Can They Solve the Biggest Mystery of Their Lives? ‘The X-Files’ Returns With Season 11

It’s a calm October day in Vancouver, but things are about to get wild on the set of The X-Files. In a particularly tense scene filming today, skeptical federal agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is explaining her hunch about a hard-to-crack case to partner Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), the iconic “I Want to Believe” poster hanging behind him. She suggests investigating a key location for a vital clue. Duchovny takes a long pause, goes off script and exclaims, “OMG!”

Fans are going to have the same reaction when the groundbreaking sci-fi series returns for Season 11. Expect deadly doppelgängers, a twisted exploration of potential life after death and the resolution to a shocking cliffhanger. When we last left off, Mulder was near death thanks to a widespread contagion that threatened humankind. The immune Scully quickly developed a vaccine, but it wasn’t enough to save her deteriorating partner. Could using stem cells from William, the son she gave up for adoption 14 years earlier, be the key to curing Mulder? And will they find out before that apparent UFO hovering above gets to them?

Also in this issue:

• Matt Roush’s Golden Globe Predictions: Our senior critic on his top picks, the close calls and more.
• Law & Order: SVU: Pals Brooke Shields and Mariska Hargitay on finally getting to work together and what goes down in SVU‘s midseason premiere.
• Better Late Than Never: Henry Winkler and William Shatner expose their taste buds — and their bodies! — to new experiences in Season 2.
• MacGyver: Crazy explosions and wild stunts make for an exciting day on the set of CBS’s action hit.
• Plus: New section “Stuff We Love,” the greatest moments of the Golden Globes, celebrating the 70th anniversary of Howdy Doody and the best of movies, streaming, sports and more.

Cheers & Jeers: The Best and Worst Things in TV This Year!

2017 brought some of the best and worst TV moments yet, and we’re dissecting everything! Here’s what we celebrated and what we shook our heads at.

Cheers to Game of Thrones for not playing around. Winter finally came and brought with it a risky, frisky seventh season that nixed snoozy plots (goodbye, Dorne!) and needless secondary characters (see ya, Dickon Tarly) to make room for more action of the battle, bedroom and fire-breathing variety (Emilia Clarke).

Also in this issue:

• Morning Show Meltdown: TV news faces a crisis as Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer are fired for inappropriate behavior.
• In Memoriam: Ed Asner remembers his former costar Mary Tyler Moore. Plus: tributes to David Cassidy and Jim Nabors.
• Gunpowder: Move over, Jon Snow! Kit Harington returns to HBO with a thrilling historical series.
• Man Among Cheetahs: Wildlife filmmaker Bob Poole follows a family of big cats.
• The Roush Review Top 10 of 2017: Senior Critic Matt Roush names his faves of the year from The Handmaid’s Tale to Downward Dog.
• Plus: Inside the Downton Abbey exhibit, a chat with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend‘s choreographer, celebrating the anniversary of an underrated Beatles special and the best of movies, streaming, sports and more.

Holiday Preview: Get Holly Jolly With Michael Weatherly’s ‘Bull’

Michael Weatherly looks ridiculous. The Bull star just emerged from the dressing room at his 12th TV Guide Magazine cover shoot wear­ing a brown tweed sport coat over a maroon turtleneck and matching slacks. It’s an outfit best described as “1960s dad”—and it’s tight in all the wrong places. He couldn’t ­appear less sexy or more undignified, but it’s hard to tell if he cares. That’s the amazing, terrific thing about Weatherly: He probably doesn’t. He’s game. He doesn’t complain. He laughs off mistakes. He makes other people feel good. If it seems naive of us to dismiss this as an act, then so be it. Maybe we’re just in the holiday spirit.

Later, the photographer’s assistants give him candy canes to put in his mouth like cigars, tie a gold ribbon around his neck and wrap him in a string of twinkling holiday lights. Again, he’s game. He’s also pretty thankful. The 49-year-old actor, who starred as NCIS’s jokey Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo from 2003 to 2016, is married and has three healthy kids. His CBS drama Bull—on which he plays a trial consultant—is still a hit in Season 2. And he’s got a new partner in showrunner Glenn Gordon Caron (Moonlighting), who’s made the procedural darker and more substantial. Goodbye, silly plots featuring poisonous dresses; hello, storylines about fatal frat hazing and assisted suicide. The December 12 holiday episode is no different, focusing on a 9-year-old girl (Annabelle Wachtel) who wants to sue her negligent parents for divorce.

Recovering in a bar after the four-hour shoot, Weatherly excitedly talks about the show—and life. Can things get any better? Well, he is spending his holidays in Jamaica, so…

Also in this issue:

• Holiday Preview: A Christmas Story Live! scoop, festive episodes of The Middle, Great News, Hawaii Five-0 and more!
• Holiday TV Calendar: From White Christmas to Hallmark Channel’s latest originals, we’ve got you covered with this two-page calendar.
• Plus: An expanded What’s Worth Watching section, the verdict on Amazon’s latest batch of pilots, the dos and don’ts of spinoffs and the best of movies, streaming, sports and more.

The Biggest Show in the World: ‘NCIS’ is Going Strong After 15 Years

He’s the No. 1 star on the world’s No. 1 drama on TV’s No. 1 network. But you’d be hard-pressed to find anything showboat-y about Mark Harmon.

The veteran actor, currently in his 15th season as Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs on CBS’s NCIS, settles down for a chat at a mom-and-pop diner not far from his home in Los Angeles. This is one of Harmon’s longtime hangouts, and it’s due to go out of business soon—yet another victim of an unaffordable rent hike. That looming event has him feeling nostalgic and a bit melancholy. Like Gibbs, the 66-year-old Harmon is a guy who radiates old-school decency and honesty. He deflects praise. He dodges any talk of status or power. His modesty would be maddening if it weren’t so refreshing. Is it possible for a TV superstar to actually be normal? Probably not. But Harmon comes damn close.

Also in this issue:

• Fall Streaming Preview: Westerns are back! Inside Godless and the return of Longmire; Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It adaptation; Marvel’s The Punisher; and three things to know about The Crown‘s second season. Spoiler alert: There’s a major royal scandal ahead.
• The Good Doctor: Freddie Highmore brings TV’s latest hero to life on ABC’s breakout hit of the season.
• Plus: Outlander‘s big outbreak, Mindy Kaling picks her favorite The Mindy Project episodes, Bull celebrates Turkey Day and the best of movies, streaming, sports and more.