‘Lingo’ Joins Game-Show Rush, Jack White Rocks ‘American Pickers,’ HGTV Brothers Battle with No Rules, ‘Big Sky’ Standoff
RuPaul hosts a prime-time version of the word game Lingo for CBS, joining new editions of The Price Is Right at Night and the return on Fox of a celebrity version of Name That Tune. Rocker Jack White enlists American Pickers to help him hunt for a special relic. Drew and Jonathan Scott compete in a No Rules season of house-flipping contest Brother vs. Brother. The penultimate episode of ABC’s Big Sky: Deadly Trails leads to multiple cliffhangers.
Lingo
Series Premiere
Like Wordle come to life, the word game that was formerly a staple of the Game Show Network moves to CBS in a prime-time edition hosted by Emmy winner RuPaul Charles. Teams face off to guess five-letter words in a fast-paced contest with a $50,000 jackpot prize. Preceded by a new edition of The Price Is Right at Night (9/8c), where grocery store employees are the contestants, testing their first-hand knowledge of product pricing.
Celebrity Name That Tune
Season Premiere
Game shows are currently all the rage this midseason, which includes the return for Season 3 of a celebrity-driven version of the musical brain-teaser. In the opener, host Jane Krakowski welcomes wrestler Chris Jericho and Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon for one round, while fellow Olympian and pro basketball player Sheryl Swoopes takes on singer/personality Todrick Hall in another.
American Pickers
Rocker Jack White of the White Stripes could use the pickers’ help, beckoning Mike Wolfe and Danielle Colby to Detroit for a special mission. The goal: to find a one-of-a-kind recording trailer that has gone missing for decades. (The story continues in the Jan. 25 episode.)
Brother vs. Brother
Season Premiere
The sibling house-flipping rivalry of brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott goes to a new level in the latest season of the hit series, this time with no limit on budgets or other restrictions. While Drew tackles a hillside fixer-upper, Jonathan renovates a home near the beach, with older brother JD as referee and Jonathan’s girlfriend Zooey Deschanel (New Girl) weighing in as a native Angeleno. In the opener, the bros work on their homes’ living rooms and front entrances, with HGTV stars David Bromstad and Kendra Wilkinson judging the results. The winner gets an out-of-the-world prize, operating the Mars Rover at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab.
Big Sky
The season finale of the Sunny Barnes (Reba McEntire) storyline is next week, so expect plenty of cliffhangers as Jenny (Katheryn Winnick), Cassie (Kylie Bunbury) and Beau (Jensen Ackles) go after the Bleeding Heart Killer, who’s on the loose. Elsewhere, crooked Avery’s (Henry Ian Cusick) dealings with greedy mobsters lead to a standoff, and Beau’s daughter Emily (Cree Cicchino) and office wit Denise (Dedee Pfeiffer) find themselves in jeopardy.
Inside Wednesday TV:
- The Conners (8/7c, ABC): It’s old home week when former high-school classmates of Dan (John Goodman) and Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) gather after the death of a favorite teacher.
- Chicago Fire (9/8c, NBC): Tense times at Firehouse 51 as the crew prepares for a semi-annual inspection and Brett (Kara Killmer) fights to save her paramedine program.
- Abbott Elementary (9/8c, ABC): While idealistic Janine (Quinta Brunson) turns to her fellow teachers to help two of her students learn to get along, Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) and Ava (Janelle James) are otherwise engaged, plotting to defeat Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis) in fantasy football.
- Shania Twain: Not Just a Girl (9/8c, AXS TV): The country superstar’s biographical documentary, which premiered last year on Netflix, gets its linear TV debut.
- Chicago P.D. (10/9c, NBC): While investigating a shooting at a funeral, Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) stirs up some unsettling reminders about his past.
