January 2022 has kicked off with new shows and movies to watch online, with huge films finally streaming and amazing shows hitting their conclusions. While the biggest series and movies are debuting on the streaming services this month, we'd be remiss if we didn't highlight two of the best currently-running shows that you need to catch up on right now (can we talk about this week's Station Eleven episodes?).
So, whether you're waiting to watch (or rewatch) Marvel's Eternals, or excited to watch Euphoria season 2 (one of the big new movies and shows to watch this weekend), we've got something for you.
And we've got big picks across many of the best streaming services, so anyone who has HBO Max and not Amazon Prime Video (or vice versa) won't be left out. Of course, Netflix has queued up a ton of heavy hitters, including a new mystery series starring Kristen Bell.
We've even got a big new series coming to ABC, so even those who are still making the most of the best TV antennas and best cable TV alternatives have something to mark on their calendars.
Women of the Movement (ABC)
When: Thursday, January 6
Mamie Till, Emmett Till’s mother, centers the stirring first chapter of what’s intended to be an anthology series about women of the civil rights movement. The six episodes follow Mamie (Adrienne Warren) as she gives birth to and raises Emmett (Cedric Joe), until his brutal murder at 14 years old. Director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Beyond the Lights, The Old Guard) masterfully captures Mamie’s grief and her subsequent fight for justice. As we are all too aware, she doesn’t get it. But her work does highlight the bloody history of violence against Black Americans and ensures that Emmett’s name is not forgotten. — Kelly Woo
Stream it on ABC with fubo TV and other live TV services
Euphoria season 2 (HBO Max)
When: Sunday, January 9
Rue (Zendaya), Jules (Hunter Schafer) and the rest of the Euphoria crew are back for another season of drama that will alarm parents everywhere. Addiction continues to be the name of the story for Rue, who will find a new source for drugs, which will likely send her relationships into the tailspins we saw during season 1.
Just as interesting is the potential story ahead for Jules, as we learned the character is considering detransitioning — halting her planned gender transition — during the special episode "F*ck Anyone Who’s Not A Sea Blob" that took place between seasons 1 and 2. The early part of the season (if not all of it) will likely tackle this decision.
The trailer for the new season also hinted at Sydney Sweeney’s Cassie and Jacob Elordi’s Nate beginning a romance. We're also incredibly curious what Kat (Barbie Ferreira) will be up to, as her personality evolves. — Henry T. Casey
Stream it on HBO Max
Looking for something else to watch this weekend? We've got everything to know about how to watch A Discovery of Witches season 3 online.
Cheer season 2 (Netflix)
When: Wednesday, January 12
If it feels like forever since Cheer first debuted … well, it has been. The first season dropped in January 2020 — the Before Times, pre-pandemic. A lot has happened since then, and I’m not even talking about the world health crisis. The show, which follows the cheerleading squad at Navarro College, proved that not all press is good press. In September 2020, one of the team’s coaches, Jerry Harris, was arrested on multiple federal sexual misconduct charges, including soliciting child pornography.
Cheer season 2 will tackle Harris’ case, and the effect it had on the Navarro squad. In addition to chronicle their attempt to defend their championship title, the show also veers over to focus on their fiercest rivals, Trinity Valley Community College. — Kelly Woo
Stream it on Netflix
Eternals (Disney Plus)
When: Wednesday, January 12
As someone who actually went to a theater to see Eternals, I am confident when I say that those who waited made the right move. This epic explains a bit about how life and powers in the MCU existed long before the heroes we know and love saved the world countless times over, through a group of immortals.
The film, which clocks in at a hefty 2 hours and 37 minutes, is an amazingly ambitious film that is arguably undercut from trying to do too much. Would a mini-series format on Disney Plus have been a better idea? Maybe. But now that it's coming to the streaming service, you can watch it at your own pace.
Stream it on Disney Plus
For more heroics, here's how to watch Superman and Lois season 2 online!
Peacemaker (HBO Max)
When: Thursday, January 13
The DCEU is following Disney Plus' lead, giving a spinoff show from James Gunn's The Suicide Squad. And while the movie had so many interesting misfit villains to choose from, nobody should be surprised to see that it's WWE champion John Cena's Peacemaker who got the call to extend the DC Universe to HBO Max. Yes, the ripped doofus who takes toxic masculinity to its logical über-himbo conclusions is getting his own show — and a pet eagle, too.
The series follows Peacemaker as he leaves the hospital we saw him wind up in, to a life continuing to work with Amanda Waller's agents (yes, Steve Agee and Jennifer Holland) are back for this round. The Peacemaker series will also follow that Marvel-on-Disney Plus tradition of showing us more of these characters' personal lives, as we meet Peacemaker's dad, a curmudgeon (played by Robert Patrick) who doesn't respect his son at all. — Henry T. Casey
Stream it on HBO Max
Station Eleven (HBO Max)
When: Finale airs on January 13
When is one of the best shows of 2021 also one of the best shows of 2022? When it — as HBO Max's miniseries Station Eleven did — debuts at the end of the year only to wrap up at the start of 2022. This series, which adapts an incredibly prescient 2014 novel by Emily St. John Mandel, follows many lives during a pandemic that wipes out 98% of humanity. And it jumps around time in the ways that only the great TV shows do: showing life at the start and middle of the cataclysmic event, as well as what happens to humanity after.
Alternatingly hopeful and grim, Station Eleven wraps up this month, but you could get caught up in a day, as it's only going to have 10 episodes (including that finale). While Station Eleven has multiple character arcs, the "main" plot tracks Kirsten (Mackenzie Davis) from her adolescence through to adulthood, as she begins life as an actor and survives as one as well, contributing to a traveling troupe performing Shakespeare. Davis delivers a stellar performance, as fans of her previous works (Halt and Catch Fire and the San Junipero episode of Black Mirror come to mind), but this is a true ensemble project, and one you will need to watch.
As for what happened in Station Eleven episodes 8 and 9, what can I say but I need to rewatch the latter half of the penultimate episode. No spoilers, but I felt like I was caught in a fever dream. — Henry T. Casey
Stream it on HBO Max
Yellowjackets (Showtime)
When: Finale airs on January 16
One of the under the radar gems of 2021 that hit the airwaves during November, Yellowjackets is another series that will conclude during January 2022. At times difficult to summarize, I like to say that Yellowjackets is "Friday Night LOST," combining the drama of a hyper-competitive high school girl's soccer team with the intense chaos that occurs when the girls get stuck after their flight to Nationals crashes in the woods.
Yellowjackets presents three points in the girls' lives: before the crash, during life in the woods and what happens when some survive and try and lead adult lives. While the younger actors may not be as well-known as their adult counterparts (which include Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis and Christina Ricci), there isn't a weak side of the story. Catch up before the January 16 finale so you can be a part of the discussion of what happens next — Yellowjackets season 2 is already confirmed. — Henry T. Casey
Stream it on Showtime via Amazon Channels
How I Met Your Father (Hulu)
When: Wednesday, January 18
Much like And Just Like That…, the Sex and The City revival that few had truly high hopes for, we will tune into Hulu's How I Met Your Father with our expectations set appropriately in the middle of the scale. After CBS' How I Met Your Mother ended so spectacularly poorly, nobody was really clamoring for a sequel series. But that's what we're getting, with a new series that features Hillary Duff as Sophie, who's looking for love in New York City. But she's not going to be the one telling her son (and by extension, us) about how she met his father. Kim Catrall (notably left out of the SATC revival), is here to play grown-up Sophie.
The trailer for How I Met Your Father highlights that HIMYF will focus on online dating, bad choices and even worse potential partners. It also appears to hint that the big long-term romance for Sophie will be one of her friends, Jesse (Chris Lowell, aka Piz from Veronica Mars). We hope that showrunners Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger have learned something from how HIMYM's Carter Bays and Craig Thomas mishandled things with Ted, Barney and Robin. — Henry T. Casey
Stream it on Hulu
As We See It (Amazon Prime Video)
When: Friday, January 21
Friday Night Lights and Parenthood are god-tier shows for me, so anything Jason Katims creates is going to be on my radar. Like those series, As We See It looks like it tugs at the heartstrings and swells the emotions (read: you will ugly cry). The three leads are all on the autism spectrum, playing characters who are grappling with similar conditions.
The show follows twentysomething roommates Jack (Rick Glassman), Harrison (Albert Rutecki), and Violet (Sue Ann Pien). With the support of family, aides and each other, they strive to get and keep jobs, make friends and fall in love. Along the way, they experience setbacks and celebrate triumphs, just like any young adult in a journey for independence. — Kelly Woo
Stream it on Amazon Prime Video
Ozark season 4, part 1 (Netflix)
When: Friday, January 21
The first half of the supersized final season finds the Byrdes tethered in a dangerous position. Marty (Jason Bateman) and Wendy (Laura Linney) have proven their value to kingpin Navarro (Felix Solis), but can they really trust the trigger-happy drug lord?
Navarro isn’t even the Byrdes’ only problem in Ozark season 4. Ruth Langmore (Julia Garner) has turned on them and has teamed up with Darlene Snell (Lisa Emery) in her heroin operation. Marty and Wendy are in deep, deadly trouble and the only way out alive might be to finally turn to the feds. Or run! But past sins won’t stay buried and they discover that the most dangerous threats come from blood. Check out the first full Ozark season 4 trailer to see who's betraying who. — Kelly Woo
Stream it on Netflix
The Gilded Age (HBO)
When: Monday, January 24
Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes has a new period drama. He moves the action to 1880s New York City, and instead of upstairs vs. downstairs, the conflicts are between old money and new wealth. Snobby socialite Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) clings to established notions of the elite — but her values are challenged by her new neighbors, the filthy rich industrialist George Russell (Morgan Spector) and his upwardly-mobile wife Bertha (Carrie Coon).
Amidst this burgeoning social war arrives Agnes’ niece, Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson), an orphan from the sticks. She may have “old money” in her blood, but she’s as thrilled by the possibilities of the Gilded Age as her friend, the aspiring Black writer Peggy Scott (Denée Benton). — Kelly Woo
Stream it on HBO Max
The Afterparty (Apple TV Plus)
When: Friday, January 28
This murder-mystery comedy features a true murderer’s row of Hollywood’s funniest actors, including Tiffany Haddish, Sam Richardson, Ilana Glazer, Ben Schwartz and Dave Franco. The whodunit centers on the murder of a celebrity at their high school reunion’s afterparty. Haddish plays a cop who arrives at a coastal mansion to investigate the scene.
The celeb (Franco) was not well-liked, which makes many of his former classmates prime suspects. Each of the eight episodes features a character recounting the night from their unique perspectives. Like Only Murders in the Building, The Afterparty proves true crime and comedy can mix very well. — Kelly Woo
Stream it on Apple TV Plus
The Legend of Vox Machina (Amazon Prime Video)
When: Friday, January 28
Amazon Prime Video hopes that its new animated fantasy series The Legend of Vox Machina is a critical hit, as it's bringing the D&D tabletop group Critical Role a whole new world. The series is adapting the adventures and characters of Critical Role's first live-streamed campaign, delivering a new look at the Vox Machina gang, a ragtag group of adventurers who wind up in spectacular situations.
But don't worry about it being a retread (or too confusing), as the first two episodes are a whole new story. The series will begin with an arc that's never been seen before, so all audiences will be on level footing (though established fans will likely see all the references that newbies won't. — Henry T. Casey
Stream it on Amazon Prime Video
All of Us Are Dead (Netflix)
When: Friday, January 28
Netflix, fresh off the success of Squid Game, has a new Korean drama up its sleeve for late January. All of Us Are Dead goes for a different flavor: a zombie outbreak at high school. Not only does the trailer tease all the inherent melodrama and bloody thrilling action, but the soundtrack sounds like a true banger. Oh, and it even has an actor from Squid Game: Lee Yoo-mi played Lee Yoo-Mi (who you may remember from the marbles game with Sae-byeok).
Little else is known about All of Us Are Dead, but a high school zombie outbreak sounds like just the kind of escapist thing we could use at the moment, so we're okay with waiting to learn more.
Stream it on Netflix
The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window (Netflix)
When: January 28
Anna (Kristen Bell) loves her wine. She even admits to mixing her wine with pills. Unfortunately, this makes her the kind of person that everyone in her suburban neighborhood thinks is untrustworthy. So, of course, nobody around Anna believes her when she claims to have seen a murder. And over eight episodes, Anna's going to get to the bottom of this mystery (and at least one red, white or rose).
Most will likely refer to this show as "Kristen Bell's version of Rear Window" because its actual title is way too long, but The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window looks like a must-watch. Especially for everyone who wants a new situation for Kristen Bell to solve mysteries in, since Veronica Mars is now long over. — Henry T. Casey
Stream it on Netflix
