‘Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action,’ Plus 6 Things to Watch on TV This Week

Between streaming and cable, there is a seemingly endless variety of things to watch. Here is a selection of TV shows and specials that are available live or streaming this week, Jan. 6-12. Details and times are subject to change.

A populist showman

He grew up in Queens and went on to become a reality TV star who cast a long cultural shadow — and no, I don’t mean the former and future president Donald J. Trump. Jerry Springer made a name for himself in the 1990s as the host of “The Jerry Springer Show,” which became synonymous with spectacles of family drama, lovers quarrels, brawling guests and, at times, flying chairs.

Springer, who died in 2023 at the age of 79, didn’t live to see the summary of his career in the new Netflix two-part, behind-the-scenes series, “Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action.” But if he once had us clutching our pearls, we may now be reaching for tissues, as the show’s insiders and guests’ relatives discuss an unseen part of Springer’s legacy and the costs of such tell-all television. Streaming on Tuesday on Netflix.

The drama “Landman” concludes its first season this week after 10 episodes of Billy Bob Thornton’s titular character trying to outmaneuver drug cartels, oil tycoons and his ex-wife. In a profile on Thornton, the New York Times television editor Austin Considine described “Landman” as “a male fantasy about roughnecks and the unrealistically attractive women who love them.” After all, what says hardcore quite like amputating your own fingertip with a pocketknife? Streaming Sunday on Paramount+.

Thornton is hardly the only brooding leading man this week. In “The Agency,” Michael Fassbender plays a C.I.A. case officer who survived undercover operations only to suffer now a sedated life in London. An adaptation of the French series “The Bureau,” the show neatly ties in contemporary current events. The show is, among other things, a romantic drama, but it concerns itself mostly with the corrosive effects of espionage on spies themselves. Airing Sunday at 9 p.m. on Showtime and available to stream on Paramount+.

Slow reality television

“Finding Your Roots” begins its latest season this week and fits into a niche category of reality television. The Harvard academic Henry Louis Gates Jr. discusses the topic of ancestry with his guests, digging back in the archives to present them with histories of long-lost relatives. In past seasons the actor Edward Norton discovered that Pocahontas was a distant relation, and the comedian Maya Rudolph learned the identities of her Black ancestors born into slavery. This season will kick off with the actors Lea Salonga and Amanda Seyfried. Airing on Tuesday at 9 p.m. on PBS.

“Antiques Roadshow” is not exactly a potboiler, but as the series prepares to embark on its whopping 29th season, it’s clear the show knows how to sustain its following. Tune into this season for a pit stop at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., and a future foray to Las Vegas. Airing on Monday at 8 p.m. on PBS.

Old footage, new colors

Nothing affords us the chance to indulge our nostalgia quite like a new year, and the Smithsonian Channel seems to be making the most of that opportunity with its multipart series “Liberation: D-Day to Berlin.” The show focuses on much storied parts of World War II, though perhaps its freshest contribution is the series’s use of archival film footage. Unlike documentary filmmaker Ken Burns’s slow-zoom, Smithsonian’s series is imbuing the images with new colors. For the history lovers among us, it might be a welcomed trumpet blast to usher in 2025. Airing on Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Smithsonian Channel.

Self as spectacle

Now in its 17th season “RuPaul’s Drag Race” is bigger than big, with a separate “All Stars” series and several offshoots (see the French and Australian versions). But even as the challenges for contestants become more elaborate (like last week’s referenced “Squid Game”), the show still offers moments of self-reflection and spunky, devil-may-care attitudes for which it became a sensation. This week’s episode will feature the rapper and singer Doechii as a guest judge and the promise of enough sequins to make even the dark days of January sparkle. Airing Friday at 8 p.m. on MTV.