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What to Watch on Tuesday: The Big Three hit the big 4-0 as This Is Us returns for season 5

EW Staff
·4 min read

We know TV has a lot to offer, be it network, cable, premium channels, or streaming platforms including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Facebook Watch, and others. So EW is here to help, guiding you every single day to the things that should be on your radar. Check out our recommendations below, and click here to learn how you can stream our picks via your own voice-controlled smart-speaker (Alexa, Google Home) or podcast app (Spotify, iTunes, Google Play).

Sarah Cooper: Everything's Fine

LACEY TERRELL/NETFLIX

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Netflix

Sarah Cooper has perhaps had an even stranger 2020 than the rest of us: a mere six months after becoming a viral sensation thanks to her satirical videos lip-synching to President Donald Trump, she's landed her own Netflix comedy special produced by Maya Rudolph and directed by Natasha Lyonne. Indeed, Cooper still can't quite believe it herself. "I was pinching myself the whole time," the comedian tells EW. "I think I just had to stop that voice in my head of, 'I don't know if you're ready for this,' and be like, 'Nope, I'm ready, 'cause it's happening.'" The satirical special features a slew of A-list guest stars, including Jon Hamm(!), Helen Mirren(!!), and Connie Chung(!!!) as it tackles our bizarre, apocalyptic year with comedic and slightly unnerving sketches. Who says the end times can't be fun? —Tyler Aquilina

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The Bachelorette

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: 8 p.m. on ABC

Lots of showdowns during tonight’s episode of The Bachelorette. Clare has it out with Yosef over what he calls her “classless” strip dodgeball date; the guys tell Clare what they really think of her favorite, Dale, during a “Bachelorette roast”; and Clare’s one-on-one date with Fart Box (a.k.a. Zach J.) gets very uncomfortable after a failed attempt at a kiss. One date is canceled, a group date rose is withheld, and the guys start to complain that Clare only has eyes for Dale. Let the journey… implode? —Kristen Baldwin

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This Is Us

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: 9 p.m. on NBC

Season Premiere

This Is 40. As in, the Big Three turn the big 4-0. But two won’t be celebrating with the other one. Why? You may recall the family drama’s season 4 finale, which saw Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Kevin (Justin Hartley) exchange vicious, malicious barbs over the care of their cognitively declining mom, Rebecca (Mandy Moore), compounded by decades of sibling rivalry. “This is a fight that resets these two men,” creator Dan Fogelman tells EW. “It’s the type of fight that is not just resolved with a handshake one meeting later. They have a journey ahead.”

The two-hour premiere carries viewers through this milestone birthday (including Rebecca’s previously teased police escort) and revisits the Big Three’s first birthday from fresh perspectives. “We’re seeing that day through prisms of Jack [Milo Ventimiglia] and Rebecca’s experience,” says Fogelman, “[but there are] parts of the day and things we didn’t see.”

In addition to births, the creator hints at some “rebirths” and confirms that season 5 will tackle our real-life pandemic and racial reckoning. “We’ve made the decision to bring world events into the show, which has allowed us to stick with our plan for the shape of the characters’ story lines, but makes present a whole host of different feelings and issues as we all try to make sense of our world right now,” he says. “It feels meditative in a lot of ways.” The Pearsons any other way than contemplative? Unthinkable. —Dan Snierson

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What ELSE to Watch

8 p.m.

The Price Is Right at Night (special) — CBS

The Voice — NBC

9 p.m.

Let's Make a Deal Primetime (special) — CBS

Chopped — Food Network

The Soul of America (doc) — HBO

Fixer to Fabulous (season premiere) — HGTV

The Exorcism of Roland Doe (special) — Travel Channel

The Campaigns That Made History (2-hour special) — History

10 p.m.

The FBI Declassified — CBS

Transplant — NBC

Streaming

Blood of Zeus (series debut) — Netflix

The Dakota Entrapment Tapes (docuseries debut) — Sundance Now

*times are ET and subject to change