What To Watch On TV This Week: Magnum PI, Manifest, Lethal Weapon and more

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Welcome to What To Watch, your weekly guide to recommendations for television viewing. There is so much broadcast on the small screen these days, it can sometimes be daunting to figure out how to spend your hard-earned time. Well, worry no more! We at JoBlo.com are TV fanatics and have prepped a handy guide for you to follow over the next seven days. Each week, we will bring you picks catered to your viewing mood. If you have recommendations you think we missed, let us know in the comments below or email your selections to [email protected].

THIS WEEK'S PICKS

Wanna watch something….with Marvel's Royal Superhero?

MARVEL'S AVENGERS: BLACK PANTHER'S QUEST (Premieres Sunday, September 23rd on DisneyXD) – The fifth season of Marvel's Avengers Assemble series will put T'Challa in the spotlight and revolve around his adventures. After the massive success of the BLACK PANTHER feature film, I am glad that Disney is looking to continue finding ways to keep the character's story moving. It will remain to be seen if the show keeps rotating the focus of the series to different superheroes as their films get released.

Wanna watch something….with Action (But No Mustaches)?

MAGNUM P.I. (Premieres Monday, September 24th on CBS) – Fans of the original Tom Selleck series may not be very excited about this revival that recasts the lead role with Jay Hernandez and gender-swaps Higgins, but the Justin Lin directed pilot looks like it will bring the action. I am personally not a fan of CBS shows in general and thought the reboot of MacGyver was very lacking, but I am still very intrigued to check ou if they can live up to the potential the trailer for Magnum P.I. gave us.

Wanna watch something….for Fans of Lost?

MANIFEST (Premieres Monday, September 24th on NBC) – Every year, there is at least one high concept series that tries to be the next Lost. This year's is Manifest. Executive produced by Robert Zemeckis, Manifest tells the story of a plane that disappears for five years and mysteriously lands with all the passengers assuming that only hours have gone by. Sure, it sounds intriguing but is it enough to support multiple seasons of narrative? The trailer looks good but I will remain cautious as I have been burned by too many shows that make big promises and then get cancelled.

Wanna watch something….for Fans of the X-Men?

THE GIFTED (Premieres Tuesday, September 25th on FOX) – I enjoyed the first season of The Gifted which managed to tell a story set in the world of the X-Men but without any of the major characters. It was a well executed family drama that set the table for an even better second season of stories. The trailer above promises that hte show is growing into a much larger story, one that could feature iconic superheroes with the X-gene. I recommend you binge the good first run of episodes in advance of this season premere.

Wanna watch something….that is much better than you would expect?

LETHAL WEAPON (Premieres Tuesday, September 25th on FOX) – When the first season of Lethal Weapon was announced, the outcry against it from fans of the Mel Gibson/Danny Glover series was widespread. Then, the show premiered and was one of the best action series on television. After some much publicized drama that led to the firing of Clayne Crawford, the third season will move forward without Martin Riggs. In an intriguing casting choice, Sean William Scott joins as a Riggs-substitute who could end up being a better fit for this series. I don't know if it will ever be Lethal Weapon without Riggs but I am interested to see how it works out.

Wanna watch something….still going strong after 21 seasons?

SOUTH PARK (Premieres Wednesday, September 26th on Comedy Central) – To be honest, I have not kept up with the last half dozen seasons of South Park. But, it still amazes me how quickly Trey Parker and Matt Stone can turn these episodes around and make them as brilliantly well executed as series that take weeks or months to produce. With Donald Trump and the MeToo movement in full effect, I expect the foul-mouthed denizens of South Park to explicitly rip pop culture a new one. This is going to be the first season in a long time I plan to make destination viewing.

Wanna watch something….that could be the best sitcom revival yet?

MURPHY BROWN (Premieres Thursday, September 27th on CBS) – Remember how I said I don't watch CBS shows? Well, I am making an exception for the revival of Murphy Brown. The classic 90s sitcom was the perfect format for the politics of that decade and bringing her back is a bold move for a network that tends to be a little more conservative. Murphy Brown looks like it is going to be for liberals what Roseanne was for conservatives.

Wanna watch something….with epic wilderness drama?

HOLD THE DARK (Premieres Friday, September 28th on Netflix) – Jeremy Saulnier, director of the acclaimed GREEN ROOM, delivers an epic drama starring Jeffrey Wright as a man recruited to help a mother find her child who is lost in the Alaskan wilderness. The trailer makes it look pretty damn impressive and with Wright in the lead, this could be a perfectly timed thriller to watch as the seasons change. Our own Chris Bumbray was disappointed with the film (see his review here) but if you already have a Netflix subscription, it won't cost you anything to check it out.

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