ABC introduces us to the Women Of The Movement

Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Thursday, January 6. All times are Eastern.

Top Picks

Women Of The Movement (ABC, 8 p.m., series premiere): With six episodes spread across three consecutive Thursdays, this ABC limited series recounts the true story of Mamie Till-Mobley (played by Tony winner Adrienne Warren) and her quest for justice after the lynching of her 14-year-old son Emmett Till in Mississippi in 1955. Till-Mobley insisted on an open casket for her son, because, as she said, “I wanted the world to see what they did to my baby.” The cast includes Tonya Pinkins, Cedric Joe, Ray Fisher, Glynn Turman, Chris Coy, Carter Jenkins, and Julia McDermott, while directors include Kasi Lemmons and Gina Prince-Bythewood (and producers include Jay Z and Will Smith). Devery S. Anderson’s book on Emmett Till serves as the source material for the miniseries. Women Of The Movement is planned to become an anthology series with future installments chronicling later events in the civil rights movement. Stephen Robinson’s review is running later this morning.

Regular coverage

And Just Like That… (HBO Max, 3:01 a.m.)
Station Eleven (HBO Max, 3:01 a.m.): These are the last two episodes before the season finale, which will consist of one episode and be available on January 13.

Wild cards: January 6 insurrection edition

Four Hours At The Capitol (HBO Max, streaming; HBO2, 5:30 p.m.): This documentary is focused solely on the day itself, when thousands of American citizens from across the country gathered in Washington D.C. to “protest” the results of the 2020 presidential election. Four Hours At The Capitol features never-before-seen footage and vivid first-hand accounts from lawmakers, staffers, police officers, protesters, and rioters who stormed the Capitol building where the electoral votes were being counted. As Stephen Robinson wrote in his review, the most unsettling revelation is that “the documentary makes clear that January 6 wasn’t just the end of a movement but the beginning of a dark chapter in American history.”

UPDATE: January 6 Insurrection: What’s Happened Since? (PBS Frontline, YouTube): This documentary, which first premiered April 13, has been updated. For anyone who decided to focus on coronavirus rather than try and take both COVID-19 and insurrection updates at once when it came to reading terrible news last year comes a documentary to sum up… well, what’s happened since.