1) “The Godfather” (1972) and “Casablanca” (1942), cable. It’s a dandy day for film buffs: These are the No. 2 and 3 movies on the American Film Institute’s all-time list, trailing only “Citizen Kane.” You can catch “Casablanca” at 6:15 p.m. ET on Turner Classic Movies; “Godfather” (shown here with Marlon Brando) is 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on AMC. And a bonus: “The Godfather, Part II” (1974) is at 1 p.m., 9:30 p.m. and 2 a.m.; it’s ranked No. 31 by the AFI, the only sequel on a 100-movie list.
2) “Guitar Legends 3” and “Best of 2019,” 8 and 9 p.m., CW. Let’s credit CW for trying new specials on a rerun-strewn night. The second one is based on polls in Popstar magazine; the first is a fundraising concert that assembles the guitar gods. Hosted by Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, it has George Thorogood, Nancy Wilson (half the Heart duo) and guitarists from Toto, Blackberry Smoke and the Allman Brothers, plus the lead singer for Tower of Power. Drummer Kenny Aronoff leads the backing band.
3) Bowl games. In sheer quantity, this is the biggest day for bowls. ESPN alone has four of them – North Caroline and Temple at noon ET, Michigan State and Wake Forest at 3:20 p.m., Oklahoma State (ranked No. 25) and Texas A&M at 6:45 and Air Force and Washington State at 10:15. And at 8 p.m. ET, Fox Sports1 has Iowa (No. 16) and Southern California (No. 22).
4) “Craft in America,” 9 p.m., PBS. Some quilters were strictly practical; stitching together limited material, they made things to keep them warm. That can still be true: One woman describes a 1970s childhood with sub-zero nights in an unheated Minnesota farmhouse. In art school, there was a debate over whether her quilting is really art. Now she’s in New York, sellingher quilts as artwork. There are 6-10 million quilters in the U.S., we’re told here, and there’s a national quilt museum in Nebraska.
5) And streaming … Fridays are the big day for streamers, but this week everyone started early. Netflix has a John Mulaney comedy special and the second seasons of “You” (which started on Lifetime) and “Lost in Space”; Acorn has the 13th season (really) of “Murdoch Mysteries,” the relentlessly pleasant series set in Toronto, more than a century ago. And Britbox has new holiday specials from “Hold the Sunset” (with John Cleese) and “Gavin and Stacey” (co-created by and co-starring James Corden).