The recently syndicated news magazine “48 Hours” (Saturday, CBS) enters its 37th season with reports on well-covered true-crime stories. “The Gilgo Beach Serial Killings” (9 p.m.) profiles Rex Heuermann, accused of killing several Long Island women and dumping their bodies on a beach, who evaded capture for more than a decade. The second (10 p.m.) hour looks at the case against Bryan Kohberger, accused of killing four University of Idaho students last November.
A 37-season run is impressive by any standard, putting “48 Hours” up there with “The Simpsons” (34) and “Law & Order” (22). “60 Minutes” enters its 56th season on Sunday. But for the writers and actors strikes, “Saturday Night Live” would be probably be entering its 49th season this weekend.
The killers profiled on Saturday’s “48 Hours” certainly qualify as “ripped from the headlines” stories. But some tales last longer and resonate louder than others. “Psycho: The Lost Tapes of Ed Gein” (10 p.m., Sunday, MGM+, TV-MA) recalls the extremely disturbed grave-robbing serial killer whose sordid tales inspired at least three movie classics: “Psycho,” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “The Silence of the Lambs.”
The three-part docuseries includes taped interviews with Gein, known as “the Plainfield (Wisconsin) Ghoul.” He was captured in 1957 after a spate of killings and grave robberies that filled his house with macabre trophies, stitched together from body parts. Described as a mild-mannered loner, he was eventually deemed too insane to stand trial for his many crimes, and died in 1984. But not before becoming arguably the most infamous serial killer in a popular culture obsessed with the subject.
— Paramount+ streams the U.K. heist drama “The Gold,” a period piece about a group of Cockney-accented thieves with the audacity to steal tons of gold bullion at gunpoint in 1983 and the ingenuity to turn the valuable bars into “liquid” assets, melting them down for jewelry and other fabrications to hide in plain sight. The cast includes Hugh Bonneville (“Downton Abbey”) and Dominic Cooper (“Captain America,” “Mamma Mia!”). Paramount+ will stream the first two episodes on Sept. 17, with subsequent installments arriving on Sunday nights.
— “All Rise” (10 p.m. Saturday, OWN, TV-14), the legal drama starring Simone Missick as Judge Lola Carmichael, resumes its third and final season with new episodes. The series, a staple of CBS’s Monday night 2019 schedule, was canceled after two seasons and picked up by Oprah Winfrey’s cable network.
Network churn and creative recycling is also reflected by CBS’s decision to broadcast season one of the popular cable and streaming Western “Yellowstone” (8:30 p.m. Sunday, TV-MA).
The good news for CBS is that “Yellowstone” ranks among the more popular TV dramas of the past several years. The flip side is that episodes have been well exposed on cable’s Paramount network as well as the streamers Peacock and Pluto and other outlets. “Yellowstone” is now in its fifth season, and like all productions, is waiting for writers and actors to return from the picket lines.
For what it’s worth, “Yellowstone” has a TV-MA rating for a reason. Its sexual content would not raise eyebrows on HBO, but always seemed to be pushing boundaries on basic ad-supported cable. Time was, it may have been considered too racy for network TV.
The presence of “Yellowstone,” a new incarnation of “The Walking Dead” and NBC’s Sunday Night Football means that three of television’s most popular franchises are vying for Sunday night viewers. For all the changes to television and audience habits, Sunday night remains the medium’s holy grail, a status dating back to the 1950s, when the popular Broadway musical “Bye Bye Birdie” included a song about “The Ed Sullivan Show” performed like a sacred hymn. From “Bonanza” to “The Sopranos” to “Game of Thrones,” it has always been the most watched, and most talked about, night of television.
— Football fans who like it old school might enjoy the documentary “Unrivaled: Sewanee 1899” (7 p.m. Saturday, PBS’s World Channel). Running up a remarkable streak, the Tennessee-based college football team from the University of the South played five road games in six days, traveling more than 2,500 miles by steam locomotive. Not only did they win them all, they shut out every opposing team, running up a combined score of 91-0. This has never been equaled in the annals of college football. Viewers can also stream “Unrivaled” on PBS.org.
SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— Books and short stories written by Stephen King inspired the 1980 Stanley Kubrick horror classic “The Shining” (6 p.m., BBC America, TV-14), the 1990 shocker “Misery” (9:30 p.m., BBC America, TV-14) and the 1986 coming-of-age story “Stand By Me” (8 p.m. and 10 p.m., Vice, TV-14).
— College football action includes Tennessee at Florida (7 p.m., ESPN); Pittsburgh at West Virginia (7:30 p.m., ABC); Syracuse at Purdue (7:30 p.m., NBC) and TCU at Houston (8 p.m., Fox).
— Actor Nick Cage (Nicolas Cage) must draw upon his iconic performances, good and bad, to skirt financial disaster in the 2022 action/comedy/self-parody “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” (7:10 p.m., Starz Encore).
— A rookie detective’s undercover work pays off in the 2023 shocker “How She Caught a Killer” (8 p.m., Lifetime, TV-14).
— A classical musician’s country retreat strikes the right chord in the 2023 romance “Notes of Autumn” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— The 2023 documentary “Little Richard: I Am Everything” (8 p.m., CNN) profiles the pioneer of rock ‘n’ roll music whose gender-fluid performance image and blending of church music and profane entertainment sparked a lifelong identity crisis.
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— “60 Minutes” (7:30 p.m., CBS).
— A slaughtered family’s remains are arranged as a grim tableau on “Professor T” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings).
— The New England Patriots host the Miami Dolphins in NFL football (8:15 p.m., NBC) action.
— Axe needs a favor from Chuck on “Billions” (8 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA).
— Jess suddenly drops in on a suspect on “Unforgotten” on “Masterpiece” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings).
— A troubled road trip on “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dickson” (9 p.m., AMC, TV-MA).
— “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” (9 p.m., HBO, TV-MA) concludes its second season.
— A museum becomes a too-familiar crime scene on “Van der Valk” on “Masterpiece” (10 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings).
— A death in the neighborhood on “The Chi” (9 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA).
— Merlin finds Nimue in Avalon on “The Winter King” (9 p.m., MGM+, TV-MA).
— Kwabena’s big break on “Dreaming Whilst Black” (10 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA).
CULT CHOICE
Director Ang Lee depicts the “swinging” culture of the 1970s in grim detail in the 1997 drama “The Ice Storm” (9 p.m. Sunday, HBO2). Based on the novel by Rick Moody, it features an impressive cast, including Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Christina Ricci, Tobey Maquire, Elijah Wood and Katie Holmes.
SATURDAY SERIES
The Navy secretary faces accusations from his estranged wife on “NCIS” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG).
SUNDAY SERIES
Life in lockdown on “The Simpsons” (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG) … Three repeat episodes of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (8 p.m., 9 p.m., 10 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
On two episodes of “Family Guy” (Fox, r, TV-14): Carter polishes his image (8:30 p.m.); Peter finds a morbid loophole (9:30 p.m.) … Tina’s merit-badge quest on “Bob’s Burgers” (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG).
