TV Heartbeat! Final trip to Downton Abbey! Sherlock returns! The Shannara Chronicles debuts!

It’s a busy week for TV with some much-loved shows beginning and ending and the end of the winter hiatus for some network shows. So much to see!

PBS begins the final season of Downton Abbey on Sunday. How will PBS’ surprise mega-hit end? Will they stop putting Bates and/or Anna in Jail? Will Edith find some happiness? Will Mary stop being so bitchy? I think we know the answer to the last question, but tune in to find out about the rest!

For once, the US is going to get an episode of Sherlock the same time as the UK! Well, 6 hours later, but at least it’s not months later! Sherlock is getting a holiday episode for the new year. In Victorian England. I’m not sure how this one will be set up, but it’ll be worth watching just to see Martin’s furry lip caterpillar. This episode will also available in theaters on January 5th and 6th if you sent to see it on the big screen and with an additional 20 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage. The full season of Sherlock starts later in the spring (probably after the big Downton finale).

MTV has the biggest debut of the week with The Shannara Chronicles. It’s an epic fantasy and, well, they went all out on this (movie quality stuff in the pilot). With nearly 30 books in the series by Terry Brooks, this much-loved world has to be good, right?  You can read more about the show and the characters in my Shannara interview. The cast includes John Rhys-Davies and Manu Bennett so don’t miss this one!

Other new series include Cooper Barrett’s Guide to Surviving Life and Superhuman on Fox, Superstore and Telenovela on NBC.

Networks are ending their winter hiatus and shuffling a few things around so a bunch of Fox Sunday comedies are moving to Tuesday including Grandfathered, The Grinder and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

A bunch of diverse shows are starting up their season including Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle, ABC’s medieval musical Galavant, MTV’s Teen Wolf, NBC’s Hollywood Game Night, ABC’s The Bachelor and American Crime and FXX’s Man Seeking Woman and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

American Idol is also launching its final season. Look for some past winners to return to bid farewell and to remind us that this show used to matter.

The Chicago shows will be doing their first full-fledged crossover between Chicago Fire, Chicago Med and Chicago PD. For this huge crossover, Chicago Fire and Chicago Med are flipping time slots so Chicago Fire will be FIRST. If you recall, Herrmann (David Eigenberg) had just been stabbed and was bleeding out at Molly’s and that gets Med and PD involved.

Ash vs. Evil Dead wraps up its first season, but it will definitely back for more mayhem and madness next season! For the finale, we finally get to see Ash vs. Ruby!

The People’s Choice Awards are back and, if Outlander is a winner, Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe will attend to pick up the award.  Here’s hoping that winners get more than a half second wave from their seats.

Tonight: The Walking Dead marathon through Saturday (AMC), Mozart in the Jungle season premiere (Amazon)
Thursday: James Bond marathon (Epix)
Friday: Sherlock: The Abominable Bride debut (PBS)
Saturday: Ash vs Evil Dead season finale (Starz), Fear the Walking Dead marathon (AMC)
Sunday: Simpsons (Fox), Family Guy (Fox), Cooper Barrett’s Guide to Surviving Life debut (Fox), Bordertown debut (Fox), Galavant season premiere (ABC), Downton Abbey final season premiere (PBS)
Monday: Superhuman debut (Fox), The Bachelor season premiere (ABC), Superstore debut (NBC), Telenovela debut (NBC), The Biggest Loser (NBC), Supergirl (CBS), Scorpion (CBS), NCIS: LA (CBS)
Tuesday: Teen Wolf season premiere (MTV), The Shannara Chronicles debut (MTV), One Chicago crossover (Chicago Med/Chicago Fire/Chicago PD crossover) (NBC), Hollywood Game Night season premiere (NBC), New Girl season premiere (Fox), move for Grandfathered (Fox), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox) and The Grinder (Fox), NCIS (CBS), NCIS: New Orleans (CBS), Limitless (CBS)
Wednesday: 2 Broke Girls (CBS), Mike & Molly (CBS), People’s Choice Awards (CBS), Mysteries of Laura (NBC), One Chicago crossover concludes (NBC), American Idol final season premiere (Fox), The Middle (ABC), The Goldbergs (ABC), Modern Family (ABC), Black-ish (ABC), American Crime season premiere (ABC), It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia season premiere (FXX), Man Seeking Woman season premiere (FXX), American Horror Story: Hotel (FX)