Vanessa Bayer teams with fellow Saturday Night Live veteran Molly Shannon in Showtime’s queasy comedy I Love That for You. A Jewish woman infiltrates a neo-Nazi group in 1960s London in the Masterpiece drama Ridley Road. Starz’ Gaslit features a recreation of the hapless Watergate break-in. Stanley Tucci is back on CNN Searching for Italy while Ziwe continues to reinvent the late-night variety-talk show on Showtime.
Nicole Wilder/SHOWTIME
I Love That for You
SUNDAY: Saturday Night Live veteran Vanessa Bayer brings her gawky gifts to a promising workplace comedy loosely based on her own experience as a survivor of childhood leukemia. Pursuing her adult dream of becoming a host on the QVC-like Special Value Network, the naïve and awkward Joanna Gold (Bayer) learns the only way to survive in the cutthroat TV world is to capitalize, however reluctantly, on her identity as “Cancer Girl.” Bayer sells the living-a-lie hook with maximum pathos, supported by fellow SNL alum Molly Shannon as the channel’s biggest star and black-ish scene stealer Jenifer Lewis as SVN’s outrageous and intimidating boss lady.
RED Production Company and MASTERPIECE
Ridley Road
SUNDAY (Check local listings at pbs.org): A four-part Masterpiece limited series harks back to London in the swinging 1960s, when the nation was experiencing an unhealthy movement toward neo-Nazi fascism. Agnes O’Casey is Vivien Epstein, a young Jewish woman who leaves Manchester for the big city to follow her heart—only to be recruited as an undercover spy with platinum hair, infiltrating the anti-Semitic National Socialist Movement and capturing the fancy of its real-life leader, Colin Jordan (a chilling Rory Kinnear).
Starz
Gaslit
SUNDAY: While Martha Mitchell (Julia Roberts) and Attorney General husband John (Sean Penn) are away in California for a campaign fund-raiser, back in Washington, D.C. the Watergate break-in gets underway. It goes even more sideways than you might remember, a hapless debacle worthy of the Keystone Cops. But it’s serious business for the GOP schemers, among whose first order of business is to keep the outspoken Martha in the dark, whatever it takes.
Starz
Outlander
SUNDAY: The cult historical-fantasy romance ends its sixth season with surgeon Claire (Caitriona Balfe) in peril, targeted by Richard Brown (Chris Larkin) and his so-called Committee of Safety—in reality a criminal gang—who’ve come to arrest her for murder. Surely, Jamie (Sam Heughan) will have something to say about that!
Murray Close/SHOWTIME
The First Lady
SUNDAY: The political drama takes a step back in time to reveal the path to the White House for Eleanor Roosevelt (Gillian Anderson), Betty Ford (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Michelle Obama (Viola Davis)—and, of course, their ambitious husbands. Flashbacks reveal who they were before the glare of the spotlight formed their public identity.
Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy
SUNDAY: The second season’s premiere was delayed by breaking news from Ukraine. And while there’s no guarantee that won’t happen again because of the fractious state of global affairs, Stanley Tucci’s sumptuous travelogue through the culture and cuisine of Italy is a reminder of the world’s many wonders. The new season begins in picturesque Venice, where the celebrated actor savors black ink risotto with cuttlefish from the Rialto fish market as he explores the city’s rich trading history. Italy is paired on Sundays with the new Nomad with Carlton McCoy (10/9c), following the master sommelier on a journey to explore the intersection of food, drink, music, art and culture in hotspots around the world, starting in Paris.
Merrick Morton/HBO
Barry
SUNDAY: Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler) is now Barry’s (Bill Hader) prisoner, locked in his trunk. Little does he know that for Barry, this is a mission of mercy and career redemption, though not without a few snags, including Gene’s toxic reputation throughout Hollywood. One of my favorite moments of the new season: A casting director gets a look at Barry, who’s not even auditioning, and surmises: “I like your intensity. You kind of have a not-present Joaquin Phoenix thing going.”
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Netflix
Ziwe
SUNDAY: The boldly satirical late-night talk-variety show returns for a second season, with the glamorous and opinionated Ziwe welcoming Charlamagne Tha God for a conversation about the controversy over so-called critical race theory. She then stages a mock PTA meeting with parents opposing CRT. Expect fireworks.
Ziwe where to stream
Inside Weekend TV:
- White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner (Saturday, 8 pm/ET, C-SPAN): Coverage of the annual dinner, held in Washington, D.C. for the first time since 2019, includes remarks from host Trevor Noah and an expected appearance by President Biden.
- Renovation Goldmine (Saturday, 8/7c, HGTV): Chicago renovation pros Joe and Meg Piercy turn hidden treasures (side tables, a vintage desk, antique chairs) into statement pieces in their redesign of clients’ homes. Followed by I Bought a Dump… Now What? (Saturday, 9/8c), a new series charting the struggles of DIY homeowners who work themselves to the bone trying to fix up their dilapidated properties.
- 48 Hours (Saturday, 10/9c, CBS): The true-crime newsmagazine begins a two-part report (concluding May 7) in which contributing correspondent Jenna Jackson sits with controversial disbarred lawyer Catherine Shelton to discuss her checkered past, which has resulted in a trail of dead men.
- Collector’s Call (Sunday, 6:30/5:30c, MeTV): A new episode features Mike Haviland of Lowell, Indiana, one of the most dedicated collectors of Andy Griffith memorabilia. A fitting prelude to a screening later in the evening of the 1986 reunion movie Return to Mayberry (8/7c). Followed by the premiere of Ed Sullivan’s Rock ’n’ Roll Classics (10/9c), a weekly hourlong compilation of live performances that raised the roof at The Ed Sullivan Show.
- American Idol (8/7c, ABC): It’s “Disney Night” from Disneyland, and Dear Evan Hansen’s Ben Platt is on hand to mentor the Top 10 as they prepare to sing from the Disney songbook for America’s vote.
- The Love Boat: Happily Ever After (Sunday, 8/7c, 5/PT, Reelz): Cast members look back on the beloved escapist series that memorably sailed each week with show-biz veterans and stars-to-be.
- NCIS: Los Angeles (Sunday, 8/7c, CBS): In back-to-back episodes, the team investigates the murder of a woman who worked in the Navy’s missile defense program, and then (in an episode written by Eric Christian Olsen and directed by Daniela Ruah) works with DEA Agent Talia Del Campo (Mercedes Mason) to find a missing whistleblower.
- The Color of Care (Sunday, 8/7c, Smithsonian Channel): Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions presents a sobering documentary about racial disparities in the health-care system reaching back to the slavery era.
- The Real Housewives of Atlanta (Sunday, 8/7c, Bravo): The 14th season features the much-ballyhooed launch of Shereé Whitfield’s fashion line and the arrival of Olympic runner Sanya Richards-Ross to the catty ensemble.
- Welcome Home Nikki Glaser? (10/9c, E!): The comedian and roastmaster stars as herself in a “reality sitcom” as she leaves L.A. for her St. Louis hometown to reconnect with her roots.