What to watch this weekend January 12, 2024: TV awards contenders

The first season of HBO’s Emmy-winning crime drama “True Detective” captivated its audience by incorporating supernatural undertones into its central investigation to create an unsettling atmosphere. That same approach is used again in the latest installment of the franchise, “True Detective: Night Country,” which marks a return to form as the anthology show trades heat and humidity for the bitter cold and previous seasons’ masculine themes for a female-centric story.

Created by Issa López, the six-episode series (premiering Sunday at 9/8c on HBO and Max) is set north of the Arctic Circle, in small-town Alaska, after the last sunset of the year, which means the lines between day and night — and possibly also the living and the dead — have become blurred. Oscar winner Jodie Foster makes a triumphant return to TV to lead the series as Liz Danvers, a gruff police chief looking into the disappearance (and eventual murder) of a team of international scientists from a remote research station. Kali Reis appears opposite Foster as Evangeline Navarro, a cop-turned-trooper who immediately sees a connection between the scientists’ odd disappearance and the gruesome murder of an Indigenous woman years prior. Together, Danvers and Navarro, who have a complicated history of their own, investigate the strange (and possibly supernatural) happenings that go on in the dark in order to determine what happened out on the ice.

Drawing from horror and Nordic noir to tell its story, and with compelling performances from its leading ladies, “True Detective: Night Country” is the awards contender to watch this weekend.

SEE Experts slugfest: Our 2023 Emmy winner predictions (finally)

But if you’re looking for something a little more grounded, others contenders include:

• “Criminal Record”: The hits just keep coming for Apple, and I mean that in a good way. This London-based police drama from BAFTA Award nominee Paul Rutman stars Cush Jumbo and Oscar winner Peter Capaldi as two detectives in different stages of their careers who find themselves on a dangerous collision course after a domestic violence survivor alleges during an anonymous call that the wrong person is in prison for murder. A thrilling crime drama tackling racism, misogyny and the rot that permeates law enforcement, “Criminal Record” is yet another winner for the streaming service. The first two episodes are now streaming on Apple TV+.

• “Break Point”: The newest installment of Netflix’s tennis-centric docuseries, which chronicles the 2023 season, has arrived in time to serve as a warm-up for the 2024 Australian Open this weekend. There are several new faces this outing, including Holger Rune, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev, while Taylor Fritz, Nick Kyrgios, Aryna Sakablenka, Frances Tiafoe and Maria Sakkari return. All six episodes are now streaming on Netflix.

• “Echo”: Marvel’s latest addition to its mega franchise is unique in that it’s the first series to be spun off from one of its Disney+ shows. It is also the first series to be released simultaneously on Disney+ and Hulu. Yay, corporate synergy! In the five-episode show, Alaqua Cox reprises her role as deaf amputee Maya Lopez from 2021’s “Hawkeye.” After shooting Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio), a surrogate father who she learned ordered her actual father’s murder, Maya reluctantly returns to her small hometown in Oklahoma to heal and hide out while she plans her next steps to take down Fisk’s operation. Once there, she reconnects with her Native American heritage while trying her hardest to avoid confronting her complicated past. All episodes are now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.

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