5 Best Bets on TV This Week: The Returns of ‘Justified,’ ‘Bunheads’ and ‘Cougar Town’
Sure, Sunday tends to be overcrowded with high-end TV, including the just returned “Downton Abbey,” but what to watch the rest of the time? Every Monday, we bring you five noteworthy highlights from the other six days of the week.
“Bunheads”: Season Premiere
Monday, January 7 at 9pm on ABC Family
“Gilmore Girls” creator Amy Sherman-Palladino’s endearingly oddball latest is back, with Broadway star Sutton Foster returning as aging showgirl turned small town dance teacher Michelle. The series will pick up with “You Wanna See Something?” a few months after the character left Paradise in disgrace to return to her old life in Vegas, where she finds a job as a magician’s assistant.
“POV”: “Reportero”
Monday, January 7 at 10pm on PBS
Being a journalist can be a dangrous job, possibly nowhere more so than in Mexico, where reporting on drug cartel activity or army or government corruption can lead to disappearance or death. Director Bernardo Ruiz’s documentary, airing in PBS’s POV strand, follows a veteran reporter working at a Tijuana-based independent weekly during an escalating wave of violence.
“Cougar Town”: Season Premiere
Tuesday, January 8 at 10pm on TBS
The critically adored if never highly rated Courteney Cox sitcom “Cougar Town” is getting a new life on a new network. The show, created by Bill Lawrence, kicks off its fourth season on TBS with “Blue Sunday,” which finds Cox back as newly remarried Florida mom Jules Cobb, who likes to spend time drinking wine with her “cul de sac crew.” Cox directed the season premiere, which looks at Jules’ marriage to Grayson (Josh Hopkins) one week in.
“Justified”: Season Premiere
Tuesday, January 8 at 10pm on FX
Timothy Olyphant does some of TV’s best hat-wearing as Raylan Givens, the U.S. Marshal bringing order if not always by-the-book law to the eastern Kentucky region in which he grew up. Based on novels by Elmore Leonard and created by Graham Yost, FX’s hillbilly noir drama is one of the small screen’s most enjoyable. The series returns with “Hole in the Wall,” in which Raylan uncovers evidence that his family may be involved in a notorious unsolved mystery and Patton Oswalt starts his guest arc as Constable Bob Sweeney.
“Banshee”: Series Premiere
Friday, January 11 at 10pm on Cinemax
Executive produced by “True Blood” creator Alan Ball, Cinemax’s new series “Banshee” is a graphic novel-style pulp story starring Antony Starr as Lucas Hood, an ex-con being tracked down by dark figures from his past who takes on the role of Sheriff of the town of Banshee, PA, which refusing to give up his criminal activities. Ivana Milicevic, Ulrich Thomsen, Frankie Faiso and Ben Cross also star.
Also worth a look: “Antiques Roadshow” kicks off its season with a million dollar appraisal on PBS on Monday, January 7th at 8pm; Sundance Channel begins re-airing Jean-Xavier de Lestrade acclaimed miniseries about the trial of Michael Peterson, accused of murdering his wife, on Monday, January 7th at 10pm in anticipation of two new episodes premiering in March; Tyler, the Creator guests on “The Mindy Project” on Tuesday, January 8th at 9:30pm; SpikeTV resurrects its hoax reality series “The Joe Schmo Show” after eight years on Tuesday, January 8th at 10pm; the Broadcast Film Critics Assocation present their 18th Annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards live on The CW on Thursday, January 10th at 8pm.
