Paramount+ streams a new series from “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan. Executive produced by Sheridan, “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” stars David Oyelowo in the title role. A federal lawman, Reeves presides over Indian Territory around Fort Smith, Arkansas, in the late 19th century. The series is based on the true life and legend of Bass Reeves, the first Black U.S. Marshal assigned west of the Mississippi.
Like all tales including a U.S. Marshal, Indian Territory and the like, “Reeves” involves a stupendous amount of gunplay as characters split hairs over the difference between bad men and lawmen and righteous lawgivers and senseless killers. Look for Dennis Quaid and Donald Sutherland in supporting roles.
— Never afraid to tackle complex issues, “The Simpsons” (8 p.m., Sunday, Fox, TV-14) dedicates the first segment of its “Treehouse of Horror XXXIV” special to explaining, or at least spoofing, the meaning of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and something called “the Blockchain.”
Not to give too much away, but the fundamental ingredient in the value of the NFT is the fear of missing out (FOMO) experienced by gullible investors afraid of not cashing in on the next big thing.
“Treehouse” also spoofs the world of endless true-crime podcasts and TV series, as a grownup Lisa, an author and professor of criminology, leads her students on an investigation into the decades-old mystery of her brother Bart’s brutal death. Most suspect Sideshow Bob (the voice of Kelsey Grammer). But could the killer be closer to home?
Finally, a radioactive doughnut gives Homer a case of terminal indigestion that leaves him beside himself in all the worst ways.
— As we enter November, we are reminded of a somber milestone for the nation and the television medium itself. The three-part documentary series “JFK: One Day in America” (8 p.m. Sunday, National Geographic, TV-14) recalls the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as we approach the 60th anniversary of Nov. 22, 1963.
The documentary includes interviews with a few of the surviving Secret Service members and other witnesses from Dallas’s Parkland Hospital who were part of the president’s security detail and remain haunted by the events well into their 90s.
Other than that, “Day” offers few new insights into one of the most chronicled and memorialized events in American, and in television, history.
It’s curious (and in my mind, just plain wrong) that they call it “One Day in America,” since the miniseries covers the events of four days, from the Friday assassination and search for the gunman to the shocking shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald, carried live on TV on Sunday morning, to the Monday funeral of the president.
Not long after the events, the AP published a memorial book and keepsake called “Four Days.” That title better conveys the sense of that weekend, a period when the nation and much of the world was glued to their television sets, establishing the medium’s preeminence. Only three years earlier, TV had been dismissed as a “vast wasteland.” Suddenly, it was holding a nation spellbound, supplanting even religious ceremonies as the purveyor of societal shock and grief.
Some 30 years ago, on the 30th anniversary of the assassination, the fledgling MSNBC network broadcast NBC’s original four-day coverage of events in real time. It was a video time capsule in all the most haunting ways.
It’s worth noting that we are almost as far removed from that Friday afternoon in 1963 as it was from the assassination of President McKinley, some 62 years before, on Sept. 6, 1901. But newspapers, the dominant media that carried that shocking news, were yellowing away in the attics of those old enough to recall McKinley’s demise.
Documentaries like “JFK: One Day in America” and others to come in the next few weeks are as much about television itself as the nation’s history or a president’s memory.
SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— College football action includes Kansas at Iowa State (7 p.m., ESPN); LSU at Alabama (7:30 p.m., CBS); Purdue at Michigan (7:30 p.m., NBC/Peacock); Washington at USC (7:30 p.m., ABC) and James Madison at Georgia State (7:30 p.m., ESPN2).
— If required, the Rangers host the Diamondbacks in Game 7 of the MLB World Series (8 p.m., Fox).
— An expectant couple retreat to a rustic cabin in the 2023 shocker “You’re Not Supposed to Be Here” (8 p.m., Lifetime, TV-PG).
— Sir David Attenborough invites viewers to coastal splendor as the documentary series “Planet Earth III” (8 p.m., BBC America, TV-PG) begins.
— Home for the holidays, two friends fall for the same old high school classmate in the 2023 romance “Never Been Chris’d” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— Pete Davidson hosts “Saturday Night Live” (11:30 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14) featuring musical guest Ice Spice.
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (7 p.m., CBS): TK
— A young musician celebrates the Day of the Dead holiday and its significance to his heritage in the 2017 animated musical “Coco” (8 p.m., ABC).
— Rose and Alice return on “Hotel Portofino” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings).
— The Bengals host the Bills on “NFL Football” (8:15 p.m., NBC).
– Kasia embarks on a secret mission on “World on Fire” on “Masterpiece” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings).
— Even zombies have ghosts on “Fear the Walking Dead” (9 p.m., AMC, TV-MA).
— The Russells’ son Larry (Harry Richardson) takes a hands-on approach with a new client on “The Gilded Age” (9 p.m., HBO, TV-MA).
— A very cold case on “Annika” on “Masterpiece” (10 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings).
— Hawkins plays it safe as a witch hunt gathers momentum on “Fellow Travelers” (9 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA).
CULT CHOICE
Gary Cooper stars as the uncompromising architect Harold Roark in director King Vidor’s 1949 adaptation of Ayn Rand’s bestseller “The Fountainhead” (4:15 p.m. Saturday, TCM, TV-PG). Thoughts and words that might be inspiring on the page proved too much of a mouthful for Cooper and his co-star, Patricia Neal. Rand’s faithful readers and the author herself considered the film to be a desecration. Some mere moviegoers found it to be an unintentional hoot, a bit of a camp classic.
SATURDAY SERIES
Jorge Drexler appears on “Austin City Limits” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings).
SUNDAY SERIES
On two episodes of “Yellowstone” (CBS, TV-MA): Kayce and Rip brawl (8 p.m.); Rainwater and Jenkins have plans (9 p.m.) … Whispers of immortality on “Krapopolis” (8:30 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … Zeke’s backstory on “Bob’s Burgers” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … Senior citizens on “Family Guy” (9:30 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … “Big Brother” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-PG).
