Month: January 2021

1) “This Is Us,” 9 p.m., NBC. TV’s best drama series is in top form when using flashbacks to tell a story. Now it has a big one: Randall (Sterling K. Brown, shown here) grew up without knowing his birth parents. He later found his dad (now deceased), who believed that the mom had died shortly after giving birth. Last week brought news that she lived a full life before dying in Louisiana; now he goes there. That’s surrounded by the amiable “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” at 8 p.m. and an OK episode of “Nurses” at 10. Read more…

1) College football championship, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN. This is the way all seasons should end, with two undefeated powerhouses colliding. There were some doubts about Ohio State, because it had only played six games in the regular season; then, in the Rose Bowl, it thumped second-ranked Clemson, 49-28; Alabama followed with its 12th win, beating Notre Dame, 31-14; its receiver and quarterback (DeVonta Smith, shown here, and Mac Jones) finished first and third in Heisman voting. This should be a fun game. Read more…

1) “All Creatures Great and Small” opener, 9 p.m., PBS. These amiable tales of an English veterinarian (shown here) have filled eight novels, a movie and 90 TV episodes. Now it’s time to re-tell them, using the lush craftsmanship of “Masterpiece.” This is fiction, but it’s based on the real life of a vet in Yorkshire, 80 years ago. Fresh from school, he works with a demanding vet, his undemanding brother and a diligent housekeeper. The result mixes warmth, gorgeous settings and moments of life-and-death drama. Read more…

1) Football, all day. The new playoff plan has tripleheaders today and Sunday. The six winners – plus the Chiefs and Packers, who have byes – return next weekend, two steps from the Super Bowl. Today has the Bills and Colts at 1:05 p.m. ET on CBS and the Rams and Seahawks at 4:40 p.m. on Fox. At 8:15, NBC has Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay (shown here) facing Washington, the only play-off team with a losing record. Read more…

1) “Frontliine,” 9 p.m., PBS. Breaking its usual pattern, “Frontline” is showing a film it didn’t make. That’s partly a bad thing; “A Thousand Cuts” has a scattered approach, without the direct power we expect from “Frontline.” Still, this has an important story: Maria Ressa (shown here) is a Filipino native who became a New Jersey teen, a CNN bureau chief and founder of the Rappler reporting website in the Philippines. As Rappler questioned President Rodrigo Duterte, he attacked “fake news” and “presstitutes.” Read more…

1) “Mr. Mayor” debut, 8 and 8:30 p.m., NBC. After making lots of money, Neil (Ted Danson, shown here) had empty time. So, of course, he ran for mayor of Los Angeles. Now that he’s been elected, he needs … well, projects and plans and such. This is a clever shows that takes sly pokes at trendiness and (in the second episode) adds some broader humor. Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, the “30 Rock” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” duo, produce, with Holly Hunter and Bobby Moynihan in support. Read more…