Between network, cable and streaming, the modern television landscape is vast. Here are some of the shows, specials and movies that will air on TV this week from January 2nd to 8th. Details and times are subject to change.
Monday
Independent Lenses: The Children of Las Brisas (2023) 10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). “Children of Las Brisas” explores the ambition and creativity of young musicians coping with political turmoil and humanitarian crises. This documentary follows members of Venezuela’s youth orchestra as they grow up in the aftermath of the country’s revolution and the death of former president Hugo. Chavez. When the film premiered at her DOC NYC festival in 2022, director Marianela Maldonado explained the intentions behind it. “It’s about the pain of living in a dysfunctional society and growing up with the dream of being an artist,” she said. “This is a story of survival and redemption through music.”
Whitney: can i be me (2017) Showtime 6:15 p.m. There is now a version dramatizing the life of singer Whitney Houston in the theater. The biopic Whitney Houston: I Want to Dance With Someone. For a non-fiction portrait, consider this feature-length document that combines the voices of Houston’s friends, family and collaborators with footage from his late 1990s tours. The result, Ben Kenigsberg wrote in his New York Times review, was “a stunningly conventional, faithfully respectful, behind-the-scenes portrait.”
Tuesday
find your roots 8 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). In the first episode of the new season of the family tree show, scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. presents actress Julia Roberts with a research-filled book on the Roberts family history. Roberts lifts her book and looks at Gates with a smile. “This carries some weight,” she says. That’s often true in many ways, and it’s true of the research that underpins the series that uses DNA analysis and historical research to reveal the often complex backgrounds of celebrity guests. Tuesday’s episode, which kicks off the show’s ninth season, features Roberts and Edward Norton. Other guests this season include movie stars Claire Danes, Viola Davis, and Danny Trejo. Pop star Cyndi Lauper. and activist and academic Angela Davis.
Wednesday
brit (1968) 8pm at TCM. When this now-classic neo-noir was released at Radio City Music Hall in the fall of 1968, critic Renata Adler wrote in her Times review: Written for people to speak. But a human celebrity, McQueen had to share the spotlight with a key costar: a 1968 Ford Mustang., It has become as iconic in cinema as McQueen. Watch as humans and machines surge through the streets of San Francisco as McQueen’s Lieutenant Frank Bullitt chases the Mafia.
Thursday
love song (2022) Showtime 8pm. With majestic scenery and a small story, this debut from filmmaker Max Walker Silverman focuses on widow Faye (Dale Dickie), who lives at a lakeside campground in Colorado. She awaits the arrival of her childhood friend Rito (Wes Studi), whom she hasn’t seen in years. Fei is isolated before Rito’s arrival, but things remain quiet after he shows up. The chemistry between the two is expressed in silence and facial expressions as much as in words. It’s a “gentle and concise” film, Janet Kasulis said in her review for The Times. celebrated.”
Friday
RuPaul’s Drag Race 8 p.m. on MTV. RuPaul’s high-powered drag contest show is moving from its old home of VH1 to MTV for a new 15th season that kicks off with a two-hour special on Friday nights. The new season will bring together 16 of his drag queens from around the country, making it the largest cast in the show’s history, with guest appearances from Ariana Grande, Janelle Monae, and other celebrities.
boys in blue Showtime 8pm. In this four-part documentary series, filmmaker Peter Berg (who brought “Friday Night Lights” to TV) follows a Minneapolis high school football team after the 2020 murder of George Floyd. The students had a unique and powerful experience in that moment. Their team was led by Minneapolis police officers. Berg focuses on the tensions and conversations between players and officers.
The unbearable weight of vast talent (2022) 9pm at Stars. Nicolas Cage plays his fictional self in this action comedy. His tongue is so firmly stuck in his cheek that it’s hard to say, “I’m going to steal the Declaration of Independence.” Such a plot involves Cage attending a millionaire fan’s (Pedro Pascal) birthday party. In a review for The Times, Manohla Dargis said, “This is yet another Nicolas Cage joint, a rampage, a showcase, and a desire to please him with all his inventive Cageness.” wrote. “That’s the idea, anyway. But mostly it’s one joke that goes on for 106 minutes amidst many rapid tone shifts, mood swings, and set changes.”
Sunday
Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches 9pm at AMC. Novelist Anne Rice’s “Lives of the Mayfair Witches” trilogy — “The Witching Hour” (1990), “Lasher” (1993), and “Taltos” (1994), cast Alexandra Daddario. It will be on TV with a new program. As Dr. Rowan Fielding, a neurosurgeon who learns that she is descended from a family of witches plagued by terrifying powers. If “neurosurgeon” sounds like surprisingly scientific territory for a novelist whose primary interest is in the supernatural, this is what Rice said in his 2021 interview with The Times shortly before his death. Consider the points. “I think some people are surprised by the sheer amount of scientific papers I own,” Rice said. “When inventing alternate worlds and supernatural cosmologies, it’s incredibly exciting to read about how little we still know about the underlying structure of the universe.”
