We hope you haven’t made a New Year’s resolution to watch less TV in 2022, because this month is chock full of new and returning series. The final season of Search Party comes to HBO Max January 7, The Gilded Age—the new series from Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes—debuts on HBO on January 24, and the new season of Snowpiercer premieres the same day. Meanwhile, Hulu’s much-anticipated How I Met Your Father is coming January 18, and the brand new season of PBS’s All Creatures Great and Small begins January 9. Television continues to be a bright spot and a welcomed respite amid some very bleak news, so if you want to hunker down this January and spend some quality time inside, TV is going to be there for you. There’s actually more TV than there are hours in the day, so here are our picks for the five under-the-radar new shows you can’t miss this month.
1. Good Sam
Executive Producers: Katie Wech, Jennie Snyder Urman, and Joanna Klein
Stars: Sophia Bush, Jason Isaacs, Skye P. Marshall, Michael Stahl-David, Omar Maskati, Davi Santos, Wendy Crewson, and Edwin Hodge
Premiere Date: January 5 at 10 p.m. on CBS
Dr. Sam Griffith (Sophia Bush) and her father Dr. Rob Griffith (Jason Isaacs) have a complicated history. They are both renowned cardiac surgeons, but the elder Dr. Griffith always thinks he knows best and doesn’t respect his daughter’s medical opinion or her authority. Things become that much more difficult when Rob is shot and in a coma for six months. Sam takes over the department in his stead, which doesn’t sit well with her father when he wakes up. The CBS drama combines the medical mysteries of House with some fraught family dynamics. Bush and Isaacs are a winning combination, propelling this CBS drama above the typical medical drama fare.
2. Naomi
Executive Producers: Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship
Stars: Kaci Walfall, Mary-Charles Jones, Barry Watson, Cranston Johnson, Alexander Wraith, Daniel Puig, Aidan Gemme, Will Meyers, and Camila Moreno
Premiere Date: January 11 at 9 p.m. on The CW
Kaci Walfall stars as the title character in this latest entry into The CW superhero oeuvre. A popular high school student, Naomi is a huge fan of Superman comics, connecting especially to the fact that, like Clark Kent, she is adopted (Barry Watson and Mouzam Makkar co-star as Naomi’s parents). In the pilot, written by executive producers Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship, Naomi’s hometown of Port Oswego experiences a supernatural event no one can explain. Naomi must then look to two mysterious people who may hold the answers to her origin story: used car dealer Zumbado (Cranston Johnson) and tattoo artist Dee (Alexander Wraith). This is The CW, so Naomi must do this while also bridging the divide between the townies and those on Port Oswego’s military base, hanging out with her loyal best friend Annabelle (Mary-Charles Jones) and dealing with ex-boyfriend Nathan (Daniel Puig), who may still have feelings for her.
3. Wolf Like Me
Executive Producers: Abe Forsythe, Jodi Matterson, Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky, Josh Gad, and Isla Fisher
Stars: Josh Gad and Isla Fisher
Premiere Date: January 13 on Peacock
The less I tell you about this six-episode series the better, as it’s best for you to experience it for yourself. Josh Gad stars as Gary, a man living in Australia who is still reeling from the death of his wife and struggling to raise his pre-teen daughter. After he meets Mary (Isla Fisher), Gary thinks he may have finally found someone who understands him, but Mary has a secret she can’t bring herself to share. Series creator and executive producer Abe Forsythe based the series, which will also air on the Australian streaming platform Stan, on his own life experiences.
4. Somebody, Somewhere
Executive Producers: Bridget Everett, Hannah Bos, and Paul Thureen
Stars: Bridget Everett, Jeff Hiller, Mary Catherine Garrison, Danny McCarthy, and Mike Hagerty
Premiere Date: January 16 on HBO Max
Sam (Bridget Everett) moved back to her hometown in Kansas to care for her dying sister in this new series. But now that her sister is gone, Sam is left trying to make sense of her place in the small community. At work, she befriends a man named Joel (Jeff Hiller) who introduces her to a group of people who also don’t feel like they fit in. Meeting at a church in a shopping mall, he promises her, “It’s church-adjacent.” The seven-episode series explores how to navigate grief while finding joy in life’s smaller moments.
5. Single Drunk Female
Executive Producers: Simone Finch, Jenni Konner, and Daisy Gardner
Stars: Sofia Black-D’Elia, Ally Sheedy, Rebecca Henderson, Sasha Compère, Lily Mae Harrington, and Garrick Bernard
Premiere Date: January 22 at 10 p.m. on Freeform
Samantha (Sofia Black-D’Elia) is forced to move back to Boston and live with her mom Carol (Ally Sheedy) after her public intoxication at work leads to a criminal conviction. Once home, she must confront the fact she is an alcoholic, albeit one who has functioned for years. She needs a job and a sponsor. And she needs to own up to the mistakes she’s made. The result is a series that blends humor with a raw and honest look at addiction. Sheedy is fantastic as a mom who loves her daughter but makes a lot of mistakes in her efforts to support her, while Black-D’Elia shines as a woman who continues to make frustrating choices even though she wants to do better.
Amy Amatangelo, the TV Gal®, is a Boston-based freelance writer and a member of the Television Critics Association. She wasn’t allowed to watch much TV as a child and now her parents have to live with this as her career. You can follow her on Twitter (@AmyTVGal).
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