Watch It: Hello, goodbye, nice to see you again and where is Jon Stewart

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/02/2024 (961 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Justin Hartley found. Jon Stewart lost? Law & Order releasing Sam Waterston and decamping to Toronto. Time to check in on these and a couple of other important new-TV issues.

● Tracker (series premières Sunday, Feb. 11 on CTV/CBS at approximately 9 p.m. or more precisely, after the Super Bowl)

The mark of a good TV show, book, whatever is whether the characters live on. And This Is Us’s perfectly imperfect Kevin Pearson lives on in our heart.

Has, as the weepfest’s finale indicated back in 2022, he settled happily into good son/brother/husband/father of twins? Sure it’s just TV, but… wait, JUST TV? Shiver.

The closest we’ll get is to follow the career of Kevin portrayer Justin Hartley, who is executive producer and star of of the new show Tracker, in which he plays a fixer and crime solver for hire.

Like the mid-’60s Littlest Hobo (ask your grandparents), but instead of a mysterious, selfless dog, it’s about a human with at least a purported profit motive.

● Super Bowl bonus: Sunday after Tracker (and after the half-hour CBS local news), check out a post-game Late Night with Stephen Colbert (guests John Krasinski, Ryan Gosling, Jon Stewart) followed by Taylor Tomlinson’s After Midnight (guests tba).

● The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (returns Monday, Feb. 12, TBA)

The man who best blends common sense, political insight and righteous indignation returns to the Daily Show after nine long years. Jon Stewart will host Mondays throughout the rest of the U.S. election cycle.

Yeah, sure, democracy, fine. But how will we, Canadians without VPN, watch the U.S.-only Comedy Central show?

Reddit knows our pain: “I can’t believe CTV Comedy dropped it.”

And further, while the internet keeps reporting Paramount+ will carry episodes the day after, it does not appear to be listed. Paramount+ International’s customer service replied thrillingly quickly with lacklustre news: “Episodes of the Daily Show will be available to watch later in February.” Bah!

Apple TV+ has December episodes available for purchase and YouTube and TikTok will be swimming in clips, but BAH!

● Players (movie premières on Wednesday, Feb. 14 on Netflix)

When it comes to Hallmark-esque romance, I have been known to lock my gender-bias proselytizing in the coat closet for the evening without too much regret. Will it work this time?

Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin) and her male posse (including Damon Wayans Jr.) is running her usual catch-and-release game for one-night stands when she finds herself in actual love.

What lessons will our heroine learn? And will it be, gasp, too late?

Making the objectifying lead character a woman and the prey a man (Lucifer’s Tom Ellis) reads like turnabout, but is that progress? Happy Valentine’s Day from the Dept. of Hypocritical Killjoys (who will definitely still watch this movie)!

● The New Look (series première Wednesday on Apple TV+ with three episodes and then every Wednesday through April 3)

This looks to be a sumptuous feast with many courses. It is shot in Paris and set in the shadow of the Second World War.

It features the new couture exploding out of the houses of Dior and Chanel et al. And it stars a gorgeous array of actors including Ben Mendelsohn as Christian Dior, Juliette Binoche as Coco Chanel, Maisie Williams as Catherine Dior, John Malkovich as Lucien Lelong and Emily Mortimer as Elsa Lombardi, with Glenn Close and Bad Sisters’ Claes Bang also popping in. We’ll take one in every colour.

● Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent (series premières Thursday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. on Citytv, airing weekly)

On the same day the OG Law & Order bids farewell to 20-season veteran Sam Waterston, 83, when District Attorney Jack McCoy is replaced (by Tony Goldwyn of Oppenheimer, Scandal), the new Canadian iteration of this franchise will debut on both sides of the border.

The familiar template follows “two elite detectives from the Specialized Criminal Investigations unit as they investigate high-profile crimes and homicides in metro Toronto.”

Aden Young (Rectify, Black Robe) is Det.-Sgt. Henry Graff and Kathleen Munroe (City on Fire, Patriot) is Det.-Sgt. Frankie Bateman. Let’s see if Dick Wolf’s franchise can work in a Canadian postal code.

Broadcast dates subject to change. Questions, comments to denise.duguay@winnipegfreepress.com.