— Will HBO be the same without "Game of Thrones" (9 p.m. Sunday, TV-MA)? Will television? Yes. And no. And who the heck knows!
Every time a popular series ends, folks in the culture-watching business wonder aloud if an epoch has passed with it. If this sounds familiar, it happened just three nights ago when "Big Bang" departed the CBS schedule.
Nobody knows if a really big comedy with tens of millions of viewers will ever replace "Big Bang." But when "Seinfeld" departed in 1998, people were asking the same question.
The end of "The Sopranos" in 2007 inspired similar worries. It didn’t help that HBO followed up that beloved favorite with "John From Cincinnati." But there have been more than a few HBO favorites since then, as well as a revolution in programming on FX, AMC and other networks and streaming outlets, which took it as their mission to create "the next ‘Sopranos’" or to "out-HBO" HBO.
You can’t say "Game" hasn’t upped the ante in the epic department. Like "The Crown," the show’s budget seems unlimited. But throwing money at the screen doesn’t always work. Call me a killjoy, but I thought last week’s episode ("The Bells") was at least a half-hour too long.
Once (spoiler alert!) Daenerys Targaryen opted not to take surrender for an answer and decided to dragon-broil the besieged King’s Landing, the flame-throwing violence seemed both endless and gratuitous. Individual death matches set against the incinerated hellscape were also belabored.
Like many epic series and movies, much of "Game" depends on digital effects. This development has had a dubious impact on editing and storytelling. Once you spend a fortune on a scenario, it’s difficult to justify leaving all that money on the cutting room floor, even if it makes the story shorter and better.
That explains why so many movies of the past 20 years, from "Titanic" (three hours and 15 minutes) to "Avengers: Endgame" (three hours and one minute) have been marathon affairs. Compare that with the pre-digital 1983 spectacle "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi," running two hours and 12 minutes.
I can’t say I’ve been obsessed enough with "Game of Thrones" to speculate or pretend to care who ends up on the Iron Throne. I guess I’d go with Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), because he’s always had the cleverest lines. But I’m not sure folks have watched "Game" for the witty dialogue.
— The cheekiest "Game of Thrones" counter-programming award goes to Viceland, airing back-to-back helpings of the 2002 remake of "Red Dragon" (7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Sunday, TV-14), starring Edward Norton, Anthony Hopkins and Ralph Fiennes.
— From the makers of "Undercover Boss," the Nickelodeon reality series "The Substitute" (8 p.m. Saturday, TV-G) follows a well-known celebrity as he or she goes undercover as a substitute teacher in a middle school.
Tonight’s installment features comedian Lilly Singh, a YouTube star and host of NBC’s forthcoming "A Little Late With Lilly Singh." She’ll submit to hours of makeup and prosthetic fittings and costume changes to prank students as a teacher at Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Glendale, California.
This is the latest in a series of shows featuring bold-faced names passing as "normal" people. That used to be called "acting."
CBS aired a series called "I Get That a Lot" back in 2009, featuring Gene Simmons and Paris Hilton, among others, passing themselves as working stiffs. The show’s more-than-slightly condescending vibe irked me. Game shows and early reality shows used to showcase ordinary people, affording some (Richard Hatch) with their 15 minutes of fame, and others (Snooki) even more.
Series like "Substitute" work under the assumption that we’re interested only in the already famous. Television history proves that to be untrue. TV is still better at making stars than casting already-famous faces. This has been true over the seven decades of broadcast TV and truer than ever on YouTube, where people come out of nowhere to attract millions of viewers.
— Animal Planet invites viewers to visit "The Aquarium" (8 p.m. Sunday, TV-PG).
The new series profiles employees at the Georgia Aquarium, the Western Hemisphere’s largest collection of fish, aquatic critters and maritime wonders. It also follows the aquarium’s specialists as they scour the world for exotic creatures.
In addition to its employees, we meet some of the location’s real stars, including Pinkie, an Asian small-clawed otter, a rescued green sea turtle named Tank and three harbor seals — Rose, Floyd and Cerberus — who aren’t always thrilled by their relocation within the facility.
Visitors to the Georgia Aquarium inevitably leave with a greater awareness of humankind’s relationship to the natural world. And the makers of "The Aquarium" hope viewers come away with the same inspiration.
SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— Major League Baseball (7 p.m., Fox). Check schedule for regional coverage.
— The Boston Bruins host the Carolina Hurricanes in NHL action (7:15 p.m., NBC).
— Contestants perform three numbers on "American Idol" (8 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG).
— Grieving her mother’s loss, a teen must contend with her "Psycho Granny" (8 p.m., Lifetime, TV-14).
— Amy Adams stars in the 2016 science fiction drama "Arrival" (8:30 p.m., SyFy, TV-MA).
— Memory loss on "Ransom" (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— A bridesmaid to three friends in one summer, a woman retreats to a place of joy in the 2015 romance "Sailing Into Love" (9 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— Paul Rudd hosts the season finale of "Saturday Night Live" (11:30 p.m., NBC, TV-14), featuring musical guest DJ Khaled.
SUNDAY’S SEASON FINALES
— Tia’s campaign rides a roller coaster "The Red Line" (8 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— A winner emerges on "American Idol" (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
— Lex Luthor returns on "Supergirl" (8 p.m., CW, TV-PG).
— Macy’s powers inspire fear on "Charmed" (9 p.m., CW, TV-14).
— Valjean and Marius meet at the barricades on "Les Miserables" on "Masterpiece" (9 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings).
— Hetty smells a spy on "NCIS: Los Angeles" (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— Scheduled on "60 Minutes" (7 p.m., CBS): An interviewer with a whistleblower who exposed history’s most lucrative money-laundering scheme; the ups and downs of cryptocurrency; a Canadian LGBTQ "underground railroad" that helps people escape repressive regimes.
— The voices of Megan Mullally and Adam Sandler animate the 2015 comedy "Hotel Transylvania 2" (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG).
— Villanelle takes on a new persona on "Killing Eve" (8 p.m., AMC, BBC America, TV-14).
— Diana discovers the truth about her spellbound youth on "A Discovery of Witches" (9 p.m., AMC, BBC America, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
— A young girl (Mary Badham) looks back at her father (Gregory Peck) and her Depression-era youth in the 1962 adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" (8 p.m. Sunday, TCM, TV-PG).
SATURDAY SERIES
The gang at last meets Henry Chase on "God Friended Me" (8 p.m., r, CBS, TV-PG) … "20/20" (10 p.m., ABC) … "48 Hours" (10 p.m., CBS).
SUNDAY SERIES
"Dateline" (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) … Mary Pat returns on "Good Girls" (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
