What To Watch This Week: Jan 6-12, 2025

Provocative (mewatch & Channel 5, Jan 6)

What happens when you replace the baby-switching premise in Kin with one involving an ex-socialite bent on finding the a-holes who framed her for a crime she didn’t commit? You get Provocative, Medicacorp’s latest long-form English drama. Roz Pho plays said wrongfully convicted, who’d spent 10 years behind bars for the attempted murder of her husband (Jason Godfrey). Aided by her lawyer (Ebi Shankara), she runs down the list of suspects. Think Sympathy for Lady Vengeance but without the brutal stuff. The cast also includes Adlina Adil, Peter Yu, Michelle Wong and Taufik Batisah (as a —  surprise, surprise — a successful realtor!). Every Monday to Thursday on Channel, 8.30pm; four news episodes every Monday on mewatch and Mediacorp Drama on YouTube (from Jan 13).  

WWE Raw (Netflix, Jan 7)

WWE NXT (Netflix, Jan 8)

Netflix continues its inroad into live sports programming with its US$5 billion (S$6.85 bil) deal with WWE, starting with weekly live broadcasts of WWE Raw. The first WWE livestream comes direct from LA’s Intuit Dome at 9am SGT. If it’s too early for you, the show will be available on demand after the live show ends. The premiere ep matches include reigning women’s world champ Liv Morgan vs Rhea Ripley, Roman Reigns vs Solo Sikoa, Drew McIntyre vs Jey Uso, and CM Punk vs Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins. Netflix will also livestream WWE NXT, featuring amateur fighters, the following day at 9am SGT.

Photo: Netflix

Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action (Netflix, Jan 7)

This two-part documentary looks at how Jerry Springer, the former Cincinnati mayor and news anchor, who rose to prominence as the Master of Trash TV in the 1990s with his eponymous daytime talk show. “The jaw-dropping series tells the story of the show as it’s never been told before, with extraordinary firsthand testimony and revelations from show insiders who lay bare the dark truths behind its entertaining façade,” per the official synopsis. “The show’s producers and ex-guests paint a murkier picture of the destruction it causes, raising renewed questions about who was responsible and how far things should go in the name of entertainment.”

Photo: Netflix

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (Disney+, Jan 8)

Wait, another spin-off? For those who lost count, this is off-shoot No. 6 and it marks the reunion of franchise OG Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira as zombie apocalypse survivors and lovebirds Rick Grimes and Michonne. Will the undead get in the way of their romance? Or the infighting at the Civic Republic Military (they were behind Rick’s disappearance in The Walking Dead Season 9) rain on their parade? You will have six eps to find out. Do I still care? Not really. Frankly, I stopped caring after the series killed off Glenn Rhee and that’s, like, eight years ago.   

Photo: AMC

On Call (Prime Video, Jan 9)

The latest crime drama from Law & Order’s Dick Wolf stars Pretty Little Liars’ Troian Bellisario and Brandon Larracuente as a veteran cop and rookie duo who patrol the streets of Long Beach, CA. “Shot with a mixture of hand-held cameras, bodycam and dash-cam footage to create a cinema verité effect, the innovative series explores the morality of protecting and serving a community,” according to the press notes. The series also stars Lori Loughlin (yes, the Full House alum who served time for her involvement in a college admissions scandal — is this role some kind of PR atonement?), and Chicago PD’s Eriq La Salle. 

Photo: Prime Video

The Pitt (Max, Jan 10)

John Carter returns! Kinda, sorta. After 15 years on ER, Noah Wyle dons the scrubs again for the new hospital drama from ER and The West Wing EP John Wells. (This isn’t an ER reboot but Michael Crichton’s estate seems to think so.) Max calls The Pitt “a realistic examination of the challenges facing healthcare workers in today’s America as seen through the lens of the frontline heroes in a modern-day hospital in Pittsburg, Penn.” The entire first season unfolds during a one 15-hour emergency room shift, with each one-hour episode representing real time. So it’s ER meets…24?

Photo: Max

Goosebumps: The Vanishing (Disney+, Jan 10)

The second season of the supernatural anthology based on RL Stines’ beloved books stars David Schwimmer as a recently-divorced dad whose children, fraternal twins Devin and Cece, stumble upon a mystery — the disappearance of four teenagers in 1994. (Wait, isn’t that the same year Friends launched? A coincidence? I don’t think so.

Photo: Disney+