Top TV shows to watch this week: Severance gets weirder, Celebs revealed for the jungle

Alongside the festival of Aussie sport on TV this week, there’s also the return of the Emmy-winning Severance, an Australia Day debate and a brutal Western that’s not for the faint-hearted.

We’ve sifted through the latest offerings from TV and streaming platforms to find the best shows you should be watching this week.

Adam Scott as “innie Mark in the second season of Severance.

SEVERANCE

FRIDAY, APPLE TV+

The first season of this Ben Stiller directed psychological thriller wowed critics and blew audiences’ minds when it arrived in 2022, duly winning an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series. And with its inspiringly oddball visuals and genius concept of a group of co-workers at a mysterious company who “sever” their work and life brains so neither has any knowledge of the other, there’s still nothing quite like it on TV. The first season ended on a cliffhanger as the increasingly suspicious Mark (Adam Scott), Helly (Britt Lower), Dylan (Zach Cherry) and Irving (a scene-stealing John Turturro) briefly reforged the connection between the “Innies” and the “Outies”, with dramatic consequences for each. As this season picks up and flips between both worlds, Mark is wise to the fact that the Outie wife he thought was dead might in fact still be alive and somewhere within the endless white corridors of the increasingly weird biotech company, Lumon Industries. It can be maddeningly oblique and hard to follow – and it’s worth re-watching the season one finale at least – but it’s well worth the effort.

Serbia's Novak Djokovic is aiming to add to his record tally of Australian Open titles. Picture: DAVID GRAY / AFP

AUSTRALIAN OPEN TENNIS

CHANNEL 9, 9GEMHD, 9NOW, STAN SPORT

If Tubby Taylor can talk about Olympic diving, then there’s no reason that Paris gold medallists, kayaker Jess Fox and swimmer Ariane Titmus can’t talk tennis for the first (and most fun) Grand Slam of the year. The two champs have joined the usual suspects including effervescent Jim Courier, the always insightful and incisive Jelena Dokic, straight-talking John McEnroe, plus Lleyton Hewitt, Sam Stosur, Dylan Alcott and more. On court, it’s going to be a bit duller now that mercurial Aussie Nick Kyrgios is out but there is still defending champ Jannik Sinner, 10-time winner Novak Djokovic and Spanish gun Carlos Alcaraz to look forward to. As Hewitt himself might say… c’mon!

Gerard Gravano in the BINGE documentary Sons of Ecstasy

SONS OF ECSTASY

BINGE

This documentary about rival factions battling over the ecstasy trade in 1990s Arizona comes across as an oddly compelling blend of Breaking Bad and 24 Hour Party People – but it’s all true. In one corner was Gerard Gravano who sensed an opportunity in the burgeoning rave scene after he moved to Phoenix when his father – Mafia enforcer Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, who killed 19 people before he ratted out his boss John Gotti – went into witness protection. In the other corner was aspiring stockbroker “English” Shaun Atwood, who abandoned his chosen career when he found out how much money could be made selling (and consuming) pills to dance-party enthusiasts. None of the key players are particularly sympathetic, but their honesty and actions make for one hell of a story.

Captain Alyssa Healy of Australia got the Aussies off to a flyer in the Women's Ashes on the weekend. Picture: Jeremy Ng/Getty Images

THE WOMEN’S ASHES

FRIDAY, 10AM, KAYO, FOX CRICKET, CHANNEL 7

With such a mighty summer of cricket thanks to the men’s team wresting back the Border-Gavaskar Trophy from India over five quality Tests, now it’s the women’s time to shine against the old enemy on the international stage. It’s the first time the women have contested the trophy in a separate season to the men’s Ashes since the multi-format structure was adopted in 2013 with three one-day internationals – the last of which is played in Hobart on Friday – three T20 matches, beginning at the SCG on Monday, and one Test match, which kicks off at the MCG on January 30. The last series in 2023 was an absolute nailbiter, with the teams deadlocked on eight points meaning the Aussie retained the Ashes, but the bookies have the home team clear favourites this time around.

SBS Documentary Icons Unearthed: Spider-Man covers Spidey’s chequered history.

ICONS UNEARTHED: SPIDER-MAN

SATURDAY, 8.30PM, SBS VICELAND

With the last Spider-Man movie making more than $3 billion and another confirmed, it’s hard to believe that there was a time that the friendly neighbourhood webslinger couldn’t get arrested in Hollywood. The latest instalment in this fun series on pop culture favourites goes right back to the character’s humble beginnings in the early 1960s, when creator Stan Lee struggled to get his bosses at Marvel Comics interested in a teenage wall-crawling superhero. When Spidey became an immediate hit though, the merch came thick and fast, sparking screen adaptations of wildly varying quality, from low-rent animation and bargain basement TV, to a near miss in the ‘90s that would have been directed by James Cameron with Leonardo DiCaprio in the blue and red tights. And even Sam Raimi’s hit trilogy with Tobey Maguire was far from a sure bet thanks to studio interference, casting squabbles and a special effects industry still in its infancy.

Robert Irwin and Julia Morris will reveal this year’s I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here contestants.

I’M A CELEBRITY… GET ME OUT OF HERE

SUNDAY, 7PM, CHANNEL 10

As is par for the course this time of year, the rumour mill is in overdrive about which celebrities will join hosts Robert Irwin and Julia Morris in the African jungle for the 11th season of the long-running and sometimes stomach-churning reality TV show. Names mentioned in dispatches so far have included Melissa Leong, Glenn Robbins, Nicky Buckley, Willie Mason, Melissa Joan Hart and breakdancer extraordinaire Raygun but all will be revealed this week. And let’s face it, the actual line-up is always secondary to the gruelling tasks and disgusting animal parts the contestant have to subject themselves to so they can stay in camp.

Taylor Kitsch in the bloody Western, American Primeval.

AMERICAN PRIMEVAL

NETFLIX

Fans of the magnificent Deadwood and 2022’s underrated The English will find plenty to like about this six-part Western. Be warned though, there’s not much by way of magnificent vistas, true grit or dancing with wolves – this particular take on the wild and lawless American frontier in the 1850s is dirty, grey, violent, bloody and almost unrelentingly bleak. As a mother and son duo swiftly find out while heading West with a hidden agenda, almost everything and everyone in the Utah territory can and probably will kill you – and if the bandits, grifters or rogue soldiers don’t get you, the militant Mormons or the warring native Americans probably will. Fast and furious – but not for the faint-hearted.

Seven Indigenous Australians tackle the emotive issue of Australia Day.

HEAR ME OUT: AUSTRALIA DAY

MONDAY, 9PM, ABC

There are few issues in modern Australia that spark more emotional responses than our national holiday and whether the date should stay as January 26, be shifted to another day to allay the concerns of the many Indigenous Australians who regard it as Invasion Day or be scrapped entirely. Seven Indigenous Australians from all walks of a life – including a footballer, artist, comedian and activist – have been assembled to argue all of those positions among each other and with individual pieces to camera. Some say that change is inevitable given the hurt and reminders of intergenerational trauma that come with the existing arrangement, while others view it as a pointless gesture that would do nothing to practically change the lives of Indigenous Australians. It’s a fascinating insight into a thorny issue and while the debate can be sometimes spiky and spirited, it’s always respectful.

Tony Armstrong nabs a cane toad in Eat the Invaders.

EAT THE INVADERS

TUESDAY, 8.30PM, ABC

After tackling rabbits and carp in the first two episodes of this series that investigates whether the problems caused by invasive species can be solved by adding them to menus, host Tony Armstrong puts the spotlight on the one that illustrates the issue better than any other – the cane toad. The intrepid Armstrong – with the help of chefs, scientists and marketing experts – sets out to discover whether the serious hurdle of their toxicity can be overcome and whether paying punters would ever accept toad snacks, building up to a fancy meal he hopes to serve to maverick North Queensland MP Bob Katter. On the way he meets an NT tour guide who specialises in cooking cane toad legs and a team of female volunteers dedicated to culling their numbers (without using golf clubs).

\Channing Tatum as a tech bro in the thriller Blink Twice.

BLINK TWICE

TUESDAY, PRIME VIDEO

Channing Tatum says he was a little “concerned” when his then future (now ex) girlfriend Zoe Kravitz asked him to play a creepy, entitled tech billionaire in her directorial debut, which she also wrote. The Magic Mike star proved to be an inspired choice though, with his good looks and easy charm sucking the audiences in just like his uber-rich character lures a struggling waitress and party girl (Naomie Ackie) to his island retreat before things take a decidedly dark turn. Though it’s a little uneven at times, it’s nevertheless a smart, sharp psychological thriller with plenty to say about abuse of power, race, sexual violence and cancel culture.

Originally published as Top TV shows to watch this week: Severance gets weirder, Celebs revealed for the jungle