From a new crime thriller from the creator of The Queen’s Gambit to the long-awaited return of Sarah Jessica Parker’s And Just Like That . . ., we round up our top 10 shows to watch this week

1. Jerrod Carmichael: Don’t Be Gay – Saturday, May 24, HBO Canada

From his acclaimed sitcom The Carmichael Show to emceeing the Golden Globes to last year’s boundary-pushing, courageously intimate HBO docuseries Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show, this oft-eponymous comedian is a man who never flinches from confronting complicated issues — even if that means interrogating himself.

That trend continues in his latest special — the North Carolina native’s first since his Emmy-winning 2022 set Rothaniel, wherein he publicly came out as a gay man for the first time.

Teasing Don’t Be Gay in a chat with Vanity Fair, Carmichael mused: “The special is a lot of thoughts around how I’m seeing myself, because the reality show was that. I started writing a lot of material about that — about how I see myself, about masculinity . . . how I see myself as a man.” Click here to watch trailer.

2. Northwoods Survival – Sunday, May 15, APTN | Series Premiere

This reality challenge follows several hearty young Canadians as they embark on a challenging four-season mission: to build a life for themselves in the vast and unforgiving wilderness of northern Saskatchewan.

“Welcome to some of the most breathtakingly wild and untamed places on Earth — where ‘progress’ doesn’t mean skyscrapers and Wi-Fi, but a return to the land, survival on your own terms and freedom from modern distractions,” states the press release for Northwoods Survival. “For these adventurers, every day is a high-stakes gamble with exhilarating rewards.”

Over the course of 10 episodes, viewers are taken on an adventure through some of the country’s most remote and rugged landscapes as these aspiring homesteaders face the harsh realities of living off the land, striving to not just survive but to thrive in these wild places that they now call home. Click here to watch trailer.

3. 2025 American Music Awards – Monday, May 26, CBS

Hip-hop phenom Kendrick Lamar, still riding high off the success of his incendiary GNX album, leads all nominees at this year’s AMAs with 10. Trailing close behind are such perennial contenders as Post Malone, Billie Eilish and Shaboozey.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Lopez emcees the gala for a second time, and is also set to perform. “Jennifer’s incredible talent and incomparable stage presence make her the ideal host of the show,” said Jay Penske, CEO of Dick Clark Productions. “We know she will bring her one-of-a-kind energy to the official kick-off celebration of summer.” 

Finally, the evening’s prestigious Icon trophy goes to Janet Jackson — who, in addition to her many other accolades, is one of only four artists ever to have a No. 1 Billboard album in the ’80s, ’90s, 2000s and 2010s.

4. Kevin Costner’s The West – Monday, May 26, History| Series Premiere  

Prior to his messy parting of the ways with Yellowstone, Kevin Costner was arguably television’s biggest star, headlining the medium’s most-watched show.

Since then, he’s been focusing on completing his quadrilogy of Horizon: An American Saga movies — and this week makes his return to the small screen with Kevin Costner’s The West, an ambitious new eight-part docuseries.

The series promises “a fresh look at the sweeping and complex history of the American West through a wide range of conflicts — all driven by the desperate struggle to control the land itself. Transcending the clichés of the ‘Wild West,’ each one-hour episode will capture multiple perspectives on the stories that not only defined an era but continue to shape our country today.”

Costner serves as both host and executive producer, while renowned historian Doris Kearns Goodwin brings her expertise to ensure the story is told from varying viewpoints, including those of the pioneers who settled in the West and the Indigenous tribes who had already been living there for thousands of years. 

“I am in love with history. I love the rich, heroic and harrowing stories of the West. The people and their stories have always held a fascination for me, but there’s an urgency today to put those times and the men and women who we think we know in perspective, in the context of their times, without judgment,” says Costner. “This particular West project is significant for me as it marks a return to the History channel, the home of my first foray into television with the Hatfields & McCoys, and an opportunity to partner with Doris Kearns Goodwin, who so artfully weaves together important stories that are at once expansive, intimate and true.” Click here to watch trailer.

5. The Handmaid’s Tale – Tuesday, May 27, CTV Drama | Series Finale

Beware the ides of June, as this dystopian drama based on Canadian Margaret Atwood’s enduringly timely 1985 novel unleashes its end game. Watch as June and her allies make one final push to burn down the patriarchy and raise a better world from its ashes. Click here to watch trailer. Click here to read our feature story from a past issue.

6. Destination X – Tuesday, May 27, City & NBC | Series Premiere

A globe-trotting new competition flies contestants to Europe, piles them into a blacked-out bus, drops them off in parts unknown and compels each to figure out where exactly — or, at least, approximately — they are. As NBC’s press release explains: “In each episode, the players disembark the bus to visit unique and unfamiliar tourist attractions that have been gamified into experiential challenges. They will need to rely on their knowledge of pop culture, history, geography and observational skills to win clues to their current location and earn an all-important advantage. Contestants must tap into their own personal expertise, identify hidden clues that are disguised as artifacts and discern intentional misdirects from competitors to ultimately determine their whereabouts.”

At the end of every instalment, they must place their “X” on a map — hazarding a fateful guess as to where they’ve just spent the day. The furthest from the truth gets a one-way ticket back home.

Emceeing it all is Walking Dead star Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who puts his players to the test with “mind games and pivotal ultimatums,” while also introducing veteran reality TV schemers JaNa Craig (Love Island) and Peter Weber (The Traitors) to climb aboard that bus and shake things up for our unsuspecting tourists. Click here to watch trailer.

7. And Just Like That . . . – Thursday, May 29, Crave1 | Season Premiere

Carrie and the gals are back for season three of this Sex and the City revamp. Unfortunately, the ensemble will be down a few fun, flirty, fashionable cast members. Sara Ramirez, who played Miranda’s erstwhile lover Che, has been written out, as has Karen Pittman, who rose to prominence in season two as Prof. Nya Wallace. Helping fill that void will be new arrivals Rosie O’Donnell and Broadway legend Patti LuPone. Furthermore, John Corbett is back as Carrie’s on-again, off-again paramour Aidan Shaw. Aidan and Carrie resolved to give each other space before flipping that “on” switch again, but early photos have the two looking pretty darn cozy.

Creator Michael Patrick King told Entertainment Weekly it’s a season of new apartments, new obstacles and one old trope, revived from the original series: Carrie’s iconic voiceover. “Carrie’s actually writing a new book and the voiceover is the way into the book,” King said. “For the first two seasons of And Just Like That . . ., I took the voiceover away because I didn’t think she knew what she was feeling. She’s starting to feel things again and have an overview of where she is in the world. Writing a book is very private, and so, in an interesting way, it’s almost a direct, intimate conversation with the viewer. Maybe there are things she’s saying to the viewer that she wouldn’t say to even her best friends.”

8. The Better Sister – Thursday, May 29, Prime Video | Series Premiere

Based on novelist Alafair Burke’s 2019 potboiler, this eight-part thriller casts Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Biel as Nicky and Chloe, two sisters who share everything — including a husband. You see, Nicky married Manhattan attorney Adam (Corey Stoll) — with whom she had a son named Ethan (Maxwell Acee Donovan). Alas, after Nicky sank into addiction and the couple divorced, Adam went ahead and married Chloe, the two of them taking full custody of a now-teenaged Ethan.

“Estranged” doesn’t even begin to describe their relationship. Yet Chloe and Nicky must find a way to mend fences when Adam is killed and their entire family finds its secrets, lies and dirty laundry in the spotlight as they fight to uncover the truth of this crime.

The book, at least, is billed as a “twisty tale of domestic noir.” Click here to watch trailer.

9. Dept. Q – Thursday, May 29, Netflix | Series Premiere

Carve out a little space in your bingeing schedule this weekend for another brilliant but damaged detective. Downton Abbey alum Matthew Goode plays DCI Carl Morck — a keen-eyed, sharp-tongued English copper working in Edinburgh, Scotland. As we meet him, Carl is fumbling to recover from a brutal attack that left a rookie patrolman dead, Carl’s partner paralyzed and Carl himself with a bullet in the throat. The assailant? Still a mystery.

As our jaded sleuth comes back to work, his boss (Kate Dickie) bestows upon him the ignominious honour of leading a new cold case unit — headquartered in a forgotten corner of the precinct basement. He’s hardly frothing with excitement, but soon enough a peculiar disappearance from years ago gets his investigative juices flowing. Along the way, Carl unexpectedly picks up a team of fellow misfits, including Rose Dickson (Leah Byrne), a young constable whose chipper disposition masks deep-seated trauma, and Akram Salim (Alexej Manvelov), a Syrian-born I.T. guy with a particular set of skills that go far beyond fixing the Wi-Fi.

Also in the mix is a hard-charging prosecutor named Merritt Lingard (Chloe Pirrie), who finds herself the target of a vicious stalker hell-bent on punishing her for reasons unknown.

Based on Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen’s Dept. Q novels, the eight-part series was adapted by Oscar nominee Scott Frank, who previously worked with Goode on 2007 neo-noir thriller The Lookout and 2020 miniseries The Queen’s Gambit. “Matthew just felt like this guy,” Frank said in an interview with Netflix’s Tudum. “I was writing with him in mind. I knew that he could do this and that he would lend this undeniable intelligence with his flintiness, but that he could also be emotional without being sentimental.” Click here to watch trailer.

10. Bono: Stories of Surrender – Friday, May 30, Apple TV+

To promote his 2022 memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, U2 frontman Bono hit the road with an accompanying one-man show, encompassing 14 performances in various venues in North America and Europe. This new documentary is described as “a bold and lyrical visual exploration” of that show, Stories of Surrender: An Evening of Words, Music and some Mischief . . . 

The doc follows Bono as “he pulls back the curtain on a remarkable life and the family, friends and faith that have challenged and sustained him, revealing personal stories about his journey as a son, father, husband, activist and rock star,” notes the synopsis from Apple TV+. “Along with never-before-seen, exclusive footage from the Beacon Theatre shows, the film features Bono performing many of the iconic U2 songs that have shaped his life and legacy.”

As a bonus, Bono: Stories of Surrender promises fans a viewing experience like no other — provided they’ve got an Apple Vision Pro headset. This cutting-edge virtual reality device blends virtual content with the physical world, and this is the streamer’s first-ever feature-length film to be available in Apple Immersive Video, “a remarkable media format recorded in 8K with spatial audio to produce a 180-degree video that places viewers onstage with Bono and in the centre of his story.” Click here to watch trailer.