This Week on TV: The Most Anticipated Show of the Year

It’s a good week for new television, with some old favorites returning and the most anticipated show of the year (for me) premiering on Apple TV.

Sunday
I Love LA — Rachel Sennott (Bottoms, Bodies Bodies Bodies) stars in a new series about a codependent friend group reuniting and navigating how time apart, ambition, and new relationships have changed them. Sennott makes this a must-sample.

Monday
St. Denis Medical — Justin Spitzer and Eric Ledgin’s delightful hospital sitcom starring Wendi McLendon-Covey, Allison Tolman, and David Alan Grier returns to NBC for its second season.

Tuesday
All’s Fair — It’s a new Ryan Murphy series on Hulu, but despite that, the cast is irresistible, Kim Kardashian notwithstanding. The legal drama about a firm handling high-profile divorces also stars Niecy Nash, Naomi Watts, Sarah Paulson, Glenn Close, and Teyana Taylor.

Squid Game: The Challenge — The first season of the Netflix reality series was a bit of a drag, so there’s little reason to expect more from the second. But the format is undeniably addictive.

The Lowdown — The season finale of the best show no one seems to be talking about airs this week. Created by Sterlin Harjo and starring Ethan Hawke, it’s never too late to jump aboard.

Wednesday
The Morning Show — The fourth season of the Apple TV series hasn’t been dumb enough to be fun or smart enough to be relevant, but it’s still mostly watchable.

Thursday
All Her Fault — The new Peacock missing-kid drama doesn’t look great, but it stars Sarah Snook, Dakota Fanning, Jake Lacy, Abby Elliott, Michael Peña, and the insanely handsome Jay Ellis.

Death by Lightning — Fans of historical dramatizations may appreciate this one, a stranger-than-fiction true story about 20th U.S. President James Garfield and admirer Charles Guiteau, who assassinated him. I’m drawn to the cast: Michael Shannon as President Garfield, Nick Offerman as Chester Arthur, Betty Gilpin as Crete Garfield, and Matthew Macfadyen as Charles Guiteau.

Friday Pluribus — This is the Apple TV series I’ve been most looking forward to this year: the return of Vince Gilligan in a mystery series starring Rhea Seehorn. It’s going to be the television event of the year. It centers on a deeply unhappy person tasked with saving the world, but since it’s Vince Gilligan, that description barely scratches the surface. I’ll be recapping this on Mondays because I’ll need the weekend to digest it.

Maxton Hall — Over on Amazon Prime, the second season of last year’s best undiscovered gem arrives.

Predator: Badlands — Dan Trachtenberg’s (Cloverfield Lane) follow-up to Prey only needs to be half as good as Prey to be worth the price of admission.

Saturday Saturday Night Live — Season 51 has been in a deep funk. They’ll look to Nikki Glaser to break them out of it.

Continuing must-watches: Down Cemetery Road, Welcome to Derry, The Chair Company, and Murdaugh: Death in the Family.