fox
Accused
SUNDAY: Dramatic stand-alone anthologies are rare on network TV, so Fox deserves kudos for shaking up the legal-drama format with a series that puts the defendant at the core of each story. Why the person is on trial is slowly revealed in flashbacks in a series of morally challenging parables. Michael Chiklis (The Shield) stars in the haunting premiere as Scott, a respected neurologist who worries that his anti-social and bullied teenage son is capable of terrible violence, but what’s to be done? Jill Hennessy is Scott’s wife, who urges him to reach out to his son, with unexpected consequences. The series moves to its regular 9/8c time period on Tuesday.
The Last of Us
SUNDAY: The post-apocalyptic thriller got off to a strong ratings start last Sunday, and the action continues as Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Tess (Anna Torv) escort jaded teen Ellie (Bella Ramsey) beyond the compound’s walls for the first time in her young life. “This isn’t going to end well,” Joel gripes, and that’s before they stumble across a museum of horrors. It’s going to be a long, hard—and scary—road.
CBS
48 Hours
SATURDAY: The newsmagazine that evolved into one of TV’s leading true-crime chronicles marks its 35th anniversary this week, with correspondent Erin Moriarty reporting on a story she began covering more than a quarter-century ago. She has followed the disappearance of 12-year-old Laura Smither from Friendswood, Texas, since 1997, a cold case that DNA evidence helped close—identifying William Reece as the killer, who murdered three young women that same year.
Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Saturday Night Live
SATURDAY: For those of us who believe Aubrey Plaza should at least tie Jennifer Coolidge at one of these many awards show for her exemplary (and subtly fascinating) performance in the second season of The White Lotus, we’ll accept as consolation her first guest-hosting gig as SNL returns for the new year. Sam Smith is the three-time musical guest. And who, we wonder, will get the honor to impersonate congressional fraudster George Santos?
Courtesy of Playground Entertainment and MASTERPIECE
All Creatures Great and Small
SUNDAY: A strong episode of the nostalgic drama shows veterinarian boss Siegfried (Samuel West) in a new light, when he becomes horse whisperer to a troubled racing prospect, a case triggering flashbacks to a traumatic experience during World War I. While winds of a new war blow in the late 1930s, there is comic relief—in the form of an unruly cat in need of spaying—and its owner, a self-proclaimed “poor widow” reluctant to cough up the shillings required for the procedure.
NFL DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS;
- The road to the Super Bowl goes through Kansas City and Philadelphia on Saturday, with Buffalo and San Francisco the Sunday venues. First up, the AFC’s top-ranked Kansas City Chiefs take on #4 Jaguars (4:30 pm/ET, NBC), and the New York Giants travel to battle the NFC’s top seed Eagles (8:15 pm/ET, Fox). On Sunday, as fate would have it, the Cincinnati Bengals face the Bills (3 pm/ET, CBS) in a reprise of the game that was halted and canceled several weeks ago after Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest. Then the Dallas Cowboys play the San Francisco 49ers (6 pm/ET, Fox)
INSIDE WEEKEND TV:
- Bad Behind Bars: Jodi Arias (Saturday, 8/7c, Lifetime): In the sequel to Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret, the accused murderess (Celinda Sinden) makes friends in prison with Donavan (Tricia Black) and Tracy (Lynn Rafferty). But when Donavan is released and begins to have doubts about her pal’s innocence, reneging on her promise to be her public surrogate, Jodi shows just how bad she can be.
- The Wedding Veil Journey (Saturday, 8/7c, Hallmark Channel; encore Sunday at 7/6c): The hit romantic movie series concludes with yet another sequel, partly filmed in Greece, where Avery (Lacey Chabert) and Emma (Autumn Reeser) crash the long-delayed honeymoon of Tracy (Alison Sweeney) and Nick (Victor Webster). Naturally, Tracy brings along the magical veil, which might just work its amorous spell on the local innkeeper (Katerina Geronikolou).
- Love & Marriage: D.C. (Saturday, 8/7c, OWN): Joi Carter and Clifton Pettie, who met on the channel’s Ready to Love, join the second season of the unscripted series about D.C. power couples. But first, they need to agree about the size of their wedding.
- Shock Docs—Alien Abduction: Travis Walton (Sunday, 9/8c, Travel Channel): What’s the true story behind the Fire in the Sky account of the Arizona logger’s alleged alien abduction in 1975?
- Paul T. Goldman (Sunday, streaming on Peacock): Speaking of rabbit holes, the finale of director Jason Woliner’s bizarre docuseries profiling nerdy fabulist Goldman (not his real name) both indulges and explodes his subject’s delusions, culminating in a red-carpet premiere. “It’s like a movie,” Goldman gushes of the process. But is it really?