CBS presents “Willie Nelson’s 90th Birthday Celebration” (8:30 p.m., Sunday), a musical salute to the singer/songwriter and national treasure who has been active as a musician, actor and activist for most of his adult life.
I have always been a bit skeptical about show business extravaganzas revolving around superannuated stars. At their best, they seem to reduce their subjects to “cute” old people. The late Tony Bennett comes to mind. At their worst, they seem to be a jinx. Who can forget how Betty White robbed NBC of celebrating her much-ballyhooed 100th birthday special by departing just weeks short of the century mark?
How long has Nelson been at it? So long that his fabled second act as an anti-Nashville “outlaw” was in progress some 50 years ago, when he broke out with “Shotgun Willie” in 1973.
He’d been best known as a songwriter, penning songs like “Hello Walls” for Faron Young and “Crazy” for Patsy Cline, who died some 60 years ago. “Crazy” became the campaign theme for eccentric 1992 third-party presidential candidate Ross Perot.
Nelson has endured a bazillion miles on a tour bus, much of it fueled by kitchen grease and other biofuels, one of his pet causes. Marijuana use, both legal and illegal, has also long been associated with Willie Nelson, a big part of the “cosmic cowboy” movement that emerged in Austin, Texas, in the 1970s.
Nelson has appeared in more than 30 movies. Is he a good actor? Perhaps not. But he is a singular performer. His voice, his delivery and his style of guitar-picking are so unique that it takes just one note to inform you that you are listening to a Willie Nelson song. Make that a song sung by Willie Nelson. Many artists have revived their careers by putting out albums of American standards. More than most, Nelson’s 1978 LP “Stardust” made those old songs his own.
It will be difficult to scratch the surface of Nelson’s impact, legacy and song catalog in a mere two hours. But few artists deserve such a tribute more than he does.
It’s completely fitting that the roster of hosts and performers represents many corners of the world and the pop culture pantheon. Look for performances by Nelson himself, Beck, Gary Clark Jr., Sheryl Crow, Snoop Dogg, Norah Jones, Miranda Lambert, Dave Matthews, Nelson’s sons Lukas and Micah, Keith Richards, George Strait and Chris Stapleton.
Hosts include Jennifer Garner, Chelsea Handler, Woody Harrelson, Ethan Hawke, Helen Mirren and Owen Wilson.
— “The Gilded Age” (9 p.m. Sunday, HBO, TV-MA) ends its second season with a reversal of fortune and a victory of sorts in the “opera war.”
Beautifully shot, handsomely set-designed and costumed and featuring a remarkable cast, “The Gilded Age” is nonetheless spectacularly stilted and frequently lifeless. If it wasn’t so gorgeous, I would have stopped watching it ages ago.
The fault lies with the series creator and writer Julian Fellowes (“Downton Abbey”). Just about every character speaks in complete sentences with a starchy formality that makes them difficult to distinguish — or care about.
The story is disproportionately centered around the wealthy, without the “Upstairs/Downstairs” tension and contrast that make these period soap operas tick. With the exception of a few ethnic accents, the cooks and footmen sound as formal as their masters. Too often, great gobs of dialogue sound as if they were being read and recited, not performed. It’s as if Fellowes revisited “Downton Abbey” and had every character speak like the Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville). Wouldn’t that be deadly?
But for Larry Russell’s (Harry Richardson) scandalous fling with a much older woman, “Gilded Age” seems chaste even by PBS “Masterpiece” standards. For an HBO series, it is shockingly lacking in edge, irony or humor. It’s worth noting that “The Gilded Age” was also the title of a novel by Mark Twain, the leading satirist of this era. Contrast the depraved (and entertaining) schemes and schemers on “Boardwalk Empire” with this opulent dud.
It says something that Ada’s (Cynthia Nixon) story, a spinster’s late-life marriage to a minister, is the series most compelling tale. That’s enough to make you drop your lorgnette!
For all its eye candy, “The Gilded Age” can seem like a forced invitation to Grandma’s tea party. It’s yet another sign that under its new corporate leadership, HBO has forgotten what made it HBO.
— Apple TV+ lifts its paywall to make the 1965 special “A Charlie Brown Christmas” available for non-subscribers over Saturday and Sunday.
SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— College football action includes UCLA and Boise State 7:30 p.m., ABC) and California and Texas Tech (9:15 p.m., ESPN).
— A nonconformist saves the day with the help of a would-be dentist in the 1964 Rankin/Bass production of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-G).
— “The Clip Show: Holiday Edition” (8 p.m., NBC, r) surveys viral videos.
— Creighton hosts Alabama in college basketball (8 p.m., Fox).
— A travel writer and her ex attend a mutual friend’s engagement party in the 2023 romantic comedy “The Holiday Proposal Plan” (8 p.m., Lifetime, TV-PG).
— A fetching woman revisits old holiday resolutions in the 2023 romance “Sealed With a List” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— Jimmy Durante narrates the 1969 animated fable “Frosty the Snowman” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-G).
— After a burglary at her neighbor’s house dampens the holiday mood, a woman enlists her ex-boyfriend in law enforcement to solve the case and save Christmas in the 2023 romantic comedy “The Christmas Detective” (9 p.m., OWN, TV-PG).
— The voices of Jonathan Winters and John Goodman animate the 1993 sequel “Frosty Returns” (9:30 p.m., CBS, TV-G).
— A standup artist surveys a confusing world and the pitfalls of his own field in the comedy special “Leo Reich: Literally Who Cares!?” (10 p.m., HBO, TV-MA).
— Kate McKinnon hosts “Saturday Night Live” (11:30 p.m., NBC, TV-14), featuring musical guest Billie Eilish.
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— Julie Andrews stars in the 1965 musical “The Sound of Music” (7 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
— Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (7 p.m., CBS): Gaza’s hostages; looting Cambodia’s culture; the secret history of Gnawa music.
— The life of an unassuming Pennsylvania man (Ben Kingsley) becomes very complicated after a UFO lands in his backyard in the 2023 science-fiction comedy “Jules” (8 p.m., Sho2), co-starring Jane Curtin.
— “Agatha Christie: Lucy Worsley on the Mystery Queen” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) concludes with a look at Christie’s adjustment to the “low dishonest decade” of the 1930s.
— The Jacksonville Jaguars host the Baltimore Ravens in NFL football action (8:15 p.m., NBC).
— Hawk’s double life gets too complicated on “Fellow Travelers” (9 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA).
CULT CHOICE
Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn take the Robin Hood legend well beyond middle age in the 1976 romance “Robin and Marian” (10 p.m., Saturday, TCM, TV-14).
SATURDAY SERIES
“Dateline” (9 p.m., NBC, r) … “48 Hours” (10 p.m., CBS) … A vintage helping of “Saturday Night Live” (10 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
SUNDAY SERIES
A difficult guest on “Krapopolis” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … Lisa puts on her Sherlock Holmes hat on “The Simpsons” (8:30 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … A power outage darkens the holiday mood on “Bob’s Burgers” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … The gift of the Magi on “Family Guy” (9:30 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
