What to Watch This Week (Jan 13-19, 2025)

I Can See Your Voice (mewatch & Channel 5, Jan 13, 7.30pm)

Mediacorp’s latest game show is an adaptation of I Can See Your Voice, the South Korean hit of the same name, which has already spawned more than 30 international editions, including the US, UK, Thailand, and the Philippines. The format:  Each week, celebrity contestants — including Nathan Hartono,Tasha Low, Suhaimi Yusof and Celest Chong — will sieve out good singers from bad ones in a series of challenges. Helping them decide is a panel of resident celebrity detectives Benjamin Kheng, Gurmit Singh, Najip Ali and Xixi Lim. With Joakim Gomez and Munah Bagharib as hosts. (If we can somehow harness their on-screen verve, our energy needs prayer will be answered…sorry, that’s another story for another time.)  Also available on demand on mewatch and Mediacorp Entertainment on YouTube.

Another Wok of Life (mewatch, from Jan 13; Channel 8, 9pm, weekdays from Jan 16)

In this 20-part drama, Richie Koh plays an ex-con who tries to reinvent himself as a chef at a hotpot restaurant. (Former jailbird runs an eatery…just like Itaewon Class, yes?)  Problem is, he has a knife phobia! (Get out of here!) Anyway, can he overcome this psychological hurdle?  And can he win over the customers? (Pffft, can you trust a chef who’s scared of knives?) Jasmine Sim, Guo Liang, James Seah, and Shane Pow co-star. 

Single’s Inferno, Season 4 (Netflix, Jan 14)

“Season 4 promises a deeper emotional journey with more intense and honest interactions, delivering high-stakes romance at its finest,” so says the press notes. No s***. Once again, emcees Lee Da-hee, Hong Jin-kyung,  Kyuhun, Hanhae, and Dex offer their insights as the sexy singletons go about searching for their soul mates — or, most likely, next notch on the bedpost. Hubba hubba. 

Photo: Netflix

Unmasked (Disney+, Jan 15)

Here’s a feel-good show for journalists: they actually make a difference! (Of course, they do…sometimes.) Signal’s Kim Hyse-soo plays an investigative reporter whose job is on the line if she doesn’t solve a 20-year-old cold case involving a famous actor who disappeared without a trace (maybe he was abducted to Myanmar to work in a scam syndicate?). Jung Sung-il (The Glory) and Joo Jong-hyuk (Extraordinary Attorney Woo) co-star.

Photo: Disney+

Update: Netflix has postponed the launch to March 4 due to the LA wildfires. 

With Love, Meghan (Netflix, Jan 15)

Look, two of Piers Morgan’s favourite people are back! Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s latest — born out of their US$100 million (S$136 mil) deal with Netflix — is an eight half-hour lifestyle series where she presumably plugs her wellness products (a la Goop) and hangs out with pals (including Mindy Kaling) and celeb chefs (hello, Roy Choi!), you know, tai-tai stuff. Money well spent, Netflix!

Photo: Netflix

Unstoppable (Prime Video, Jan 16)

Following the Oscars snub for Hustlers, Jennifer Lopez is again gunning for the top prize (doubtful but you never know until the nominations are out Jan 23, 8.30am EST or Jan 24, 9.30pm)  in this biopic of Anthony Robles (Moonlight’s Jharrel Jerome), who became a college wrestling champ despite being born with only one leg. Lopez plays Anthony’s devoted mother Judy. The film — which counts Lopez’s ex-hubby Ben Affleck as one of the producers — also stars Michael Pena, Don Cheadle and Bobby Cannavale.

Photo: Amazon MGM Studios

Back in Action (Netflix, Jan 17)

Netflix must’ve coughed up tons of moolah to lure Cameron Diaz back to acting (pre-retirement, her going rate was said to be US$10 mil) in an action flick called… Back in Action (can the title get any more generic than that?). Diaz teams up with her Annie co-star Jamie Foxx as a retired spy couple recalled to save the world. Or something like that. Honestly, judging from the trailer, it feels like another algorithm-powered, identikit blockbuster (see The Family Plan, Heart of Gold, Red One). In other words, a filler to play in the background while you (a) make out with your spouse/GF/BF (we don’t judge), (b) fold laundry, (c) spring-clean or (d) all of the above.

Photo: Netflix

Rewilding Sharks (Channel NewsAsia, Jan 17)

Sharks are always need in of good PR. Movies like Jaws, The Meg and Deep Blue Sea made us fear them but they’re really fascinating, majestic and misunderstood creatures. In this two-part documentary, Indonesian marine biologist Nesha Ichida looks at ways to rewild leopard sharks in their native waters.

Photo: TVF International 

Severance, Season 2 (Apple TV+, Jan 17)

After a two-year wait (and you thought the Squid Game follow-up took its time), Severance returns with more mind-forking intrigue. (Click here for a recap.) In Ben Stiller’s Kubrickian sci-fi thriller, the employees of a mysterious company (Adam  Scott, John Turturro, Britt Lower and Zach Cherry) can separate their personal life from work via a radical experiment — the office self is the ‘innie’ version and the non-office self, the ‘outie’  — and neither side knows their existence. But what if they do? And then what? Gwendoline Christie and Alisa Shawkat are the series newbies.

Photo: Apple TV+

Hellboy: The Crooked Man (Max, Jan 18)

This second reboot of the Hellboy franchise — remember the 2019 version with David Harbour stepping into Ron Perlman’s shoes as Big Red? — was originally slated for a theatrical run last month but was pulled from the line-up in the eleventh hour. Good call because this has streaming stamped all over it; a 39% Rotten Tomatoes score certainly doesn’t bode well. Pity because I’m a big fan of director Brian Taylor; he co-helmed Crank with Mark Neveldine. But clearly that isn’t enough to win me over. Jack Kesy (quick IMDB his credits!) plays the title character, this time stranded in 1950s Appalachia where he confronts a soul-devouring menace.

Photo: Millennium Media