Ben Affleck hits the small screen, RuPaul rolls out the fourteenth collection of American queens, Dory and her friends presumably get into and out of new self-inflicted jams. Meanwhile, skaters gonna skate!

BRAD’S PICK:
The Tender Bar [Amazon Prime]
If “Piano Man” was a movie it might just be this one. A boy moves to his grandfather’s house in Long Island only to be taken under the wing of his bartender uncle Charlie who introduces him to the various characters and regulars around the bar. George Clooney directs and Ben Affleck stars. Oh, and I didn’t mean that Billy Joel comment in any derogatory way… I promise.

FIONA’S PICK:
Rupaul’s Drag Race [VH1, 8p]
Rupaul is back as fourteen new queens battle it out to be America’s next drag superstar. There has already been a lot of internet discourse around these contestants and I for one am ready to give them all a fair chance and watch what happens.

JASON’S PICK:
Search Party [HBO Max]
The creators of this show have promised a campier fifth season, and given how loopy and unpredictable this show can be, it’s hard to know what that could mean. Now that Dory has been found, who are we searching for? We’ll soon find out.

KATHERINE’S PICK:
U.S. Figure Skating Championships [NBC, 8p]
Live from Nashville, it’s the women’s U.S. Championships, the qualifying moments for the shouldn’t-be-happening Winter Olympics.

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

• Nancy Drew returns to The CW in “The Secret of the Profitable Gritty Reboots.” The actual title of the third mid-season debut is “The Confession of the Long Night.” Since nights are not sentient and merely a construct to indicate time, we have to presume it’s a metaphor.
• Also on CW, the magicians who once tried to con Run, D.M.C. AND Jam Master Jay in a classic 1986 video, bring back the show that challenges others to con them. The second half of the ninth season {you read that right} of Penn & Teller: Fool Us! debuts tonight promising “Chocolate Magic.”
• Discovery adds another chapter to the odd hap’nins at creepy places genre, heading out to Utah for the series Mysteries at the Blind Frog Ranch.

• Cece Bell’s award winning illustrated book with a hearing-impaired protagonist comes to the screen with the debut of the new series El Deafo on Apple TV. The animated show tells the tale of a girl (rabbit?) navigating the slings and arrows and abject cruelty of a new school by leaning into her superhero alter-ego.
• Netflix’s Hype House tries to put a positive spin on a lavish house that serves as an incubator for social media influencers–pointing out how while thought about as a home for entitled white content makers, it actually serves as a haven for many marginalized groups. We’re open to your arguments, oh flashy documentary makers.
• As it has been all week, it’s a great time for, well, to put it kindly, old school, appointment television. We have the returns of Blue Bloods and Magnum P.I. on CBS and the news show Dateline NBC.
• Lifetime finally mixes it up in the titles, after five out of five new 2022 using the adverb “deadly,” the stalk-y, homicide happy network moves all the way to “killer.” Killer Stepmom debuts tonight.