What to Stream This Month
Daniel Hautzinger
January 24, 2019
Find our streaming recommendations for the previous month here.
Do you ever wish you could binge-watch your favorite PBS programs? If you’re a member you already can; if not, it’s easy to join. With WTTW Passport, members can watch a huge library of PBS and WTTW programming on-demand on any streaming device. To learn more about WTTW Passport, check out our dedicated site. You can activate or sign up for Passport here.
Each month we’ll bring you a few Passport picks. January brings not just polar weather (which you can endure via a Nature special), but also Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday and the returns of two very popular shows.
Victoria
As we’re sure you know, Victoria is back, with an all-new third season currently airing Sundays at 8:00 pm. But if you need to look back and see how Victoria became queen, married Albert, and confronted various trials from political rivals to the Irish Potato Famine (or just want to relive it all), you can binge the previous two seasons.
If that’s not enough Victoria for you, find everything from quizzes to recipes to recaps and articles about the real historical figures here.
American Experience: Roads to Memphis
January brings Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, both the real date (January 15), and the national holiday (January 21 this year). This American Experience documentary narrates the civil rights hero’s life as it led to Memphis in April of 1968, when he was assassinated by James Earl Ray – and it also explores the troubled past and murky motives of Ray.
Finding Your Roots
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is once again uncovering incredible stories from the ancestries of famous people in an all-new season of Finding Your Roots currently airing Tuesdays at 8:00 pm. From PBS stars such as Christiane Amanpour and Ann Curry (learn more about the fairytale romance of her parents here) to politicians Tulsi Gabbard and Marco Rubio to comedians Sarah Silverman and Andy Samberg, there’s a lot to explore in this season – and plenty more in the previous four seasons, which are available for streaming.
Nature: Snow Bears
Since it currently feels like we live in the arctic, why not at least enjoy some cute polar bear cubs and follow the treacherous journey they must undergo with their mother to reach the sea in order to feed? This Nature special is narrated by Kate Winslet.