TV Guide Magazine January 2, 2023

TOP COP If you haven’t seen Karen Pirie on BritBox, watch it. It’s one of the most riveting, intelligent British police dramas I have seen! Lauren Lyle is fantastic in the lead role. Wonderful plot twists right up to the third and final 90-minute episode. —Rhonda HIDDEN WONDERS I truly enjoy The Masked Singer on Fox. Nick Cannon delights me with his style, and the judges are funny. But how about the people who design those costumes? Amazing! They are stars themselves and need to be commended for their work. Also, the backup dancers have outstanding energy! Here is to the unknown talents! —Helen ON SCHEDULE I love the calendars you publish! I cut them out to keep. I always see a few movies I would have missed. Yeah! With so many…

Smart Watch If you have 30 minutes, watch this return Abbott Elementary makes a competitive midseason splash when Melissa’s (Lisa Ann Walter) and Janine’s (Quinta Brunson) classrooms go head-to-head in a “read-a-thon.” Wednesday, Jan 4, 9/8c, ABC If you have an hour, check out this premiere Dr. Max Liebermann (Matthew Beard) and police detective Oskar Rheinhardt (Juergen Maurer) have new mysteries to solve in Season 3 of Vienna Blood. Sunday, Jan. 8, 10/9c, PBS (check local listings at pbs.org) If you have a free evening, check out this spotlight Get ready to ask Is That You, Nancy Drew? with four back-to-back movies starring Bonita Granville as the classic teenage sleuth and John Litel as her attorney father, Carson. Friday, Jan. 6, starting at 8/7c, TCM CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: EDUARDO ARAQUEL/PARAMOUNT+; COURTESY OF NETFLIX; ROBERT VOETS/CBS…

@TVGMMattRoush National Treasure: Edge of History Wednesdays, Disney+ AMONG THE STREAMERS, Disney+ is where brands go to expand, sometimes for better—WandaVision, Andor—sometimes not so much (The Book of Boba Fett). Falling somewhere in the middle is the charming young adult spinoff of the National Treasure film franchise, where we make the refreshing acquaintance of a heroine whose superpower is her wits. The hunt for fabled treasure leads through Elvis Presley’s Graceland Edge of History introduces the appealing Lisette Olivera as Jess Valenzuela, an earnest and orphaned twentysomething who loves a good puzzle. (We first meet her and her generic Scooby Gang in an elaborate escape room.) Jess dreams of a job in FBI cryptanalysis, despite the obstacle of her undocumented DACA status, and eagerly accepts the challenge when ailing former FBI agent Peter Sadusky (Harvey…

@TVGMMattRoush Why would The Conners hire Jane Curtin to play Katey Sagal’s mother in a recent episode? Nothing against the fabulous Jane, but they’re six years apart in age! Was Carol Burnett (21 years’ age difference) not available? —Chris B. MATT ROUSH: This sort of casting, while odd when you do the numbers, is hardly new. In this case, I saw it as a reunion for Jane and her former 3rd Rock From the Sun producer Tom Werner (an executive producer of The Conners). Since this subject came up online, readers pointed out that Tom Selleck is less than six years younger than his Blue Bloods TV dad, Len Cariou, and on the classic The Golden Girls, Estelle Getty (as Sophia, the eldest) was younger than both Betty White and her TV…

THE FIRST TIME we see Reba McEntire employ her considerable powers of persuasion as no-nonsense judge Kim Wheeler in a new Lifetime movie, she’s dressing down a deputy pointing a gun at her after she was clocked going over 100 mph on a rural highway. The second time, she’s using her gavel to clean the clock of an angry perp as he rushes the bench. And so southcentral Nevada’s new traveling circuit judge earns the nickname “The Hammer.” The country music icon resumes her U.S. concert tour in March, but she tells TV GUIDE MAGAZINE she’s been having “a blast” on The Hammer and ABC’s Western crime thriller Big Sky: Deadly Trails—especially because her real-life beau Rex Linn (Young Sheldon) costars in both projects. “She doesn’t stop moving,” he marvels. “I’m…

Motor City, here comes Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant)! Last seen fleeing Appalachia in the acclaimed drama Justified (2010–15), the lawman extends his presence in the Elmore Leonard universe with this limited series based on the late crime writer’s City Primeval. Set in Detroit, the gritty novel features local cop Ray Cruz, but in the series, Givens is the protagonist and Cruz (Paul Calderon) is a retired homicide detective. “Tim started banging the drum to put Raylan in this world,” reports executive producer Michael Dinner, “and that’s how this mashup started.” The timeline has moved ahead eight years and Raylan is now part-time dad to teen Willa (played by Olyphant’s real-life daughter Vivian). In Detroit, he runs into Clement Mansell (Boyd Holbrook), “one of Elmore’s great antagonists,” Dinner says.…