From new Marvel series Ironheart to the long-awaited return of Squid Game, we round up our top 10 shows to watch this week

1. Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards – Saturday, June 21, YTV 

South African singer-songwriter Tyla is host of the 38th Annual Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, celebrating performers who’ve resonated with youngsters. Leading the pack this year, with four nominations apiece, are Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar, followed by Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson, Selena Gomez and Jelly Roll with three noms each. Girl group KATSEYE will perform. 

2. The Gilded Age – Sunday, June 22, HBO Canada | Season Premiere 

Season three of Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes’ lavish exploration of life among the elite in 1880s New York picks up after last year’s “Opera Wars,” which saw the Russell family score a decisive victory in their campaign to reshape the social scene. That said, the Russells could now face destruction from within, drifting apart as George makes a risky play to bolster his railroad business and Bertha “sets her sights on a prize that would elevate the family to unimaginable heights.” (Rumour has it, the Russells, or perhaps some other unhappy couple, are headed for divorce this season.) Meanwhile, their old-money rivals the Brooks are also at odds, as sisters Ada and Agnes clash over control of their own household. And finally, young Peggy meets a swoon-worthy doctor — but his parents disapprove of her career as a journalist. Click here to watch trailer.

3. Match Me Abroad – Sunday, June 22, TLC | Season Premiere 

The search for happily ever after is often a soul-crushing one. As time marches on and the bad dates pile up, even the most romantic among us can lose hope. This TLC series presents a novel solution: expand the dating pool by going across the pond. 

In season two, six American singles venture to Ireland, Brazil and Singapore in hopes that the reason they’re still alone is simply that their one true love happened to be born on the other side of the globe. And indeed, beyond just unlocking a whole new dating population, travel frees the spirit — revealing heretofore unseen dimensions within our fearless daters. 

Per TLC, some of this year’s more notable singles include:

Sarah (Texas) — “Glamorous and goal-oriented, Sarah knows exactly what she wants: a man who’s established, family-minded and ready to settle down. With her mom by her side, she travels to Singapore to search for someone who checks all her boxes, including resembling her celebrity crush.”

Tony (Florida) — “Tony has tried it all — from dating apps to AI-generated photos — but nothing has worked. Now, convinced Brazilian women are a better match for him, he travels to Brazil to find the partner of his dreams and potentially, the future mother of his children.”

Victoria (New York) — “Victoria is a fast-paced New Yorker who’s been on 50 first dates yet still hasn’t found ‘the one.’ Ready for something real, she heads to Ireland . . .  and hopes to find a charming Irishman who shares her dreams for the future.”

Fans of season one can also look forward to the return of New Mexico native Harold, who found love in Prague, only to see it slip through his fingers. This year, he’s hoping for better luck in Singapore. 

Once again, guiding them through it all is a team of expert matchmakers. Click here to watch trailer.

4. Ironheart – Tuesday, June 24, Disney+ | Series Premiere

After three big-screen solo outings and four Avengers movies, fans bid a sad farewell to Iron Man, a.k.a. Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), when he met a heroic yet tragic end in Avengers: Endgame. 

Iron Man may be gone, but his legacy continues in Marvel’s latest series for Disney+, Ironheart. The focus is Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), a genius MIT student whose ability to reverse-engineer Tony’s tech resulted in her recruitment by the kingdom of Wakanda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. In the film, she combined her skills with advanced Wakandan technology to create a flying armoured suit which she donned to defeat Prince Namor. When the dust settled, however, Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright) confiscated the vibranium Ironheart armour when Riri returned to MIT.

In the series, Riri returns to her hometown of Chicago, where she perfects a new and even more advanced Ironheart suit. “Her unique take on building iron suits is brilliant, but in pursuit of her ambitions, she finds herself wrapped up with the mysterious yet charming Parker Robbins a.k.a. ‘The Hood’ (Anthony Ramos),” notes the series’ synopsis. 

“Once this show begins, we’re definitely seeing the same girl that we got introduced to [in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever], but this time around we’re getting a deeper dive,” Thorne told Entertainment Weekly. 

“It’s an invitation to explore her roots and her upbringing,” Thorne added. “We’re taking it back to her hometown of Chicago, and a bit of a battle ensues as she’s debating between or considering how she wants to use what she realizes is a powerful wealth of knowledge, realizing just how much genius she has in her, deciding what she’s going to do with that. We see that play out in the environment when she gets back home as well — she has these options. Who and how am I going to use these things that I now know about myself?” Click here to watch trailer.

5. Enigma – Tuesday, June 24, HBO Canada

Following its debut at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, this documentary explores transgender identity by chronicling the divergent paths of two pioneering trans icons: British model, dancer and socialite April Ashley and Amanda Lear, 1970s disco hitmaker, also known as muse to artist Salvador Dali, onetime girlfriend of The Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones and ex-fiancée of Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry.

Ashley was outed as transgender via a messy divorce, ultimately emerging as a vocal advocate for trans rights. Lear, on the other hand, took a very different path by refuting persistent rumours and staunchly refusing to discuss her past. 

In her memoir, Odyssey, Ashley (who died in 2021) claimed she’d met Lear before their respective transitions, when they were both drag performers in a Paris cabaret during the ’50s. Lear (pictured above) denied her claims, continually insisting she’s always been a woman — a stance she maintained when interviewed for Enigma. 

Filmmaker Zackary Drucker (The Stroll) takes a no-judgment approach to the choices that each made, depicting their diametrically opposite paths to be equally valid — while also making the somewhat brutal point that Lear’s persistent denials of being transgender allowed her to pursue a long and successful career as an entertainer, while Ashley’s honesty led her to be banished from showbiz. Click here to watch trailer.

6. Steph Toley: Filth Queen – Tuesday, June 24, Netflix

A Toronto comedian who is steadily gaining acclaim across the globe, Steph Tolev takes another big step up the ladder with her very first solo Netflix special. 

Filth Queen finds Tolev onstage at Boston’s Paradise Rock Club, dispensing “hilarious confessions, unfiltered dating stories and absurd observations.”

It’s produced by no less a standup comedy giant than Bill Burr, who — after catching some of Tolev’s material via Instagram — reached out personally to invite her onboard for his live tour. “He gave me his phone number, and I thought it was a fake account!” Tolev chuckled in a chat with Streets of Toronto. That gig was followed by a slot in 2022 Netflix standup showcase Bill Burr Presents: Friends Who Kill, as well as roles in Burr’s Netflix original film Old Dads and a recent episode of HBO’s Hacks. 

Explaining exactly what drew him in, Burr told Deadline: “The first time I saw Steph Tolev was a promotion video she made for a New York City show. I immediately fell in love with her and her comedy. One of the most uninhibited, original voices out there today. I love everything about her!”  

For her part, Tolev summed up her comedic stylings to Streets of Toronto thusly: “self-deprecating, raunchy, honest and goofy.”

7. The Ultimatum: Queer Love – Wednesday, June 25, Netflix | Season Premiere

Season two of this spinoff heads for Miami, where, amidst “parasailing dates and poolside confrontations,” six queer couples put their relationships to the test and try to figure out if they’re ready to commit to each other long-term. If you didn’t catch season one, the show invites lovebirds who are at a crossroads in their romance to temporarily split up, embark on a “trial marriage” with another partner, then reunite to decide if they should settle down together or split up. Sweet Magnolias star JoAnna Garcia Swisher returns to emcee. As she told Tudum: “We cannot ignore the importance of celebrating queer relationships. There are incredible complexities and nuances to them that should be respected, but in many ways, they’re exactly the same as a non-queer relationship. We all deserve our happy ending — whatever that looks like.” Click here to watch trailer.

8. CMA Fest – Thursday, June 26, ABC

Get ready for three solid hours of music and fun as country singers Cody Johnson and Ashley McBryde host this year’s CMA Fest, the annual event where Nashville’s hottest stars mix and mingle with fans. As always, the star-studded event promises unforgettable performances from some of country’s biggest names, including Wynonna Judd, Shaboozey, Trisha Yearwood, Rascal Flatts, Luke Bryan, Little Big Town, Keith Urban, Brooks & Dunn, Blake Shelton and dozens more.

9. Smoke – Friday, June 27, Apple TV+ | Series Premiere 

Having scored an Emmy nomination for his work on 2022 limited series Black Bird, star Taron Egerton reteams with creator Dennis Lehane for another complex true-crime character study, once again streaming on Apple TV+. 

Based on roundly acclaimed podcast Firebug, the show follows fire department investigator Dave Gudsen (Egerton), who is reluctantly paired with police detective Michell Calderon (Friday Night Lights alum Jurnee Smollett) to catch not one, but two serial arsonists plaguing the Pacific Northwest. As they sift through the ashes at crime scene after crime scene, it seems clear that at least one of the offenders is operating from within their own department. 

Rounding out the supporting cast are Oscar nominee Greg Kinnear as Dave’s quirky boss, Harvey Englehart, and Trying’s Rafe Spall as Steven Burk, a shady man from Michell’s past who maintains a stranglehold on her present. 

Beyond just pulpy thrills, this nine-part drama delves into the pain, dysfunction and complicated motivations of characters on both sides of the law, as all of them inch closer to an end game that will see their lives, careers — and, perhaps most intriguingly, their self-delusions — go up in smoke. 

“What really drives my engine is always the human psyche,” Lehane told Time magazine. “I really think this is about people who are turned on by the things that can kill them . . . I hope [the series] leads people to question a lot of these paths they’re going down. I wish we could all just admit, ‘Hey, we’re all messed up — every single one of us.’ And if you’re not, you’re lying to yourself and to everybody else. So, just strive to be a little better every day . . . Every single person in the show lies to themselves, and it only leads to grief.” Click here to watch trailer.

10. Squid Game – Thursday, June 27, Netflix | Season Premiere

Back in September of 2021, a dystopian thriller from South Korea unexpectedly became Netflix’s most-streamed series ever. It followed a group of cash-strapped citizens given the chance to earn a better life by competing in unhinged kids’ games that, unbeknownst to them, had fatal consequences for the losers.

Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk took his time crafting a followup, with season two arriving this past December, more than three years later. Luckily, he was shooting season three at the same time, and all six episodes hit the streamer this Friday. Alas, they will also be the show’s swan song.

The season-two finale saw Squid Game contestant turned revolutionary Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) betrayed by a supposed comrade — his best friend murdered, his insurrection quashed. Now, per Netflix: “Although Gi-hun is at his lowest point yet, the Squid Game stops for no one. So Gi-hun will be forced to make some important choices in the face of overwhelming despair as he and the surviving players are thrust into deadlier games that test everyone’s resolve. With each round, their choices lead to increasingly grave consequences.” Click here to watch trailer.