The supernatural is hitting big this week thanks to the return of Mayfair Witches on AMC+, which you’ve probably seen plenty of marketing for. However, keep a close eye on Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale, also on AMC+, as the reviews have generally been glowing and a new season isn’t far away. If you’re just looking for some supernatural levels of weirdness, the documentary Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action takes a look behind the curtain of a show that turns humanity’s worst social moments into spectacle. And if you just want to laugh, turn on Gabriel Iglesias: Legend of Fluffy for some straight-up humor, no strings attached.
If the super-real is more to your taste, check out The Pitt, a modern, accurate, and surprisingly engaging medical drama that avoids the weirdly perfect doctors of most shows and sticks to a more genuine experience of an ER unit. If you want to escape from modern life for a bit, take a look back to the 1800s with American Primeval for a grisly look at how dangerous and deadly the old west could be.
Also, on a disappointing note, this series won’t be continuing. This will be the last installment of What To Watch. I hope readers enjoyed it, and perhaps I’ll have an opportunity to bring something similar to you again in the future.
6 The Pitt
Max — Season 1 — Jan 9
Medical dramas, much like other procedurals featuring the likes of neveropen or lawyers, are part of that tired dime-a-dozen occupational drama crutch that cursed network television for years — before reality TV drove it fully into the ground. But every once in a while, the medium is taken seriously and something special comes along to elevate the genre in a worthwhile way.
The Pitt takes place in the Pittsburgh Medical Trauma Hospital and delivers its story in the style of ‘24’ with each episode taking place in roughly one hour of real time, and the whole season covers just one shift in the cash-strapped ER unit. It’s more realistic, maintaining a tempo that fits both the frantic speed necessary for patients with urgent needs and the slower and piecemeal appearances of patients that are left waiting for hours without attention because they aren’t in immediate danger.
Noah Wyle stars as Dr. Michael Robinavitch, the head of the trauma unit. Of course, he’s hardly new to the genre, having practically launched his career on ER back in 1994 when he played as a brand new medical student. Reviews for The Pitt have been unusually favorable, which is quite the rarity these days. The first two episodes just launched together, and new episodes are scheduled every Thursday through April 10th.
5 American Primeval
Netflix — Miniseries — Jan 9
Netflix isn’t pulling many punches with its new period western American Primeval. The story follows Sara and her son Devin, who are traveling from Utah to meet Devin’s father, and adds in a small group of varied travelers early in their journey. But this isn’t a casual stroll through stereotypical “old west” encounters; it’s a deep and brutal dive into America’s least welcoming periods of history, where the plentiful dangers of the land paled in comparison to the people that lived there.
American Primeval features plenty of violence, some sexual assault, gruesome injuries and the equally bad frontier “medicine” to go with them, and some less than generous portrayals of Mormons and Native Americans… among others. It’s not the kind of show you’ll relax to, but rather the kind of roller coaster ride that will shake you a bit and leave you happier that we’re (hopefully) past those days.
Netflix isn’t starting a franchise, there are just six episodes telling the story from start to finish, and they’ve all been released together — although some viewers may feel like spacing them out a bit.
4 Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action
Netflix — Documentary Miniseries — Jan 7
The Jerry Springer show was a television phenomenon, loaded with seemingly unreal guests representing extreme fringe viewpoints, displaying disturbing behavior, and wherever possible, exploding into barely-controlled brawls on stage. It was the epitome of trash TV and spawned a revolution in television that elevated social embarrassment.
Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action explores the path Springer took from being Cincinnati’s 56th mayor to hosting a show that mostly featured feel-good stories, then became the bleak and incendiary dumpster fire it was destined to become. This two-part documentary features interviews with some of the show’s architects, and behind the scenes creators.
3 Mayfair Witches
AMC+ — Season 2 — January 5
Based on Anne Rice’s trilogy, Mayfair Witches follows Rowan Fielding (Alexandra Daddario) as a neurosurgeon that suddenly — explosively — discovers she has powers that her adoptive mother never informed her about. This sends her on a quest of discovery to New Orleans where she begins to learn about her lineage within the Wayfair clan. Along with it comes the drama and intrigue of competing factions with varied interests.
Thora Birch (American Beauty, The Walking Dead) joins season two as the tarot reader Gifford Mayfair, and Ted Levine comes in as the insidious Julien Mayfair to start messing with everybody’s lives. While the series was originally met with middling reviews, the consensus among reviewers is that the second season is starting to find its footing and bring the series a bit closer to what fans were expecting.
The first episode of the second season is out now, and new episodes of Mayfair Witches should roll out every Sunday through the end of February.
2 Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale
AMC+, Acorn TV and Sundance Now — Season 1 — January 5
If you’re going to wait a while longer before committing to Mayfair Witches — not too surprising given the reviews — consider Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale instead for your dose of magick. The new series based on the book by V.V. James is a different type of show that works more like a crime/mystery series. It’s set in Sanctuary, a place that’s welcoming toward witches, where they can live a peaceful lifestyle in a picturesque community. That is until Abigail’s son dies in a fall, and magic is suspected. Before long, her grief and anger turn into a rallying cry against the supernatural, and it threatens every witch in Sanctuary.
There are subtle messages and lessons to be gleaned from the overall story as it has vague parallels to our society, but nothing is so specific or precise to be remotely heavy-handed, if it could even be obvious if you’re not looking for it. But hopefully it’s also an entertaining reminder of how quickly good things can be lost when fear of differences is allowed to run amok.
Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale originally came with a limited launch on Sundance Now, but it premiered on AMC+ earlier this week, and a second season has been greenlit and is expected to come out later in 2025 on both AMC+ and Sundance Now.
1 Gabriel Iglesias: Legend of Fluffy
Netflix — Comedy Special — Jan 7
If you know Fluffy… You. Know. Fluffy. One of the highest-grossing stand-up comedians in the world is hitting hard with a brand new comedy special on Netflix. He’s headed to the Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Florida.
Since rising to the top, his old stories about struggling to make it in the industry don’t fit the theme too well anymore, so he’s shifting to hilarious new stories about fame, robbers breaking into his house, his new status as a single man, and more.
Fluffy isn’t shortchanging anybody with this special. Gabriel Iglesias: Legend of Fluffy clocks in at a solid 100-minute runtime.
