Between streaming and cable, viewers have a seemingly endless variety of things to watch. Here is a selection of TV shows and specials that are airing or streaming this week, Oct. 12-18. Details and times are subject to change.
Returning reality.
Sometimes the seas are rough, but on “Below Deck,” the drama inside the yacht can be harder to stomach. For the 13th season, Fraser Olender is the chief stew, and Captain Kerry Titheradge is back at the helm. This season, the 48-meter vessel Azul V travels around Phuket, Thailand, which is the first time the show has returned to that region since 2019. There are sure to be galley meltdowns, messy romances and power struggles. Monday at 8 p.m. on Bravo and streaming the next day on Peacock.
For its 11th season, “Love Is Blind,” the reality-dating show in which contestants get to know each and even get engaged before meeting face-to-face, rounded up singles based in Boston. The 30 participants, ages 28 to 40, include a biotech engineer, a beekeeper and a yacht captain (maybe he’ll find himself someday on “Below Deck,” if love doesn’t work out, since all reality roads lead back to Bravo). The couple Vanessa and Nick Lachey return as hosts. Begins streaming Wednesday on Netflix.
A truthstorian, a grieving mother and a government official.
The first season of “The Lowdown” followed Lee Raybon (Ethan Hawke), a self proclaimed “truthstorian” and citizen journalist, as he uncovered the secrets of a well-connected candidate for governor. In Season 2, after winning an award for his investigation, Raybon sets his sights on another scandal — the disappearance of a prisoner — and his father, played by Tommy Lee Jones, pops up, too. Wednesday at 9 p.m. on FX.
Since Season 3 of “The Diplomat” aired last fall, Allison Janney took home the Emmy Award for best supporting actress for her role as President Grace Penn. Now the show is back for a fourth season, and tensions couldn’t be higher. President Penn’s deal with Russia might be falling apart, which could lead the United States closer to war, and a delicately negotiated peace deal between the United States and Britain is on thin ice. These days, it’s hard to tell which plotlines are fictional and which are ripped from the headlines. Begins streaming Thursday on Netflix.
The new series “Crystal Lake” serves as a prequel for the “Friday the 13th” franchise, introducing Pamela Voorhees’s villain origin story. Linda Cardellini stars as Pamela, who is unable to move on from the grief after her son Jason (Callum Vinson) dies in an accident at summer camp. As Pamela develops an intimate relationship with the town’s chief of police, Levon Brooks, dead bodies start appearing. Levon asks his journalist sister Briana Brooks (Devin Kessler) to look into Pamela’s past, and some dirty secrets begin to be uncovered. All eight episodes will drop at the same time, making it a perfect spooky season binge. Begins streaming Thursday on Peacock.
Football and extreme weather documentaries.
Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds might own a pro soccer team in Britain, but who is holding down small-town hockey? The musician Michael Bublé and the reality star Drew Scott, both Canadians, recently bought the Vancouver Giants, a juniors team in Langley, British Columbia, with the goal of revitalizing it. The new documentary series “Hometown Giants” follows Bublé and Scott as they work with the players, many of whom are still in high school and living away from home for the first time. With the players’ sights set on the National Hockey League draft, the stakes are high. All six episodes air together. Begins streaming Friday on Prime Video.
On Oct. 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy battered the East Coast, causing an estimated $88.5 million in damages, and led to 147 deaths across the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. The new documentary series “Megastorm” looks at all the ways that Sandy became so big and powerful, including having an abnormally large diameter and slow-moving pace and hitting landfall at high tide. Begins streaming Wednesday on Hulu and Disney+.
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