Joining Succession on HBO’s blazing-hot Sunday lineup: the final season of Issa Rae’s Insecure and a new round of Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. Former Saturday Night Live cast member Jason Sudeikis, riding the Ted Lasso wave, returns to the stage as guest host. 60 Minutes profiles Dopesick star Michael Keaton. A special SEAL Team flashes back to 2001 to reveal how the tragedy of 9/11 paved the Bravo Team’s future.
HBO
Insecure
SUNDAY: Few things stoke insecurity more than a reunion, and for Issa Dee (series co-creator Issa Rae), a 10th-year college reunion at Stanford is a time for her to reassess her life, career and relationships. “Everything’s out of my control,” she confesses as the fifth and final season of this groundbreaking comedy begins. Still reeling from the news that her on-and-off boyfriend Lawrence (Jay Ellis) is about to become a father, Issa is also trying to mend her estranged friendship with Molly (Yvonne Orji). Good thing they’ve brought along Kelli (Natasha Rothwell) for some laughs—and she delivers, especially once she discovers why she’s no longer listed as an active alumna.
HBO
Curb Your Enthusiasm
SUNDAY: Programming blocks don’t come much hotter than HBO’s on Sunday, with the third season of Succession leading into an hour of great comedy, with Insecure and Larry David’s caustic masterpiece of improvisational farce. As usual, there are few details in advance of Curb’s 11th season, though we look forward to seeing how pros like Jon Hamm, Woody Harrelson and especially Tracey Ullman fit into David’s misanthropic worldview. What we can always expect is that the more miserable Larry makes himself and everyone around him, the funnier Curb gets.
Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Saturday Night Live
SATURDAY: Now this is what you call a victory lap. With multiple Emmys for Apple’s beloved Ted Lasso under his belt, Jason Sudeikis returns to Studio 8H, the stage that made him famous, for his first appearance as a guest host since leaving the ensemble in 2013 after nine seasons. Brandi Carlile is the first-time musical guest.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Image
60 Minutes
SUNDAY: The newsmagazine profiles Michael Keaton, with Jon Wertheim visiting the actor, now 70, on his Montana ranch, where he reflects on his diversity of roles from Beetlejuice to Batman to Birdman. If nothing else, this segment should inspire viewers to head to Hulu to catch his latest performance, on Hulu’s wrenching docuseries Dopesick as a small-town doctor caught up in the OxyContin opioid epidemic.
CBS
SEAL Team
SUNDAY: In an emotional episode marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the military drama flashes back to that fateful day—and the eve of the disaster on Sept. 10, 2001. Younger actors play earlier versions of the future Bravo Team, as the tragic events of Sept. 11 affect each character in life-altering ways. In present-day 2021, the actors visit the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York City for the special anniversary, with team leader Jason Hayes (David Boreanaz) on hand to contribute a personal item to the collection.
Inside Weekend TV:
- At Home and Social with Lady A—An AXS TV Special Event (Saturday, 8/7c, 5/PT, AXS TV): A highlight of the music channel’s salute to National Country Music Month, The Top Ten Revealed host Katie Daryl visits the Grammy-winning musicians for conversation and concert-worthy performances.
- 48 Hours (Saturday, 10/9c, CBS): Correspondent Jim Axelrod poses the question, “The Station Nightclub Fire: Who’s Responsible?” investigating the 2003 blaze that took 100 lives and left more than 200 injured when fire tore through The Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I. The club owners speak out for the first time, and survivors are also interviewed.
- Lifetime Movies: Not ready to dive into Hallmark’s “Countdown to Christmas” deluge so early? Lifetime’s made-for-TV weekend movies include Switched Before Birth (Saturday, 8/7c), a melodrama about a new mom (Skyler Samuels) who learns that due to an embryo implant mix-up during IVF, one of her twins is the biological child of a fellow patient (One Day at a Time’s Justina Machado) who suffered a miscarriage. Let the legal battles begin! On Sunday, Lifetime presents The Night That Never Ends (8/7c), a topical drama set in South Central L.A., where a Black community helpline director (Allen Payne) teams with a white ally (Christa B. Allen) to fight against oppression and racism.
- It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Sunday, 7:30/6:30c, PBS, check local listings at pbs.org): Don’t miss your chance to watch the beloved 1966 Peanuts perennial on free TV. Otherwise, you’ll be as disappointed as Linus in the pumpkin patch if you’re not a subscriber to Apple TV+, where the special is exclusively streaming.
- Jack and Kelly Osbourne: Night of Terror (Sunday, streaming on discovery+): Has the RMS Queen Mary, docked for years as a tourist attraction in Long Beach, CA, become a ghost ship? That’s what the Osbourne siblings hope to find out, as they explore the fabled luxury liner, which was shut down during the pandemic lockdown, at which time a skeleton crew began witnessing eerie paranormal activity.
- Fear the Walking Dead (Sunday, 9/8c, AMC): The survivors on the submarine face a crisis when a food shortage forces them to venture into the nuclear fallout beyond the safety of the sub.
- Succession (Sunday, 9/8c, HBO): The Roy family continues to scramble amid scandal, as the siblings secretly meet with turncoat brother Kendall (Jeremy Strong) against their raging father Logan’s (Brian Cox) command. “Could we just try to keep this nice?” pleads elder bro Connor (Alan Ruck)—which just might be the funniest line yet in a season of backstabbing and ever-shifting loyalties.