. 11
In this German science-fiction romance, Dan Stevens plays “Tom,” a realistic humanoid robot companion being given a three-week trial by Alma (Maren Eggert), a lonely archaeologist who resents the assignment — even though Tom has been specifically engineered to make her happy. The charming Stevens is a superb choice to play an idealized version of an attractive, attentive gentleman. But “I’m Your Man” director Maria Schrader (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jan Schomburg) is ultimately more interested in Alma, whose personal life and career have both been defined by her thwarted desires. This is a thoughtful drama about humanity’s yearning to let machines provide for our needs — and how that dream can only be realized if people can articulate what they really want.
‘How I Met Your Father’ Season 1
Starts streaming: Jan. 18
This gender-flipped follow-up to the hit 2000s sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” has been in the works since 2013, going through multiple creative teams. The extended gestation may have been benefited “How I Met Your Father” head writers Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, allowing them to bring the series more in line with the expectations of 2020s audiences — primarily by including more cultural diversity. Hilary Duff stars as a lovesick modern-day New Yorker named Sophie, while Kim Cattrall plays Sophie in the future, looking back at the days when she was trying to figure out which of the handful of men in her social circle might be her perfect match. The new show’s approach hews close to the original, using an old-fashioned sitcom style as it follows a bunch of bright and optimistic young people, stumbling through the early stages of adulthood.
Also arriving:
Jan. 1
“Falling for Figaro”
Jan. 3
“The Year of the Everlasting Storm”
Jan. 7
“Pharma Bro”
Jan. 10
“Ailey”
“Black Bear”
“The Golden Palace” Season 1
Jan. 13
“Madagascar: A Little Wild” Season 6
Jan. 14
“Bergman Island”
“Sex Appeal”
Jan. 17
“Georgetown”
Jan. 20
“The Estate”
Jan. 27
“Mayday”
Jan. 30
“Small Engine Repair”
New to Peacock
‘Wolf Like Me’ Season 1
Starts streaming: Jan. 13
In this Australian romantic dramedy, Josh Gad plays a widowed father named Gary who has a chance encounter with an advice columnist named Mary (Isla Fisher) and feels the kind of personal connection he hasn’t known since his wife died. Mary likes Gary, too, but she has a big, scary secret that makes it hard for her to stay with any man for long. “Wolf Like Me” was written and directed by Abe Forsythe, whose 2019 horror comedy “Little Monsters” (also starring Gad) blended bloody zombie attacks into a relatively grounded story about people coping with everyday personal problems. This six-episode series is similarly genre-bending, injecting suspense and even a hint of the supernatural into a character study of a lost, lonely man, seeking companionship for himself and his child.
Also arriving:
Jan. 14
“Use of Force: The Policing of Black America”
Jan. 20
“Supernatural Academy” Season 1
“True Story with Ed & Randall” Season 1
Source: Television - nytimes.com
