Do we watch television for escapism, or just to confirm our internalized dread? Time was, I marveled at the makers of “Lost” for offering viewers a tropical island retreat as a setting for their cosmic head-scratcher. The gang may have been stuck, but it was so nice to be cast away with them in their lush confinement.
“The Walking Dead” turned this concept on its rotting head and asked us to spend time eternally pursued by shuffling, decomposing creatures. Now in its sixth incarnation, “The Walking Dead” and its popularity has long mystified me. Why do so many people love a show that’s so repetitive, never mind repulsive?
“The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon” (9 p.m. Sunday, AMC, BBC America, IFC, Sundance, TV-MA) moves the action to France, where the zombie apocalypse has turned the picturesque port of Marseille into a trashed scene of human desperation.
Dixon (Norman Reedus) washes ashore tethered to a small boat, not unlike a modern-day Robinson Crusoe. Once in town, he conveniently finds provisions on an abandoned pleasure craft and even more providentially, he finds a small tape recorder that allows an unseen narrator (presumed dead) to fill us in on the siege of Marseille.
The tape recorder also gives Dixon a tool to record his own thoughts. A handy device for viewers, at least, who might otherwise be stuck watching Dixon trudge in silence from one squalid scene to the next.
I have to admit that the scenery gets better once he gets out of town. And the evidence of Roman settlements in southern Provence offers pleasant distractions as well as at least two versions of fallen ruins for us to ponder as Dixon wonders if he is truly the last man on Earth, or at least in Europe.
But soon he pokes in the wrong wreck of a building, wakes up some zombies and has to smash their brains with his improvised spear.
And then I get bored all over again.
The travel series “Ride With Norman Reedus” (10:25 p.m. Sunday, AMC, TV-14) follows. In the sixth season opener, our busy host is joined by actor Keanu Reeves for a jaunt through the Utah desert.
— Developed from a webcast and imported from England, the “Dreaming Whilst Black” (9 p.m. Sunday, Showtime, TV-MA) stars Adjani Salmon as Kwabena, an underemployed would-be filmmaker with his head in the clouds who’s stuck in a dreadful office job.
A friend and fellow film school grad Amy (Deni Moseley) provides him with a hint to the inside track of the entertainment industry, but Kwabena’s rather languid lifestyle keeps him from making it to appointments and grasping the brass ring.
His dreary office setting allows for a series of mildly amusing scenes of fairly clueless white colleagues treating him like their token Black companion and all the misunderstandings and microaggressions that can entail.
— Sunday night football begins in earnest. This remains the most dependable ratings generator on broadcast TV. The New York Giants host the Dallas Cowboys in NFL football (8:15 p.m., NBC) action.
Given the writers’ and actors’ strikes crippling Hollywood production, networks and cable outlets have become economical with their original programming, doling it out frugally between game shows and repeat procedurals.
That said, it’s interesting that AMC and its affiliated channels are airing a new “Walking Dead” series opposite football. Fox is also introducing the 10th season of its popular musical distraction “The Masked Singer” (8 p.m., Sunday, TV-PG) against the big game.
In this case, football is both competition and a boost. “The Masked Singer” arrives after back-to-back afternoon games (1 p.m. and 4:25 p.m.) on Fox. Check local listings.
SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— College football action includes Cincinnati at Pittsburgh (6:30 p.m., CW); Oregon at Texas Tech (7 p.m., Fox); Texas at Alabama (7 p.m., ESPN); UCLA at San Diego State (7:30 p.m., CBS); Charlotte at Maryland (7:30 p.m., NBC) and Wisconsin at Washington State (7:30 p.m., ABC).
— A teen scrambles when her parents go missing in big sky country in the 2023 shocker “Taken in Montana” (8 p.m., Lifetime, TV-14).
— A flag football game sparks flirtation between a single mother and an NFL pro in the 2023 romance “Fourth Down and Love” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— Five adult buddies sacrifice relationships and careers for a fierce version of a children’s backyard game in the 2018 comedy “Tag” (9 p.m., Comedy Central, TV-14).
— A strong ensemble cast (Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman, Kiefer Sutherland, Jerry O’Connell and River Phoenix) star as a gaggle of boys in the woods who discover something shocking in the 1986 coming-of-age tale “Stand by Me” (8:30 p.m., BBC America, TV-14). Based on a story by Stephen King.
— Sissy Spacek won a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of singer Loretta Lynn in the 1980 biopic “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (9 p.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Sunday, CMT, TV-14).
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— “60 Minutes” (7:30 p.m., CBS).
— The scene of a couple’s brutal murder resembles a case from the past on “Professor T” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings).
— Prince and his employees clash over who calls the shots on “Billions” (8 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA).
— U.S. Open Tennis: Men’s Championship (8:30 p.m., ESPN2).
— A body stuffed in a chimney undergoes tests on “Unforgotten” on “Masterpiece” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings).
— A championship does not dispel insecurities on “Winning Time: The Rise of the Laker’s Dynasty” (9 p.m., HBO, TV-MA).
— A murder may be linked to a drug smuggling ring on “Van der Valk” on “Masterpiece” (10 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings).
— “No Responders Left Behind” (9 p.m., CNN, TV-MA) recalls efforts to obtain health benefits for the many workers who became ill after cleaning up the wreckage of Ground Zero after the terror attacks of 2001.
— Victor feels the heat on “The Chi” (9 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA).
— Arthur takes Gundleus prisoner on “The Winter King” (9 p.m., MGM+, TV-MA).
CULT CHOICE
A struggling country musician (Willie Nelson) is tempted by the daughter (Amy Irving) of his former partner in the 1980 musical melodrama “Honeysuckle Rose” (10 p.m., Sunday, TCM, TV-14). Dyan Cannon also stars in the movie, famous for introducing the Oscar-nominated song “On the Road Again.” The cast also includes Slim Pickens as well as Nelson’s frequent musical collaborator Mickey Raphael.
SATURDAY SERIES
Jon Batiste appears on “Austin City Limits” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings).
SUNDAY SERIES
Three repeat hours of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (8 p.m., 9 p.m., and 10 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … “Big Brother” (8:30 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … Show and tell on “Bob’s Burgers” (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG) … On two episodes of “Fire Country” (CBS, r, TV-14): a plane crash sparks a monstrous blaze (9:30 p.m.); a tree falls in the woods (10:30 p.m.) … Stewie falls down a conspiracy rabbit hole on “Family Guy” (9:30 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14).
