There are two ways to look at this weekend’s television.
For some, it’s all about the NFL playoff games, one featuring the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, considered one of the most exciting quarterbacks to emerge in some time. Putting the Super Bowl aside, this weekend’s games will rank among the most-watched TV events of the year.
Richard Price (“The Wanderers,” “Clockers” and contributions to “The Wire”) adapts Stephen King’s “The Outsider” (9 p.m. Sunday, HBO, TV-MA) into a 10-part miniseries, co-produced, starring, and directed by Jason Bateman. He plays Terry Maitland, a local baseball coach and all around Everydad in a Georgia town.
His life is ruined when he’s arrested for the gruesome killing of a neighbor’s young boy. A wealth of witnesses, physical, forensic and videotape evidence point to a slam-dunk conviction.
Ben Mendelsohn (“Animal Kingdom”) stars as Det. Ralph Anderson, the moral voice at the center of the story as the case and the town itself begin to unravel. Mare Winningham stars as his wife and rock of support, still grieving the loss of their son. Julianne Nicholson plays Terry’s wife, Glory, enraged at what Ralph has brought upon her husband and their two daughters.
A novelist best known for his gritty urban settings, Price keeps “Outsider” as close to a psychological thriller and crime procedural as possible. It’s easy to watch the first two episodes running on Sunday and wonder when the weird Stephen King horror elements are going to kick in. But you know they’re out there.
Highly recommended.
— Left unfinished at the time of her death in 1817, the fragmentary Jane Austen novel “Sanditon” is adapted for “Masterpiece” (9 p.m. Sunday, PBS, TV-14, check local listings) by Andrew Davies (“Pride & Prejudice,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary”).
Rose Williams stars as Charlotte Heywood, the vivacious young daughter from a family of 11 children whose parents seem a tad too eager to send her off unchaperoned with a couple of strangers — Tom and Mary Parker (Kris Marshall and Kate Ashfield) — who are trying to promote a seaside resort at the underdeveloped coastal town of Sanditon with the help of its most wealthy resident, Lady Denham (Anne Reid, “Years & Years”).
Like any resort development, this story involves schemers, dreamers and colorful types who are a little bit of both. As in every Austen novel, the world is divided into those who have money and those who need it — some more desperately than others.
Undoubtedly pretty, charming and young, Charlotte remains a bit of a cipher. You can watch the whole pilot and never really understand what makes her tick. Not unlike Jenna Coleman in “Victoria,” Charlotte has a spark that seems decidedly out of place in the early 19th century, and a spunk that brought out the latent Lou Grant in this (re)viewer.
Bottom line: “Sanditon” is a bright and shiny production filled with a parade of types who never really add up to three-dimensional characters.
— Hollywood history seems to consist of brilliant originals and the films they influence. Sometimes repeatedly.
Four witnesses to a rape and murder offer varying accounts in director Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 drama “Rashomon” (8 p.m. Saturday, TCM, TV-PG). Director Martin Ritt remade the film as the 1964 Western “The Outrage” (10 p.m. Saturday, TCM, TV-PG), starring Paul Newman and Claire Bloom, Laurence Harvey and William Shatner.
Two other 1960s Westerns, “The Magnificent Seven” and “A Fistful of Dollars,” were remakes of Kurosawa films. According to director George Lucas, Kurosawa’s 1958 adventure “The Hidden Fortress” had a great influence on the script for “Star Wars.”
— Felicity Jones portrays a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the 2018 historical legal drama “On the Basis of Sex” (9:05 p.m. Saturday, Sho2). Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg also appears on “Jeffrey Rosen, Conversations With RGB” (7:05 p.m. Saturday, C-Span2), discussing her life and legal career.
— The weekend before her family’s deportation, a young woman falls in love with another immigrant in the 2019 adaptation of the young adult novel “The Sun Is Also a Star” (8:35 p.m. Saturday, HBO Family), by Nicola Yoon.
SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— The Titans and Ravens meet in NFL playoff action (8 p.m., CBS).
— The parents of an ailing son discover that good help is hard to find in the 2019 shocker “Psycho Nurse” (8 p.m., Lifetime, TV-14).
— A reality dating show pairs a woman with her old high school crush in the 2019 romance “Love in Winterland” (9 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— The Packers host the Seahawks in NFL football playoff action (6:30 p.m., Fox).
— Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (7 p.m., CBS): Rising tides and flooding threaten Venice; profiles of Rafael Nadal and Joaquin Phoenix.
— Taye Diggs hosts the 25th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards (7 p.m., CW, TV-14).
— Time is of the essence on “Doctor Who” (8 p.m., BBC America, TV-PG).
— Ray seeks a judge’s dispensation on “Ray Donovan” (8 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA).
— Still mourning, Paz forms an alliance on “Power” (8 p.m., Starz, TV-MA).
— Abby breaks Chris’s one rule on “Work in Progress” (11 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA).
CULT CHOICE
It’s hard to believe that “Boyz n the Hood” (7 p.m. Sunday, Viceland) and “New Jack City” (9 p.m., Sunday, BET, TV-14), both released in 1991, are nearly 30 years old.
SATURDAY SERIES
A detective comes out of retirement on “Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector” (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14) … A seafood restaurant rots from the head down on “Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back” (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14) … On two helpings of “The Conners” (ABC, r, TV-PG): maturity (8 p.m.), income streams (8:30 p.m.).
Bill won’t delegate on “Deputy” (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14) … On two helpings of “The Goldbergs” (ABC, r, TV-PG), fraternity rush week (9 p.m.), Wrestlemania (9:30 p.m.) … The death of a fashion mogul on “Dateline” (9 p.m., NBC, r) … “20/20” (10 p.m., ABC).
SUNDAY SERIES
A celestial ping on “God Friended Me” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … Tiffany Haddish hosts “Kids Say the Darndest Things” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … A new drug hits the streets on “NCIS: Los Angeles” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14) … Two helpings of “Shark Tank” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG, and 10 p.m., r) … Yet another Dick Wolf show gets a spin-off: “FBI: Most Wanted” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
