Showtime’s wild thriller Yellowjackets closes its first season with a cliffhanger. A CNN docuseries takes a new look at the turbulent career of sex-symbol movie star Marilyn Monroe. HBO’s offbeat comedy Somebody Somewhere stars Bridget Everett as a Kansas misfit unexpectedly finding her voice. This is the NFL’s Super Wild Card Weekend, including a simulcast of CBS’ Sunday game on Nickelodeon.
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Yellowjackets
SUNDAY: The buzz around Yellowjackets has been growing all season for one of the most original and disturbing thrillers to hit TV in some time—and it’s only likely to build after the Season 1 cliffhanger, which like the rest of the season plays out in dueling time frames. In 1996, the plane-crash victims wake up from their “Doomcoming” mushroom-enhanced orgy with fateful showdowns looming. At the 25th-anniversary class reunion in the present, the unruly Gang of Four—Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), Natalie (Juliette Lewis), Taissa (Tawny Cypress) and madwoman Misty (Christina Ricci)—have gratefully washed their hands of their latest grisly clean-up, but mysterious forces with a link to their unspoken past are about to remind them that their problems are far from over.
Everett Collection
Reframed: Marilyn Monroe
SUNDAY: A four-part docuseries about the immortal sex-symbol movie star begins with back-to-back episodes, tracing the journey of Norma Jeane Mortenson into the exotic and troubled icon Marilyn Monroe. The opening hour depicts her first encounters with Hollywood’s studio system, and the second finds her overcoming an early sex scandal (a nude calendar photo) to become a major star who was unafraid to leverage her sexuality and popularity.
Somebody Somewhere
SUNDAY: As quiet and heartfelt as its companion comedy The Righteous Gemstones is raucous and crude, this endearingly offbeat and unexpectedly moving human comedy stars Bridget Everett as Sam, a role that fits the Kansas native very well. As the series open, Sam is adrift in her hometown of Manhattan, Kansas after the death of her beloved sister. When her surviving sib Tricia (Mary Catherine Garrison) demands to know “What are you doing with your life?” Sam decides to accept her friend Joel’s (scene-stealing Jeff Hiller) invitation to attend a “choir practice” of non-conformists who meet in a church within a mall to let their freak flags fly through music. As Sam reclaims her voice, we can’t wait to see where she’s headed.
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NFL Playoffs
It’s a bonanza of post-season football action, with six games scheduled through Monday over four networks—five if you count Nickelodeon, and don’t forget live streaming. As No. 1 seeds Green Bay and Tennessee sit out to wait for the playoffs, the fun begins Saturday at 4:30/ET with Las Vegas Raiders at Cincinnati Bengals, followed by another AFC matchup with New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills, 8:15/ET on CBS. The Sunday lineup begins on Fox at 1 pm/ET with Philadelphia Eagles at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, then for the second year, Nickelodeon will simulcast a wild card game with CBS as the San Francisco 49ers take on the Dallas Cowboys at 4:30/ET. Among the Nick enhancements: special graphics and appearances by Young Dylan’s Dylan Gilmer as sideline reporter and Young Sheldon’s Iain Armitage on hand to help explain the penalty calls during the game. Sunday concludes, as usual, on NBC with Pittsburgh Steelers at Kansas City Chiefs in the Sunday Night Football slot at 8:15/ET.
In Memoriam:
- On the weekend before what would have been her 100th birthday, gameshow-centric cable channel Buzzr presents a daylong binge (starting at 10:30 am/ET) of Betty White’s many appearances on Password and its various iterations, often alongside husband Allen Ludden, where her gift at wordplay was always hard to beat. TV celebrates the star’s centennial with 12-hour marathons (starting at 6 am/5c) of Hot in Cleveland and The Golden Girls on Saturday and Sunday.
- And in honor of the unexpected passing of Bob Saget on Jan. 9, MeTV accelerates its plans to add Full House to its schedule, with a two-hour tribute planned for Sunday, starting at 2 pm/1c. (The series will regularly air from 2-4 pm ET/PT on Sundays starting next Sunday.)
Inside Weekend TV:
- Remix My Space with Marsai Martin (Saturday, streaming on discovery+): In an eight-part series, the black-ish star gives back to young people who make a difference in their communities when she surprises them with elaborate bedroom makeovers.
- Safe Room (Saturday, 8/7c, Lifetime): Station 19’s Boris Kodjoe directs wife Nicole Ari Parker (And Just Like That) in a thriller about a widow and her teenage autistic son (Nik Sanchez) who take refuge in a panic room to hide from burglars (Mackenzie Astin and Drea de Matteo) they’ve witnessed committing a murder.
- Saturday Night Live (Saturday, 11:30/10:30c, 8:30/PT, NBC): The dazzling multi-nominated star of West Side Story, Ariana DeBose (Anita), dances onto the stage as a first-time guest host, joined by Bleachers as musical guest—a late substitution for Roddy Ricch, who dropped out because of Covid.
- Britannia (Sunday, 9/8c, Epix): Sophie Okonedo joins the fantasy epic’s cast in Season 3 as Hemple, the hedonistic wife of ruthless Roman general Aulus Plautus (David Morrisey), as they both seek magical teen Cait (Eleanor Worthington-Cox), who’s been prophesied as the savior of the Druids and Celts from the Roman invaders.
- All Creatures Great and Small (Sunday, 9/8c, PBS, check local listings at pbs.org): The Daffodil Ball gives James (Nicholas Ralph) a chance to advance his relationship with Helen (Rachel Shenton), and even crankypants Siegfried (Samuel West) gives romance a chance on the dance floor.