— Remember when the Oscars dispensed with a host and nobody noticed? The 71st Primetime Emmy Awards (8 p.m. Sunday, Fox) appears to be going the same route.
Whoever cracks jokes and hands out the awards, the proceedings will probably bewilder viewers with a blizzard of oddly concocted categories. Some of this is not the Emmys’ fault. After all, both "Better Call Saul" and "Killing Eve" are nominated for best drama of the year. Both are often funnier than series that claim to be comedies.
For what it’s worth, here are my picks in major categories. They reflect my personal choice and don’t offer a prediction of who will win. Believe me, come Monday, few outside the publicity departments of the various networks will remember a thing.
Best Drama Series: "Killing Eve"; Comedy: "Fleabag"; Limited Series: "Fosse/Verdon"; Television Movie: "Brexit"; Lead Actress, Drama: Jodie Comer ("Killing Eve"); Lead Actor, Drama: Billy Porter ("Pose"); Lead Actress Comedy: Phoebe Waller-Bridge ("Fleabag"); Lead Actor, Comedy: no choice; Lead Actress, Limited Series/Movie: Michelle Williams ("Fosse/Verdon"); Lead Actor, Limited Series/Movie: Hugh Grant ("A Very English Scandal").
Those are just the "biggest" categories. There are many more.
Once again, a network has to host an award where network programming has been eclipsed. HBO received 137 Emmy nominations; Fox has 18. To put that in some perspective, "Game of Thrones" alone received 32 nominations.
— Ripped from fairly recent headlines, "Escaping the NXIVM Cult: A Mother’s Fight to Save Her Daughter" (8 p.m. Saturday, Lifetime, TV-14) has everything you could hope for in a lurid made-for-TV effort. And if sex, celebrity, mind control and cults weren’t enough to entice Lifetime viewers, there’s always the subtitle. Just keep telling yourself: You’re not engaging in sordid voyeurism. You’re rooting for the mom!
Look for Peter Facinelli ("Twilight") as the charismatic leader of the hard-to-pronounce cult that branded its members like livestock and encouraged them to engage in degrading sexual submission to reach their "full potential."
The cult would ensnare Seagram’s heiress Clare Bronfman (Trina Corkum) and actress Kristin Kreuk of "Smallville" fame. While casually following this weird story, I always wondered how a cult so bizarre and celebrity-centric ended up in Albany, New York.
— As it has for the last six years, AXS will broadcast music from the "Farm Aid Festival" (7:30 p.m. Saturday). Look for performances from Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, Margo Price and others. Now in its 34th year, the festival founded by Nelson will be held this year at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin.
In addition to performances from this year’s concert, this "Farm Aid" event will include performance clips and interviews from previous gatherings.
— Now in its second week and fifth installment, "Country Music" (8 p.m. Sunday, PBS) recalls contradictory trends during the tumultuous 1960s. It explores the world of the professional studio musicians, the "Nashville Cats," who gave so many country singles a distinctive, polished sound.
At the same time, artists like Buck Owens from Bakersfield, California, would cling to the rougher edges of the honky-tonk sound and inspire the Beatles to cover his hit "Act Naturally."
Obsessed with the plight of Native Americans, Johnny Cash berated country stations that wouldn’t play his protest music.
Loretta Lynn rejected the role of the "submissive" little woman with her strident anthems, including "The Pill" and "Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)." Not unlike Leslie Gore’s 1964 pop hit "You Don’t Own Me," these songs spoke of female "agency" a full decade before pop culture embraced women’s lib.
SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— College football action includes Oregon at Stanford (7 p.m., ESPN); Oklahoma State at Texas (7:30 p.m., ABC) and Notre Dame at Georgia (8 p.m., CBS).
— Mark David Hall ("Did America Have a Christian Founding?") and Andrew Seidel ("The Founding Myth") appear on "Author Debate on the Influence of Christianity on America’s Founders" (7:30 p.m., CSPAN2).
— The "2019 Creative Arts Emmy Awards" (8 p.m., FXX) honors outstanding artistic and technical achievements.
— Who ya gonna call when "When Calls the Heart" runs afoul of a celebrity scandal? The spin-off "When Hope Calls" (9 p.m. and 10 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G) will just have to do.
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— Scheduled on "60 Minutes" (7:30 p.m., CBS): A sexual assault victim leaves anonymity behind; twins with a special bond.
— The Browns and Rams meet in NFL football action (8:15 p.m., NBC).
— The weekly political roundup "The Circus" (8 p.m., Showtime, TV-14) returns.
— Tasha builds a formidable army on "Power" (8 p.m., Starz, TV-MA).
— Al responds to Virginia on "Fear the Walking Dead" (9 p.m., AMC, TV-MA).
— "The Hunt for Eagle 56" (9 p.m., Smithsonian) recalls the recovery off the Maine coast of the shipwreck of a vessel missing since the closing months of World War II.
— A mother-and-child reunion on "Succession" (9 p.m., HBO, TV-MA).
— Judy looks to Baby Billy as a mentor on "The Righteous Gemstones" (10 p.m., HBO, TV-MA).
— Krystal hobnobs with elite circles on "On Becoming a God in Central Florida" (10 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA).
CULT CHOICE
— Belgian filmmaker Chantal Ackerman uses very long takes to explore the mysteries and unexpected beauty of a tattered New York hotel in the 1972 documentary "Hotel Monterey" (10:30 p.m. Saturday, TCM, TV-G).
SATURDAY SERIES
A winner emerges on "America’s Got Talent" (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) … Health benefit concerns on "The Simpsons" (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG) … Valentine’s Day on "Bob’s Burgers" (8:30 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … A sneak peek at the upcoming season of "The Masked Singer" (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG) … "Dateline" (10 p.m., NBC, r).
SUNDAY SERIES
"Football Night in America" (7 p.m., NBC, TV-14) recaps the day’s action … "Celebrity Family Feud" (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … Illusionists audition on "Penn & Teller: Fool Us" (8 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG) … Julie Chen Moonves hosts "Big Brother" (8:30 p.m., CBS, TV-PG).
"The $100,000 Pyramid" (9 p.m., ABC, TV-14) … Dean Cain hosts "Masters of Illusion" (9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG) … Russian dolls on "NCIS: Los Angeles" (9:30 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) … "To Tell the Truth" (10 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … A terror attack puts Elizabeth’s announcement on hold on "Madam Secretary" (10:30 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
