A week after "60 Minutes" kicked off its 53rd season, "Saturday Night Live" (11:30 p.m. Saturday, NBC, TV-14) will begin season No. 46.
The season opener will take place in the Rockefeller Center studio with an audience limited by COVID concerns. Chris Rock, now appearing in the stellar fourth season of "Fargo," will host.
Besides that, we know that three new cast members have been added. Only time will tell if Lauren Holt, Punkie Johnson and Andrew Dismukes become comedy household names or settle into obscurity like so many "SNL" participants.
We also know that comedian Jim Carrey will appear on the series as Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden. That seems like a questionable casting call. Carrey’s reputation was made by being "on" in every scene and frequently over-the-top. Biden has spent much of the campaign being fairly buttoned-down and under the radar, so as to distinguish himself from a president who must dominate every news cycle.
That contrast was borne out in Tuesday night’s debate, an event that will no doubt be subject to imitation and impersonation tonight. The question remains whether audiences can find it "funny."
— Ethan Hawke stars as legendary figure John Brown in the miniseries adaptation of James McBride’s novel "The Good Lord Bird" (9 p.m. Sunday, Showtime, TV-MA).
The book and the series rely on an invented character named Onion (Joshua Caleb Johnson). A slave boy Brown liberates from a violent racist, Onion is mistaken for a young girl and given Brown’s daughter’s dress to wear. This curious case of gender confusion is just one of the peculiar elements of this series that tug it away from historical tragedy to understated comedy and even farce.
Historians have long debated whether Brown, an antislavery zealot executed on the eve of the Civil War for his doomed raid on Harper’s Ferry, was a visionary or a fool, a religious prophet or a crazy man. Hawke, who had a notable role as a tortured minister in the 2017 drama "First Reformed," seems at ease with Brown’s scripture-spouting demeanor. But his character quickly emerges as both a wild-eyed blowhard and a madman. At times it almost seems as if Hawke is doing an impression of Tom Waits playing John Brown.
Impressively produced, yet wildly uneven in tone, "Bird" stars Daveed Diggs as Frederick Douglass and features a breathtaking title sequence.
— "The Lost Lincoln" (9 p.m. Sunday, Discovery, TV-PG) asks viewers to spend two hours wondering if there might be an as-yet-unseen photo of the 16th president, and more to the point, one taken in the hours after his assassination.
Professor, researcher and professional "authenticator" Dr. Whitny Braun talks to Lincoln historians and photography experts to assess the credibility of this image.
In many ways, "Lincoln" resembles a prolonged, frequently repetitive episode of PBS’ "History Detectives." It also sports a musical score laden with all of the tropes and tricks of reality television production.
There’s nothing more tawdry and tabloid in nature than a prolonged and lugubrious meditation on an image of a revered person’s corpse. I’m reminded of how the Enquirer and the New York Post went to great lengths to publish pictures of dead Elvis Presley and John Lennon, respectively.
— "Masterpiece" (9 p.m., Sunday, PBS, TV-14, check local listings) debuts "Flesh and Blood," a U.K. family melodrama wrapped up in a murder mystery. Imelda Staunton, scheduled to be the next queen on Netflix’s "The Crown," stars as a neighbor and witness after tragedy engulfs her widowed friend (Francesca Annis) and her squabbling adult children in the wake of a relationship with a new man (Steven Rea).
— Beginning Sunday, Netflix will stream "David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet," a profile of the filmmaker and naturalist, who looks back at his career and mourns the loss of wildlife and natural habitats.
SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— Murder on the sidelines in the 2020 shocker "Dying To Be a Cheerleader" (8 p.m., Lifetime, TV-14).
— A singer finds inspiration in Nashville (of all places) in the 2020 romance "Country at Heart" (9 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— Scheduled on "60 Minutes" (7:30 p.m., CBS): Devastating fires on the West Coast; interviews with leaders of the Lincoln Project, a group of Republicans bent on defeating President Trump; a profile of Jerry Seinfeld.
— The Heat and Lakers meet in Game 3 of the NBA Finals (7:30 p.m., ABC).
— Bonus material on "The Walking Dead" (8 p.m., AMC, TV-MA).
— The San Francisco 49ers host the Philadelphia Eagles in NFL action (8:20 p.m., NBC).
— Middle-aged guys (Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn) try to relive campus shenanigans in the 2003 comedy "Old School" (9:30 p.m., CBS, TV-14). CBS will air movies from the Paramount vault every Sunday night in October.
— Characters appear in cartoon form on an election-themed episode of "black-ish" (10 p.m., ABC, TV-PG). Subject to delay due to NBA coverage.
— Sisters face a grim choice on "The Walking Dead: World Beyond" (10 p.m., AMC, TV-MA).
— Oraetta talks herself into a new job on "Fargo" (10 p.m., FX, TV-MA).
— CNN premieres "First Ladies" (10 p.m.), weekly profiles beginning with Michelle Obama.
CULT CHOICE
A failed writer (Jack Nicholson) isolates himself and his family in a haunted hotel in director Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s gothic novel "The Shining" (8:15 p.m. Saturday, IFC, TV-MA).
SATURDAY SERIES
A missing laptop on "NCIS: Los Angeles" (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) … "The Wall" (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) … "The Masked Singer" (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG).
A femme fatale on "NCIS: New Orleans" (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) … "Ellen’s Game of Games" (9 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) … "I Can See Your Voice" (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14).
"48 Hours" (10 p.m., CBS) … A vintage helping of "Saturday Night Live" (10 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
SUNDAY SERIES
"Football Night in America" (7 p.m., NBC, TV-14) … Ancient Rome on "The Simpsons" (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … The universe faces destruction on "Pandora" (8 p.m., CW, TV-PG) … Competition on "Bless the Harts" (8:30 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
Contagion and concerts on "Bob’s Burgers" (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … The search for an advantage on "Supernatural" (9 p.m., CW, r, TV-14) … Rupert’s past emerges on "Family Guy" (9:30 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
