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The Ultimate Guide to What to Watch on Prime Video, Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, and More in January 2023

Stream an Oscar nominated drama or a J. Lo rom-com this weekend

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Kelly Connolly, Tim Surette

January is named after the god of duality. (I studied Latin!) As the month winds down, enjoy some duality of your own by streaming both Tár and Shotgun Wedding. One's an Oscar nominated drama featuring a lauded performance from Cate Blanchett; the other's an escapist rom-com about Jennifer Lopez fighting pirates at her wedding. We all know J. Lo should have been nominated for an Oscar for Hustlers, and she and Jennifer Coolidge make Shotgun Wedding a decently fun time. Enjoy the full spectrum of movies before January ends!  

Our guide to the best TV in January is divided into three sections: the best shows and movies to watch in the month, the best shows to watch by streaming service, and a calendar of TV highlights. Whatever you're looking for, you'll find it below. 

Next month's guide: The Ultimate Guide to What to Watch on HBO Max, Apple TV+, Netflix, and More in February
Last month's guide: The Ultimate Guide to What to Watch on HBO Max, Apple TV+, Netflix, and More in December

The best movies and shows to watch in January

Pedro Pascal, The Last of Us

Pedro Pascal, The Last of Us

Liane Hentscher/HBO

Copenhagen Cowboy (Jan. 5, Netflix)

Idiosyncratic director Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, The Neon Demon) returns to his native Denmark after more than a decade in America with this noir series. It follows a young woman named Miu (Angela Bundalovic) as she goes on a revenge mission through Copenhagen's neon-lit underworld. Refn is a rare contemporary filmmaker who's willing to take genuine artistic risks that sometimes don't pay off but are always true to his vision. Even when he fails, he fails with style. This is about as non-commercial a project as Netflix does anymore, so it's worth watching just for a change of pace on the increasingly homogenous streaming service. -Liam Mathews [Trailer]

Ginny & Georgia Season 2 (Jan. 5, Netflix)

Is it a high school drama? Is it a romantic comedy? Is it a murder mystery? Why not all of those at once? One of the rare algorithm-friendly shows that work, Ginny & Georgia returns for Season 2 a little less Gilmore Girls and a little more Mommie Dearest as Ginny (Antonia Gentry) becomes wiser to her mom Georgia's (Brianne Howey) potentially murderous past ways. But the playful romantic issues and teen drama are still there, the strong performances from Gentry and Howey elevate the material, and the closing walls add a bit of urgency to everything. It's not Netflix's best show, but it's the best of its ilk. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

The Last of Us (Jan. 15, HBO)

One of the best video games of the past decade gets its long-awaited, and very promising-looking, live-action adaptation in The Last of Us. The drama is set in a desolate, post-apocalyptic version of the U.S. that has been overrun by cannibalistic creatures and follows a survivor's (Pedro Pascal) journey to smuggle a teenage girl (Bella Ramsey) out of the quarantine zone. The series was co-developed by Chernobyl's Craig Mazin and the game's creative director Neil Druckmann, with an ensemble cast that reads like a Who's Who of great TV character actors like Murray BartlettAnna Torv, and Melanie Lynskey. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] [Review]

That '90s Show (Jan. 19, Netflix)

The '90s are further away from now than the '70s were when That '70s Show started in 1998, so the time has come for That '90s Show, a Netflix sequel series to the semi-classic sitcom in the vein of Fuller House. It's 1995, and Leia Forman (Callie Haverda), teenage daughter of Eric (Topher Grace) and Donna (Laura Prepon), goes to Wisconsin to spend a coming-of-age summer with her grandparents Red (Kurtwood Smith) and Kitty Forman (Debra Jo Rupp) and hang out with other neighborhood kids in that famous basement. Most of the original gang will cameo. (That '70s Show isn't on Netflix; it's on Peacock). -Liam Mathews [Trailer] [Review]

Happening (Jan. 22, Hulu)

Acclaimed French drama Happening, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival in 2021, follows a young woman's harrowing search for an abortion in 1963 France. Promising student Anne (Anamaria Vartolomei) sees her life upended by an unwanted pregnancy, and she's willing to upend it again, risking prison or worse, to hold on to the future she once imagined for herself. It's intimate, intense, and unfortunately still entirely timely. -Kelly Connolly [Trailer]

How I Met Your Father Season 2 (Jan. 24, Hulu)

I watched every episode of How I Met Your Mother — every single one — and despite the powerful disappointment of the series finale and the fact that my brain is fully developed now, I still think about certain HIMYM lines ("They LIVED the Star Wars") once a month minimum. I guess that might help explain how How I Met Your Father, a spin-off(-ish) starring Hilary Duff, took off in Season 1, overcoming middling reviews and the aforementioned famously bad HIMYM finale to find a loyal audience and earn renewal. Marshall and Lily's apartment is just that powerful. -Kelly Connolly [Trailer]

Poker Face (Jan. 26, Peacock)

Finally, Natasha Lyonne takes her place as Columbo's rightful successor. Poker Face, a new mystery series from Knives Out mastermind Rian Johnson, stars Lyonne as Charlie Cale, a woman with a knack for knowing when people are lying. She hits the road in her Plymouth Barracuda and solves strange crimes every week. And that's it! It's a case-of-the-week mystery! Just what the doctor ordered. -Kelly Connolly [Trailer] [Review]

Shotgun Wedding (Jan. 27, Prime Video)

Jennifer Lopez seems committed to giving us at least one kooky marriage-themed rom-com per year. Last year was Marry Me, and this year it's Shotgun Wedding, which Lopez stars in alongside Josh Duhamel. Their characters, Darcy and Tom, are getting married, which is great, but their families are driving them crazy, which is not great! Ugh! All of those little annoyances get put into perspective when they have to fight back against the pirates who ambush their destination wedding. Jennifer Coolidge co-stars as Duhamel's character's mom, which is excellent news. We love Jennifer Coolidge! -Allison Picurro [Trailer] [Review]


What's on Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max, and more in January

Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel, Shotgun Wedding

Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel, Shotgun Wedding

Ana Carballosa/Lionsgate

Amazon Prime Video's best new shows and movies in January

Happy new year — are you looking for something new to watch on Amazon Prime Video? Well, great! The biggest release is easily Shotgun Wedding, a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel as a couple whose wedding day gets ruined by pirates. (Real ones will remember that Armie Hammer was originally supposed to star alongside Lopez — this movie has some lore behind it.) There's also Season 2 of Hunters, which stars internet boyfriend Logan Lerman as a Nazi hunter in the '70s who believes Hitler is still alive. Listen, it's a mixed bag, but that's just what January has in store for us. Here's our list of the best shows and movies on Amazon Prime Video in January, plus everything coming to Prime Video in January.

More on Amazon:

Hilary Duff, Francia Raisa, Tom Ainsley, Tien Tran, How I Met Your Father

Hilary Duff, Francia Raisa, Tom Ainsley, Tien Tran, How I Met Your Father

Patrick Wymore/Hulu

Hulu's best new shows and movies in January

Welcome to winter premiere season, which is just like fall premiere season but colder. You can tell the broadcast calendar is picking up steam just by looking at the list of what's coming to Hulu in January, where new midseason network dramas like ABC's Will Trent and Fox's Alert are rubbing shoulders with Hulu Originals like How I Met Your Father. (Yeah! They renewed that.) Hulu is also going big on docuseries to ring in 2023; the buzziest is The 1619 Project, an expansion of the New York Times Magazine project of the same name. Here's our list of the best shows and movies on Hulu in January, plus everything coming to Hulu in January.

More on Hulu

Giancarlo Esposito, Kaleidoscope

Giancarlo Esposito, Kaleidoscope

Netflix

Netflix's best new shows and movies in January

New year, same Netflix. The first month of 2023 brings the streaming service's usual mix of accessible original comedy and drama series and movies, documentaries, kid stuff, culinary competitions, and international fare, with a handful of highly promising titles in the mix. The year started off with Kaleidoscope, a choose-your-own-adventure heist drama series that came out on Jan. 1. After that, notable new releases include two very different period pieces: sumptuous 19th century mystery film The Pale Blue Eye starring Christian Bale and Gillian Anderson, and That '90s Show, a sequel series to the long-running sitcom That '70s Show that also stars Christian Bale and Gillian Anderson (jk jk). Here's our list of the best shows and movies on Netflix in January, plus everything coming to and leaving Netflix in January.

More on Netflix:

The Menu

Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy, The Menu

Searchlight Pictures

HBO and HBO Max's best new shows and movies in January

HBO and HBO Max are off to a slow start to the new year (which makes sense considering, uh, all that's going on over there — RIP Westworld!), but the biggest new release is, in fact, a pretty big one: The Last of Us, a series adaptation of the dystopian video game that's considered one of the greatest games ever made. The show stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey and will likely set a high-water mark for TV video game adaptations. Other highlights include Velma, an adult animated series focused on the Scooby Gang's most resurgent member, and Jason Momoa's The Climb, a competition show about people who climb. If you'd rather check out a movie that you missed in the theaters, The Menu arrives at the top of the month. Here's our list of the best shows and movies on HBO and HBO Max in January, plus everything coming to HBO and HBO Max in January.

More on HBO and HBO Max:

Natasha Lyonne, Poker Face

Natasha Lyonne, Poker Face

Evans Vestal Ward/Peacock

The best new shows and movies everywhere else in January

Natasha Lyonne plays a woman with a gift for solving mysteries in Poker Face, but it's no mystery what you'll be watching this month. (SORRY!!!!) For starters, how about Poker Face? The new case-of-the-week series premieres Jan. 26 on Peacock. Over on Apple TV+, M. Night Shyamalan's batty, underrated Servant wraps up with its fourth and final season on Jan. 13. Disney+ has the second season of animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch. And Paramount+ is keeping busy with the return of Jeremy Renner's Mayor of Kingstown and a new season of Are You the One?, which moves over to the streamer from MTV after three years off the air. Paramount+ also has two separate sets of teen wolves, both premiering on Jan. 26: Teen Wolf: The Movie resurrects the hit MTV show (a more accurate title would be Teen Wolf: The Series: The Movie), and Wolf Pack brings Sarah Michelle Gellar back to TV. Finally.

More on Apple TV+, Peacock, Disney+, and Paramount+:


January TV calendar highlights

Sunday, Jan. 1
Kaleidoscope (Miniseries, Netflix)
Paul T. Goldman (Miniseries, Peacock)

Monday, Jan. 2
America's Got Talent: All-Stars (Season 1, NBC)
Fantasy Island (Season 2, Fox)

Tuesday, Jan. 3
Sometimes When We Touch (Miniseries, Paramount+)
Will Trent (Season 1, ABC)
The Menu (Film, HBO Max)

Wednesday, Jan. 4
The Lying Life of Adults (Season 1, Netflix)
Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street (Miniseries, Netflix)
Special Forces: World's Toughest Test (Season 1, Fox)
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Season 2, Disney+)
Tough as Nails (Season 4, CBS)

Thursday, Jan. 5
Copenhagen Cowboy (Season 1, Netflix)
Death in the Dorms (Miniseries, Hulu)
Ginny & Georgia (Season 2, Netflix)
January 6th (Film, discovery+)
The Parent Test (Season 1, ABC)

Friday, Jan. 6
BMF (Season 2, Starz)
Boys in Blue (Miniseries, Showtime)
The Rig (Season 1, Prime Video)

Sunday, Jan. 8
Alert (Season 1, Fox)
All Creatures Great and Small (Season 3, PBS, U.S. premiere)
Mayfair Witches (Season 1, AMC+; series premiere also on AMC, Sundance, BBC America)

Monday, Jan. 9
Detectorists (Christmas special, Acorn TV, U.S. premiere)
I Didn't See You There (PBS)
Koala Man (Season 1, Hulu)

Tuesday, Jan. 10
Golden Globe Awards (NBC)
The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker (Film, Netflix)

Thursday, Jan. 12
The Climb (Season 1, HBO Max)
The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House (Season 1, Netflix)
Velma (Season 1, HBO Max)
Vikings: Valhalla (Season 2, Netflix)

Friday, Jan. 13
Break Point (Season 1, Netflix)
Dog Gone (Film, Netflix)
The Drop (Film, Hulu)
Hunters (Season 2, Prime Video)
Servant (Season 4, Apple TV+)
Sky Rojo (Season 3, Netflix)

Sunday, Jan. 15
Godfather of Harlem (Season 3, MGM+)
The Last of Us (Season 1, HBO)
Mayor of Kingstown (Season 2, Paramount+)
MILF Manor (Season 1, TLC)
Your Honor (Season 2, Showtime)

Monday, Jan. 16
Miracle Workers: End Times (Season 4, TBS; UPDATE: the premiere has been delayed)

Tuesday, Jan. 17
Night Court (Season 1, NBC)

Wednesday, Jan. 18
Are You the One? (Season 9, Paramount+)

Thursday, Jan. 19
That '90s Show (Season 1, Netflix)

Friday, Jan. 20
Fauda (Season 4, Netflix)
The Legend of Vox Machina (Season 2, Prime Video)
Men (Film, Showtime)
Violent Night (Film, Peacock)

Sunday, Jan. 22
Accused (Season 1, Fox)

Monday, Jan. 23
The Bachelor (Season 27, ABC)
The Lazarus Project (Season 1, TNT)

Tuesday, Jan. 24
American Auto (Season 2, NBC)
How I Met Your Father (Season 2, Hulu)

Wednesday, Jan. 25
Extraordinary (Season 1, Hulu)

Thursday, Jan. 26
The 1619 Project (Miniseries, Hulu)
Poker Face (Season 1, Peacock)
Teen Wolf: The Movie (Film, Paramount+)
Wolf Pack (Season 1, Paramount+)

Friday, Jan. 27
Lockwood & Co. (Season 1, Netflix)
Shotgun Wedding (Film, Prime Video)
Shrinking (Season 1, Apple TV+)
You People (Film, Netflix)
Tár (Film, Peacock)

Monday, Jan. 30
The Watchful Eye (Season 1, Freeform)

Tuesday, Jan. 31
Cunk on Earth (Season 1, Netflix)