January Must-Sees: From the Thrills of ‘Severance’ Season 2 to the Intriguing Jerry Springer Documentary!

Nowadays, it seems like everything that was once old is new once more – particularly on television.

Despite industry complaints regarding sluggish production, there is still a plethora of television upcoming – and a glance at the deluge of new series arriving in early 2025 indicates a revival of the elements that have historically supported traditional television.

Medical dramas. Westerns. Crime shows. Documentaries. All of this is available in early 2025, presented in a manner that feels contemporary yet still evokes the nostalgic excitement that has made these genres essential.

As a year promising significant transformation begins, it makes a particular kind of logic that television is comforting audiences by returning to the reliable and familiar. Here’s my selection of new series to keep an eye on in the upcoming year.

Doc (Fox TV)

Premieres Jan. 9

Set in 1857 Utah, this overtly brutal limited series dismantles the noble idealism of numerous westerns to portray a merciless time when those insane or in dire straits enough to venture into America’s yet-to-be-conquered frontier could swiftly become either prey or predators. Mrs. Davis graduate Betty Gilpin maintains her captivating run of challenging characters as a mother escaping dire situations in the east, compelled to rely on a troubled recluse portrayed by Friday Night Lights’ Taylor Kitsch. Add in Boardwalk Empire co-actor Shea Whigham as the fatigued, ruthlessly pragmatic proprietor of the region’s solitary fort and a narrative that places Native American tribes directly between avaricious settlers and zealous Mormons, and you have the foundation for a particularly subversive western tale.

Severance Season 2 (Apple TV+)

Premieres Jan. 17

It has been almost three years since director/executive producer Ben Stiller astonished us with the tale of office employees who have their memories “severed” between work and personal life. The second season of the series delves into the ramifications of a mysteriously influential corporation producing individuals with dual consciousnesses – one of which is only conscious of occurrences from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. inside a windowless cubicle environment. New episodes further the show’s critique on capitalism and society through a surreal narrative style that occasionally feels directly drawn from a Salvador Dali painting, complemented by stellar performances from Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro, and Christopher Walken. (Pro tip: be sure to view/rewatch at least the final episode of the first season if you genuinely wish to comprehend the situation as the second season begins.)

Star Trek: Section 31 (Paramount+)

Premieres Jan. 24

For a long time on the planning stages as a series, this initiative about the Trek universe’s interpretation of the CIA likely transformed into a film once star Michelle Yeoh secured an Oscar and became one of the most sought-after actresses in Hollywood. It has evolved into a 90-minute film with a significant premise: Yeoh portrays a malevolent iteration of Capt. Philippa Georgiou, a character from the series Star Trek: Discovery pulled from an alternate universe where Trek‘s cherished Federation of Planets operates as a harshly authoritarian, human-first Terran Empire. She is now a participant in an organization that represents the polar opposite of the idealistic future Trek has consistently advocated – a covert, black-ops agency known as Section 31, which handles all the dirty, unethical tasks The Federation is too morally upright to manage openly. If this appears to involve a lot of territory to cover in just an hour and a half, you’ve accurately identified the film’s most substantial challenge.

Watson (CBS)

Premieres Jan. 26

The network’s newest interpretation of a medical procedural drama astutely centers on the chiseled hunk Morris Chestnut – yes, there is a moment in the pilot episode featuring him shirtless – as a contemporary school version of Sherlock Holmes’ faithful companion and sidekick, Dr. John Watson. In this narrative, Holmes is believed to be deceased, leaving Watson a state-of-the-art clinic where he operates as the medical director. With this arrangement, as the show investigates the enigma surrounding Holmes’ demise – along with the question of the fate of his rival Moriarty – it can also engage in a medical mystery-of-the-week at Watson’s clinic. Nevertheless, the show’s greatest mystery might be whether all this plotting will amount to a fruitful genre reinvention akin to Elsbeth or Matlock.