The holiday hangover can be a tough thing to overcome. As January grinds on, the number of prestige movie releases, meaningful football games and festive parties dwindles markedly. Yuletide cheer gives way to rules and resolutions and the (metaphorically) fluorescent light of mid-winter. Faced with all of this bleak frozen tundra, what more natural response could there be than turning on the television? After all, TV viewers have never enjoyed as bounteous an array of quality entertainment options. In the month of January alone, Larry Wilmore will succeed Stephen Colbert in the post-Daily Show slot on Comedy Central, CNN will debut its Oscar-short-listed Roger Ebert documentary Life Itself, and Kevin Hart will host Saturday Night Live.
Those are just some of the unscripted highlights. The month of January brings a big wave of scripted shows to help fend off the winter blues. From a long list, here are five of the most compelling offerings:
Empire (Jan. 7, Fox) -- From the time it was first announced, this series from Precious/The Butler filmmaker Lee Daniels has had a unique aura. The soapy music-business saga finds Terence Howard, returning to the music business turf that witnessed his breakout in Hustle & Flow, plays the head of a hip-hop label. Taraji P. Henson plays his wife, and the show also features some boldface bits of casting as Courtney Love and Naomi Campbell in small parts. Daniels, who has proven nearly incapable of making anything boring, has been upfront about his urge to make the series "a black Dynasty." Just like that shoulder-padded guilty pleasure, this show seems well worth sampling. And if it manages to mix the cocktail just right, the pleasure could last.
Portlandia (Jan. 8, IFC) -- It's hard to believe the loopy narrative-sketch series from Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein is entering its fifth season. But that's a tribute to the show's willingness to explore recurring characters and develop the show's concept well beyond the initial inspiration of taking a Linklater-ish comedic view of the eccentric residents of Portland, Oregon. This season will add guest turns by Seth Meyers, Paul Simon, Parker Posey, Greta Gerwig, Jane Lynch and Oscar the Grouch. But the new isn't as rewarding as the tried-and-true characters that Armisen and Brownstein have returned to season after season, giving dimension to characters that Armisen's alma mater, Saturday Night Live, would use once and throw away. They have held steady on their offbeat portfolio of characters and, to quote the catchphrase of one of their immortal sketches, put a bird on it.
12 Monkeys (Jan. 17, Syfy) -- Terry Gilliam has made many indelible films, but 12 Monkeys, released in 1995, occupies a unique place among them. The sci-fi film starred Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt in the story of a time-traveler (Willis) desperately trying to gather information about an apocalyptic virus that has all but wiped out humanity. It netted Pitt an Oscar nomination and grossed $169 million worldwide, far and away the biggest tally of the former Monty Python member's directing career. The film was based on the classic 1962 short by French director Chris Marker, La Jetée. Two decades later, SyFy has adapted the film as a series. In the context of The Walking Dead and The Strain, the concept would appear to have series legs, especially given some key changes from the film version. And while it won't launch with A-list talent on the Willis-Pitt level, its cast, headed by Aaron Stanford in the Willis role, has plenty of appeal.
The Americans (Jan. 28, FX) -- The Season 2 finale of this spy drama was top-shelf storytelling, expertly wrapping up a twisty-turny season of this Cold War series set in 1980s New York while also providing some enticing teasers for the season to come. While Emmy and Golden Globe voters somehow haven't gotten the message, this series is in the vanguard of TV's best. From the powerhouse lead performances by Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as a Russian couple living under cover in suburbia to the layered, but patient, plotting by creator (and former CIA officer) Joe Weisberg, the show is the total package. The first two seasons found the lead couple struggling with how to keep their tween/teen children from discovering their secret identities. With the cat out of the bag, the shifting family dynamic figures to be one of many fascinating wrinkles to Season 3. And it is hard to think of a better addition to the cast than the peerless Frank Langella, who will play Rhys and Russell's KGB handler.
Fortitude (Jan. 29, Pivot) -- In little more than a year, the millennial-focused cable channel started by the owners of Participant Media, the entity behind movies like The Help. Lincoln and An Inconvenient Truth, has made modest headway, netting awards attention for shows like Please Like Me and HitRECORD on TV. But this series could represent a significant step up. Produced by U.K. heavyweight Sky, it's a dramatic thriller set in a tiny Arctic village and starring Stanley Tucci, Michael Gambon, Jessica Raine and Luke Treadaway. Admittedly, its snowy locations won't exactly be a tropical antidote to the January outside many windows. But history has shown that a good drama knows no season.
