Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Samantha Song | TV | November 8, 2026
This week, psychic children are trying to escape a secret government facility, Middle-earth is at war, two sisters are still dealing with one horrific night nearly three decades ago, two separate crews have decided robbery is a viable career path, Ebenezer Scrooge is once again about to learn the meaning of Christmas against his will, and a woman is desperately trying to get rejected for the holidays. There is also Southern Charm.
November has apparently rejected the concept of a transitional week. Here is what's arriving, sorted by how quickly everyone involved could have avoided the entire situation by making one significantly less dramatic decision.
Sunday, November 8th belongs to The Institute (MGM+, season two premiere, 9 p.m. ET), returning to Stephen King's favorite piece of real estate: the secret government facility where psychic children are held against their will. Season 1 was about new arrival Luke Ellis (Joe Freeman) simply surviving the place. Season 2 widens the scope, with the main cast hunting for evidence to expose the facility's corrupt practices. Ben Barnes and Mary-Louise Parker are back.
It remains unclear who approved the original business plan: 1) Kidnap children with psychic abilities 2) Upset them constantly 3) Assume they will never use those abilities on you. The only reason Stephen King keeps writing this story is because somebody in charge keeps failing to read it.
Vibe: Permanent detention, but you can move furniture with your mind.
Monday, November 9th brings Misty Green to Netflix (streaming premiere), barely a month after it opened in theaters. Chris Rock wrote, directed, and co-stars in this A24 Hollywood dramedy. Rosalind Eleazar plays the title character, an Emmy-winning actress whose career has stalled so badly she's now making ends meet in a town full of humiliating auditions and fair-weather friends. Her shot at a comeback is her dream role, Deena in a new version of Dreamgirls, directed by Rock's character, Jordan Green. Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluuya, and Anna Kendrick round out the cast.
It's a movie about Hollywood telling a talented woman she's had her moment…I feel like I've heard this before. Somewhere, a casting director is calling a two-time Oscar nominee "a bit of a risk."
It's also your first Adam Driver of the week. He'll be back on Friday, committing crimes.
Vibe: The industry chewing someone up, spitting them out, and then asking if she's free Thursday for a chemistry read.
Tuesday, November 10th looks upward with We Chose to Go to the Moon (PBS, documentary/drama special), revisiting America's decision to pursue the Apollo program. It remains one of history's great examples of somebody announcing an almost absurdly difficult objective in public, then leaving thousands of engineers to figure out the minor details required to keep everyone from dying in space. And we still thought: We should go there.
Vibe: America's most ambitious group project, except forgetting your part of the presentation could strand three people on the Moon.
Wednesday, November 11th sends us back to Middle-earth with The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Prime Video, season three premiere), and Amazon is not easing anyone into this. Four episodes arrive immediately.
Season 3 jumps several years ahead to the height of the War of the Elves and Sauron, with Sauron increasingly committed to the minor personal project of dominating Middle-earth. Galadriel, Elrond, Gil-galad, Durin, Isildur, Elendil, and virtually everyone else with an interest in civilization continuing to exist now have to deal with him. Jamie Campbell Bower joins as Celeborn, and Simon Pegg is voicing the Balrog.
The Balrog has a voice now, which seems unnecessary. We were already communicating extremely effectively through fire.
Vibe: Several thousand years of geopolitical catastrophe caused by one extremely persuasive jewelry salesman.
Thursday, November 12th heads south twice.
First, Peacock drops The Good Daughter (limited series, all six episodes), starring Rose Byrne and Meghann Fahy as Samantha and Charlotte Quinn, sisters whose lives were shattered by a violent event twenty-eight years ago. This being a television thriller, they have not recovered. Since Peacock is releasing every episode at once, you can now be denied the truth for six consecutive hours without leaving your couch.
Then Bravo brings back Southern Charm (season 12 premiere, 9 p.m. ET, streaming Friday on Peacock), returning to Charleston, where adults with impeccable manners keep having the worst possible conversations at the nicest possible parties. Allie Newman joins the cast and will presumably be welcomed warmly to her face. In Charleston, nobody yells. They say "bless your heart." It is worse.
Vibe: Two Southern families keeping secrets. One has a decades-old crime. The other has a group chat. Only one is scripted.
Friday, November 13th has become completely unreasonable.
Apple TV launches 12 12 12 (two episodes, then weekly through December 25), with Anthony Mackie as a disgraced FBI agent and Jamie Dornan as an American career criminal playing cat and mouse across Europe. The title is the whole premise: twelve months to plan a heist, twelve hours to pull it off, and twelve days before a thief who hasn't been caught never will be. This is a man with a spreadsheet. Hold that thought.
Meanwhile, theaters have emptied an entire filing cabinet onto the release calendar. Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol puts Johnny Depp in the role of Scrooge alongside Ian McKellen, Daisy Ridley, Sam Claflin, Tramell Tillman, and Rupert Grint, so Dickens' most famously miserable employer will once again be psychologically ambushed by the supernatural until he agrees to basic human kindness. Paper Tiger brings Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, and Miles Teller together for a crime thriller.
And then there's How to Rob a Bank, starring Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz, Tati Gabrielle, and Christian Slater, about a crew of bank robbers who broadcast their crimes and get increasingly famous while an FBI agent and a software engineer try to catch them. So Friday has two heists. One crew spent a year planning in total secrecy…the other is asking you to like and subscribe.
Vibe: Charles Dickens, Adam Driver committing crimes, Jamie Dornan committing crimes on a schedule, and influencers livestreaming felonies. Please select a mood.
Saturday, November 14th closes the week with The Christmas Yes List (Great American Family, 8 p.m. ET), based on Melissa Ferguson's novel. Danica McKellar stars as Chloe Hollis, a recovering people-pleaser whose holiday goal is to finally hear the word "no." Unfortunately, the charming out-of-towner James (Sam Page) keeps saying yes: to Christmas karaoke, to small-town traditions, to every chaotic idea she throws at him. James has his own reason for saying yes to everything, which, this being a Christmas movie, will be revealed at the most emotionally inconvenient moment possible.
All she wants for Christmas is a rejection. Ladies, we have all been there. Usually, it's the other way around.
Vibe: A woman trying to get ghosted, foiled by the only man in America who answers his texts.
Also this week:
Tournament of Champions: All-Star Christmas, Season 2 (Food Network, Sun. Nov. 8, 8 p.m. ET)
A Season of Promises (Hallmark Channel, Sun. Nov. 8, 8 p.m. ET)
Get Huge: Looksmaxxing to Death (Hulu, Tue. Nov. 10, three-episode binge)
Love & Hip Hop: The Final Chapter (VH1, Tue. Nov. 10, 8 p.m. ET)
VisionQuest series finale (Disney+, Tue. Nov. 10)
Janelle James: How Romantic (Netflix, Tue. Nov. 10, comedy special)
The Body (Netflix, Wed. Nov. 11, eight-episode binge)
Rivals, Season 2, Part 2 (Hulu, Wed. Nov. 11, three episodes)
Avedon (Netflix, Wed. Nov. 11, documentary)
Blue Lights, Season 4 (BritBox, Thu. Nov. 12)
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County (Hulu, Thu. Nov. 12, 10-episode binge)
Allen (Netflix, Thu. Nov. 12)
Being Heumann (Apple TV, Fri. Nov. 13)
Snoopy Presents: 12 Days of Snoopy (Apple TV, Fri. Nov. 13, special)
Heartland (Netflix, Fri. Nov. 13)
The End of Oak Street (HBO Max, Fri. Nov. 13)
I Play Rocky (theaters, Fri. Nov. 13, limited release)
The Angry Birds Movie (theaters, Fri. Nov. 13, 10th-anniversary rerelease)
A Proud Family Wizmas (Disney+, Sat. Nov. 14, special)
The Nights Before Christmas (Hallmark Channel, Sat. Nov. 14, 8 p.m. ET)
This Week's Hostage: The Rings of Power
There are more responsible choices. The Good Daughter has Rose Byrne and Meghann Fahy working through nearly three decades of family trauma. Psychic children are breaking out of a government facility, Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan are timing a heist down to the hour, Johnny Depp is being terrorized into celebrating Christmas, and influencers are robbing banks.
But Sauron is back. And Amazon is giving us four episodes at once. This is not a premiere. This is an assignment.
Middle-earth has had several years to process the events of Season 2, and apparently the conclusion everyone reached was: We should have a war. Sauron is assembling power. The elves are fighting back. Númenor is deteriorating. The Balrog is awake. And people are still dealing with the consequences of accepting magical jewelry from a man whose entire energy screamed DO NOT ACCEPT MAGICAL JEWELRY FROM THIS MAN. At some point he could walk into a room wearing a shirt that says I AM SAURON, and someone in Middle-earth would still ask whether he has any interesting thoughts about metallurgy.
Amazon expects us to watch four hours on a Wednesday like we don't have responsibilities. Fine.
You are watching. I am watching. Do not take the ring.
