To celebrate its 30th birthday, TCM revives a habit from the more distant past — the Saturday night double feature. In a new feature titled “Two for One,” TCM will invite directors and actors to present their own double bills every Saturday night for 12 weeks.
The first double bill is suggested by Martin Scorsese: the 1948 Western “Blood on the Moon” (8 p.m., TV-G), starring Robert Mitchum and Barbara Bel Geddes and the 1948 fantasy “One Touch of Venus” (9:45), starring Ava Gardner as a statue of the ancient love goddess that comes to life. Based on a 1943 Broadway musical with songs by Kurt Weill.
Over the next few months of Saturdays, other Hollywood fixtures will curate double features of their own. They include Steven Spielberg, Paul Thomas Anderson, Spike Lee, Patty Jenkins, Olivia Wilde, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Ethan Hawke, Todd Haynes and Nicole Holofcener.
Next Saturday, Olivia Wilde (“House”) puts the accent on eccentric women with the 1958 musical fantasy “Auntie Mame” and the 1976 documentary “Grey Gardens.” Now that’s a double feature!
In another inspired choice, musician, author and former Talking Head David Byrne puts the accent on heavenly creatures with the 1946 Technicolor masterpiece “A Matter of Life and Death” and director Wim Wenders’ brooding 1987 fantasy “Wings of Desire.” But you’ll have to wait until June 8 for that.
— Kelsea Ballerini and Kane Brown host the 2024 CMT Awards (8 p.m. Sunday, CBS, TV-PG). Performers include Bailey Zimmerman, Jelly Roll, Keith Urban, Lainey Wilson and Sam Hunt. Look for Trisha Yearwood to receive the inaugural June Carter Cash Humanitarian Award. The proceedings can be streamed live on Paramount+ with Showtime and streamed a day later and on demand with the Paramount “Essential” package.
After 10-plus years of streaming, you would think that broadcasters, or whatever they’re now called, would have figured out how to stream big awards shows and do so on a consistent and coherent basis.
The recent Academy Awards were met with a rising tide of complaints that the biggest night of the movie year was still available only on old-fashioned network broadcast TV. It seemed particularly silly given that so many of the big films were from streaming companies.
— When most think of a space shuttle tragedy, our memories reel back to the 1986 Challenger disaster and the grim scenes of its explosion shortly after launch.
The four-part series “Space Shuttle Columbia: The Final Flight” (9 p.m. and 10 p.m. Sunday, CNN, concluding next Sunday), recalls another disaster, from 2003. Columbia, the first shuttle into orbit, had been a workhorse for two decades. Its final mission was 20 minutes from landing when something went terribly wrong. Videos reveal a happy crew anticipating touchdown followed by ominous silence. It took mission control some time to determine that the communications failure was caused by the destruction of the craft. As news spread of the Columbia’s grim fate, fiery remnants of the craft slowly descended and scattered debris over the Southern United States.
Over four hours, “Final Flight” will recall the proud history of the craft and the “routine” nature of its operation and profile its very last crew.
— While many television shows have been described as earth-shaking and change agents, few have actually rattled governments. “Masterpiece” (9 p.m., Sunday, PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) presents “Mr Bates vs. the Post Office,” a 2023 British miniseries starring Toby Jones (“The Detectorists”) in the title role.
Based on real events, “Jones” recalls the tragic story of small town and village post office managers who were accused of skimming funds. Over the course of more than a decade, hundreds faced such accusations. Being a post office manager was a position of trust and respect in small villages, and these charges forced many hard-working people into financial ruin. Reputations were destroyed, and some were even sent to prison.
The many charges and their nationwide occurrence struck many as peculiar. But when faced with arguments that their new computer system might be the one at fault, the British postal authorities responded in a high-handed manner.
Over the course of some years, Mr. Bates assembled evidence and testimony from both computer experts and his fellow accused to take on the government.
Blending “you can’t fight city hall” with David and Goliath, this story made headlines all over the U.K. and even resulted in Parliamentary hearings. The computer company behind the mistakes only admitted possible fault after the airing of this U.K. miniseries in 2023. But how do you compensate people for decades of disgrace?
Given this remarkable story and the presence of Jones, one of the best character actors working, I was particularly keen to watch “Jones.” Sadly, it’s another case of too much and not enough. This tale might have propelled a nice 90-minute movie, but over the course of four-hour-long episodes, it plunges deep into the weeds of another country’s postal culture and legal system.
SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— After a shooting lands him in a coma, our hero, and everyone around him, seems to burst into song on “Murdoch Mysteries (7 p.m., Ovation).
— Los Angeles FC host LA Galaxy in MLS soccer (7:30 p.m., Fox).
— The St. Louis BattleHawks host the Arlington Renegades on UFL Football (8 p.m., ABC).
— A worried mother infiltrates the pole dancing club where her daughter works to earn tuition money in the 2024 shocker “Secret Life of a Sorority Girl” (8 p.m., Lifetime, TV-14).
— A bookstore owner finds love between the covers in the 2024 romance “Blind Date Book Club” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— Kristen Wiig hosts “Saturday Night Live” (11:30 p.m., NBC, TV-14), featuring musical guest Raye.
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS)
— New trainees on “Call the Midwife” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings).
— A face from the count’s past shows up in the hotel lobby on “A Gentleman in Moscow” (8 p.m., Showtime, TV-14).
— Gray keeps his new clients under wraps on “Parish” (9 p.m., AMC, TV-14).
— A reversal of fortune requires a life on the run on the season finale of “The Regime” (9 p.m., HBO, TV-MA).
— “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (10 p.m., HBO, TV-MA) airs its series finale after a quarter-century of deliberate adult silliness.
CULT CHOICE
New to the afterlife, a couple (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) are mentored by a mischievous spirit (Michael Keaton) and haunt the nouveau riche upstarts who purchased their home in the 1988 comedy “Beetlejuice” (7 p.m., Saturday, BBC America, TV-PG), directed by Tim Burton.
SATURDAY SERIES
A convict’s missing daughter may hold key evidence on “Tracker” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) … “The Wall” (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) … Fast and furious felons on “The Equalizer” (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) … “Weakest Link” (9 p.m., NBC) … “48 Hours” (10 p.m., CBS) … A vintage helping of “Saturday Night Live” (10 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
SUNDAY SERIES
“The Voice” (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) … “American Idol” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … Marge becomes a union organizer on “The Simpsons” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … Delicate negotiations on “Krapopolis”(8:30 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
Beef battles a bear on “The Great North” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … Time for a new partner on “Grimsburg” (9:30 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … “Dateline” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) … “What Would You Do?” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
