From Anne Rice’s Talamasca: The Secret Order to Stephen King’s IT: Welcome to Derry, we round up our top 10 shows to watch this week
1. Talamasca: The Secret Order – Sunday, October 26, AMC | Series Premiere
In her collection of horror novels, the late Anne Rice created a richly woven tapestry of supernatural beings hiding in plain sight from the mortal world. At the centre of this universe, amidst all those vampires, witches and ghosts, is the Talamasca, an ancient society tasked with monitoring this hidden realm while guided by the motto, “We watch and we are always here.”
Given the success AMC has experienced with its TV adaptations of Rice’s Interview With the Vampire and Mayfair Witches, it’s not surprising that the network is expanding its onscreen “Immortal Universe” with another offering, Talamasca: The Secret Order.
The series focuses on Guy Anatole (Nicholas Denton), who has been on the Talamasca’s radar since childhood. He’s recruited into the organization by Helen (Elizabeth McGovern), a wily Talamasca veteran who leads the New York “Motherhouse.” Also in the mix are Jasper (William Fichtner), a charming American who has quietly gained control of the London Motherhouse; Olive (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), an ambitious and power-hungry operative assigned to be Guy’s handler; Doris (Céline Buckens), a witch who is drawn out of her reclusive life by an unexpected series of events; and Burton (Jason Schwartzman), a rakish NYC vampire. Plus, look out for guest star Eric Bogosian as journalist Daniel Molloy from Interview With the Vampire, who, after the events of season two, is now a vamp himself.
As executive producer Mark Johnson explained, fans of this TV universe will find the latest addition to be familiar yet starkly different. “Talamasca marries the procedural spy thriller with the supernatural and expands the thrills and the pleasures of our franchise’s ambitions.” Click here to watch trailer.
2. Mayor of Kingstown – Sunday, October 26, Paramount+ | Season Premiere
Jeremy Renner returns for season four of this prison-town drama, as power broker Mike McLusky tries to keep the lid on a gang war, while himself going to war with the penitentiary’s new warden, played by four-time Emmy winner Edie Falco. Click here to watch trailer.
3. IT: Welcome to Derry – Sunday, October 26, HBO Canada | Series Premiere
The works of Stephen King have often proven tough to adapt over the years — the author’s rich, deep characterization and expansive world-building better suited for the page than the screen. In 2017 and 2019, director Andy Muschietti pulled it off better than most, splitting the Master of Horror’s 1986 opus IT into two films, raking in critical acclaim and a tidy box-office sum. Now, Muschietti and his team get even more narrative real estate to delve into the twisted little town of Derry, Maine, via an eight-part HBO miniseries.
Jumping back in time to the 1960s, we’re introduced to another array of outcast kids who band together after classmates start to go missing, and stumble upon an ancient evil that feeds on fear itself. The creature is a shape-shifter, capable of conjuring that which terrifies its victims the most. But, as ever, the demon’s preferred form is that of Pennywise the Dancing Clown (played once again by a brilliantly demented Bill Skarsgård, who is also an executive producer on the series).
More than just the kids, soldiers stationed at Derry’s local Air Force base find themselves at war with Pennywise and its minions, including newly transferred captain Leroy Hanlon (Watchmen’s Jovan Adepo) and his activist wife Charlotte (Taylour Paige) — grandparents of one of the original IT’s young protagonists, founding Losers Club member Mike Hanlon. Meanwhile, parachuting in from The Shining is Dick Hallorann, engrossingly played by Perry Mason’s Chris Chalk as a rebellious young airman whose psychic gifts will prove crucial to the confrontation ahead. Finally, we have Rose (Kimberly Norris-Guerrero) and the local Native American community, who have been fighting to contain the creature for generations. Alas, beyond just bumps in the night, our heroes will need to fend off the more grounded evils of hate, prejudice and ignorance that lurk in the hearts of ordinary folk. Click here to watch trailer.
4. Don’t Date Brandon – Tuesday, October 28, Paramount+ | Series Premiere
When Amber met Brandon online, she thought she’d found the perfect boyfriend — until meeting his wife, Althea. When the women compared notes, together they uncovered they’d both fallen for a manipulative liar. But when they launched a podcast exposing his misdeeds, they were shocked to discover they were just the tip of the iceberg, as many more victims came forward.
5. Mo Amer: Wild World – Tuesday, October 28, Netflix
For two seasons of his eponymous Netflix dramedy, Mo Amer parsed the experience of being raised in Texas as the son of Palestinian refugees, navigating a tricky path between two cultures. Mo is now over and done with . . . right when Palestine and immigration are front-and-centre in the discourse.
Of course, Amer still has a platform to comment on these and any other issues of the moment, via his flourishing standup career. That in mind, his third Netflix special debuts on Tuesday. Titled Wild World, it’s described as a “timely and fiercely honest hour” in which the funnyman takes aim at the TSA, looks back on the birth of his first child and, indeed, celebrates his Palestinian heritage. Understandably, Amer feels the pressure of his cultural identity during such a tumultuous time, when the eyes of the world are on Israel and Palestine . . . and, by extension, on the comic himself.
“I’m the only Palestinian in the game,” Amer told Tom Power on CBC Radio arts podcast Q, discussing his comedy in general, but specifically the farewell season of Mo — the final episode of which he very consciously chose to end the day before the infamous attacks of October 7, 2023.
“Everybody’s coming at me left and right: ‘What are you going to say? What are you going to do?’ ” he mused [I’m] walking such an insane tightrope . . .” Click here to watch trailer.
6. Only Murders in the Building – Wednesday, October 29, Disney+ | Season Finale
Manhattan’s unlikeliest sleuths wrap up their latest close-to-home murder, bringing justice to the Arconia’s beloved doorman Lester by at last getting to the bottom of a star-studded suspect list that this year has included Bobby Cannavale, Téa Leoni, Dianne Wiest and Renée Zellweger.
7. About Face – Wednesday, October 29, TLC | Series Premiere
All too often, plastic surgeons — especially the fancy Los Angeles variety — are seen as purveyors of excess, doing facelifts and tummy tucks for the rich and famous.
It’s easy to forget, this is a field of medicine that was founded amidst the horrors of the First World War, when doctors sought to provide some tiny modicum of relief for injured soldiers whose deformities kept them from living any semblance of a normal life back home. And indeed, that’s a service plastic surgeons continue providing to this very day.
The latest medical docuseries from the network that brought us Dr. Pimple Popper delves into the efforts of three such surgeons in L.A. — Drs. Roostaeian, Rovelo and Panossian — as they put their meds together to tackle highly complex facial reconstructions for people who’ve been suffering for a lifetime from the effects of tumours, genetic defects and horrific accidents. As the press release puts it: “About Face captures the emotional and physical journeys of those who’ve been overlooked, misdiagnosed or told nothing could be done. It’s not just about changing appearances, it’s about restoring dignity, hope and humanity.”
In the premiere, we enter the OR with a man whose cheek is “about to pop” thanks to a 4-lb. tumour, and a woman whose lower lip just won’t stop growing.
8. Down Cemetery Road – Wednesday, October 29, Apple TV+ | Series Premiere
Slow Horses has steadily turned into a massive, Emmy-nominated hit for Apple over the course of its five seasons to date. Now, the streamer is betting on another gritty, witty mystery, based on another series of novels by U.K. scribe Mick Herron.
The Affair’s Ruth Wilson plays Sarah Tucker, an art restorer whose blasé existence comes to life with a literal bang, when an explosion in her neighbourhood kills two people. But Sarah is convinced there was a child who should have been in the building, but is not accounted for.
Despite having no real connection to the girl, she takes it upon herself to play amateur detective . . . which leads to the doorstep of actual detective Zoë Boehm, played by the legendary Emma Thompson, and her partner/husband, Joe (Adam Godley). At first, Zoë — every bit the hard-boiled gumshoe — is dismissive. But another shocking tragedy changes her mind, and the unlikely sleuths find themselves entangled in a botched cover-up involving crooked politicians, cold-blooded assassins, unspeakable secrets and a burning desire for vengeance on both sides of the chess board. Click here to watch trailer.
9. Ink Master – Wednesday, October 29, Paramount+ | Season Premiere
Good Charlotte rocker Joel Madden returns to emcee this tattoo battle, challenging 15 artists to holster up their ink guns for a chance at $250,000. This year’s theme: “hometown heroes,” as each competitor gets to show off not only their skills, but their hometown. Season 17 begins Wednesday with three episodes.
10. Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers – Thursday, October 30, Netflix
Famously portrayed by an Oscar-winning Charlize Theron in Monster, serial killer Aileen Wuornos is the subject of this new documentary that re-examines her life and crimes nearly 40 years after they occurred. Wuornos herself opens up in never-before-seen prison interviews. Click here to watch trailer.