For college football fans, the truly bizarre playoffs are wrapping up.
That’s 7:30 p.m. ET Monday (Jan. 20) on ESPN and ESPN2. Depending on the outcome, I’ve got a cool T-shirt idea afterward; feel free to use it.
But first, let’s look back: Read more…
1) Football, 7:30 p.m. ET today, ESPN and ESPN2. Two traditional champs, Notre Dame (shown here) and Ohio State, collide for the national title. Since 1929, they’ve won 11 and 8 national championships respectively; only Alabama (14) and Southern Cal (9) compare. As the playoffs started, they were ranked No. 8 and 7. Each then had three wins, two of them upsets, leading here. Read more…
1) Football. The two top teams return to action. The Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions, had 15-2 records, giving them byes in the first playoff week and home games now. The Chiefs host the Texans at 4:30 p.m. ET on ABC and ESPN; the Lions (shown here) host the Commanders at 8 on Fox. One note: In the college playoffs, all four bye teams promptly lost their next game. Read more…
1) “Outlander” and “The Couple Next Door, 8 and 9:05 p.m., Starz; repeating at 10 and midnight. It’s a double Sam Heughan night. In the “Outlander” season-finale, he’s an 18th-century warrior married (via time-travel) to a modern surgeon. Then a six-part drama (shown here): H’s a cop with an open marriage, complicated when a young couple moves next door. Read more…
1) “Law & Order” return, 8 p.m., NBC. After a seven-week break, NBC’s Thursday shows have new episodes. First (shown here) is a probe of why a man was pushed in front of a train. At 9, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” has a woman shocked by a video of a night she can’t remember. At 10 on “Found,” a woman searches for her boyfriend, but outside forces are involved. Read more…
1) “Shifting Gears,” about 8 p.m., ABC. In last week’s opener (shown here), Matt (Tim Read more…
The sky seems to be full of blips and blobs and blinking objects.
Any one of those might be little Billy’s new drone, or maybe Venus. It might be benign or a spy balloon or …
Our minds often leap to UFO’s, the sort (shown here) depicted in old movies. That’s “pretty harmless,” Mick West told the Television Critics Association. “People seeing things in the sky and thinking they’re UFO’s or aliens or whatever, there’s no real harm in that.”
He’s a lifelong science-fiction fan, but in a new “Nova” documentary (9 p.m. Jan. 22, PBS), he creates practical explanations for events that seem exotic. Read more…
1) “St. Denis Medical,” 8 p.m., NBC. After a three-week break, this is back and at its best. Two prisoners arrive in full fury, after stabbing each other; the head nurse (Allison Tolman, shown here) bets the cynical Dr. Ron that she can soothe them. Two other stories are fairly good; this one is hilarious. In the final minute, everything reaches a comedy peak. Read more…
1) Football, 8 p.m. ET today, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2. The Vikings (shown here) have had a great season, with a 14-3 record, tied for the third among 32 pro teams. But they didn’t win their division, so they’re on the road against the Rams (10-7). The winner joins five winners from this weekend, plus two byes (Chiefs and Lions, both 15-2), for games Saturday and Sunday. Read more…
After a three-week pause for reruns, “Saturday Night Live” is back to having big-deal hosts for it 50th season.
It will be Dave Chappelle (shown here) on Jan. 18, with GloRilla as music guest. The next week, Timothee Chalamet does both functions. And on Feb. 16, the show has its 50-year special. Read more…
Best-bets for Jan. 18: Chiefs, Chappelle, more 
Best-bets for Jan.17: a double-Sam night 
Best-bets for Jan. 16: “Law” returns, “Dutch” improves 
