1) College football, 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN. The playoffs have been strewn with upsets. In the six quarter-final and semi-final games, only twice has the higher-ranked teams won. Both times it was Indiana (shown here), winning 38-3 and 56-22; now it faces 10th-ranked Miami for the title. Read more…
1) “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” debut. 10 p.m., HBO. Duncan the Tall isn’t your ordinary hero. In George R.R. Martin’s tales, he was a former street urchin who became a squire and then a 6-foot-11 knight, egged on by “Egg” (Aegon), his squire. In this six-part “Game of Thrones” prequel (shown here), he’s played by Peter Claffey, who is a mere 6-5. Read more…
1) Football championships, today and Sunday. There are three big ones this week. First, the college title game, at 7:30 p.m. ET today on ESPN. Top-ranked Indiana (shown here) — fresh from 38-3 and 56-22 wins — faces 10th-ranked Miami. Then, on Sunday, the pros decide the conference champions (and Super Bowl teams). It’s the AFC at 3 on CBS and NFC at 6:30 on Fox. Read more…
1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. After a three-week break, “SNL” is back with a string of three new episodes. Tonight, Finn Wolfhard (shown here) becomes the fourth “Stranger Things” star to hosts; the music guest is A$AP Rocky. Coming up as hosts are Teyana Taylor and Alexander Skarsgard. Read more…
ABC will add a burst of Florida-quirkiness to its Tuesday line-up.
“RJ Decker” (shown here with Scott Speedman) — based on a Carl Hiasson novel — debuts at 10 p.m. March 3. It will follow “Will Trent” and “High Potential,” nudging “The Rookie” to Mondays behind “American Idol.:
The “Florida gothic” genre — mixing sunny settings, weird characters and the occasional alligator — has surged with the novels of Elmore Leonard, Dave Barry and more, including Hiasson. Read more…
1) “Stumble,” 8:30 p.m., NBC. This cheer-team comedy has been inconsistent, but with some big-laugh moments. Now its best episode involves a mandatory sex-relations lecture (shown here), complete with role-play, an ancient VCR machine and a semi-ancient lecturer. The result is hilarious. Read more…
An upcoming TV series has found a fresh way to link the birthdays of the United States and (shown here) its Route 66 highway system.
“The Great American Road Rally: Celebrity Edition” will start May 13 on the CW network. It will continue on Wednesdays and conclude on July 22 — two-and-a-half weeks after the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration on Independence.
This won’t be a race, with fast-and-furious cars smashing speed limits. Instead, the 10 cars — each aligned with a charitable cause — will pause in different towns, for fundraising and awareness events. Still pending are: Read more…
1) “Animal Control,” 9 p.m., Fox. Ever since their “Community” years, Joel McHale has had fun ribbing Ken Jeong. Now that they’re Fox stars, Jeong (shown here with a date and McHale) sometimes plays his nemesis on this show. In a funny episode here, they spend the day together. That’s followed by the so-so season-opener of “Going Dutch”; Quinn (Denis Leary) plots to win the war game. Read more…
1) “Nature,” 8 p.m., PBS. All of Kenya, we’re told, has fewer than 30 “super-tusker” elephants — giants (shown heree) with 10-foot tusks. This film follows the post-drought lives of three. It’s slow, but has big moments of lust, rage and parenting. It’s followed by reruns — a terrific “Nova” on UFO’s and the first half of a “Secrets of the Dead” involving Nazis’ stolen art. Read more…
We expect a lot from our robots, holograms and AI entities.
We want them to drive our cars, edit our prose, mow our lawns. And one (albeit a fictional one) sings opera.
That’s happened in the “Star Trek” shows — first in “Voyager” and now in “Starfleet Academy,” which starts Thursday (Jan. 15) on Paramount+.
“The notion that an artificial intelligence has hobbies is idiotic to begin with,” Robert Picardo granted in a Television Critics Association session. “The notion that he loves opera is really taking … it out there.”
But his character (simply called The Doctor) sang in “Voyager” (shown here); 30 years later, he’s doing it again, in the second episode (also Jan. 15) of “Starfleet.” Read more…
Best-bets for Jan.19: new champion and King memories 
Best-bets for Jan. 18: swords, books and tackles 
Best-bets for Jan. 17: after football, a new “SNL” 
