1) Golden Globe awards, 8 p.m.ET Sunday, with red-carpet at 7, NBC, (on the West Coast, 5 p.m. PT, repeating at 8. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler (shown here in a previous year) again host — but on opposite coasts. Fey’s in New Yorik, Poehler in Los Angeles. Viewers might not recognize many of the nominated movies, but may know the TV shows – all of them from cable or streaming: The nominated dramas are “The Crown,” “The Mandalorian,” “Ozark,” “Ratched” and “Lovecraft Country”; the comedies are “Emily in Paris,” “The Great,” “Ted Lasso,” “The Flight Attendant” and “Schitt’s Creek.”
2) “Superman & Lois” debut, 8-9:30 p.m. Tuesday (CW) or 9-10:30 p.m. Saturday (TNT). Imagine the adult Clark Kent (Superman) in Kansas. In this well-made series, his wife Lois is still a star reporter, but his own newspaper career is wobbling. They have twin boys – one a top athlete, the other brainy and reclusive – who don’t know their dad’s secret … and might develop superpowers of their own. Then Clark is lured back to his Kansas home town, which offers quiet beauty, lingering memories and his former girlfriend.
3) “Snowfall” season-opener, 10 p.m. to midnight Wednesday, FX; also, midnight and 2 a.m. Franklin and Melody were once college-bound kids, smart and diligent. When the third season ended, he was big in the drug boom of 1980s Los Angeles; she was an addict who shot him … then viewers waited. Now, 17 months later, we finally get more. She vanished; he was barely patched together and is trying to end the chaos. This is beautifully written and filmed, but is still way too harsh for many viewers.
4) “Assembly Required” debut, 10:03 p.m. Tuesday, History. Now for the opposite of “Snowfall”; this is a genial competition, adjusted for social distance. Tim Allen and Richad Karn, the “Home Improvement” duo, are in a garage-like studio with April Wilkerson, a DIY-er. Each week, they toss challenges to three people, then (via Zoom-type link) watch them struggle in their home workshops. The opener has three skilled guys create leafblowers that also melt ice. Allen keeps it casual and fun.
5) “Bob (Hearts) Abishola,” 8:30 p.m. today, CBS. The good news is that all four Chuck Lorre comedies have new episodes. There are three on Thursday (peaking with “Mom,” see No. 8) and this one. After two reruns in the past three weeks, it has a new episode and a new crisis: Dele is a diligent kid who wants to be a dancer … but expects to be a doctor, as his mother, Abishola, insists. Now his father – who abandoned them and returned to Nigeria – forbids his dancing; Bob is asked to intervene.
6) “Independent Lens: Mr. Soul!” 10 p.m. today, PBS. Before there was a PBS, there was already public-TV; one show offered a counterpoint to the whitewashed networks: “Soul” did a full variety show in a small New York studio, reflecting the wide taste of producer-host Ellis Haizlip. His first show, in 1968, opened with Patti LaBelle’s high-octane “Over the Rainbow,” then had Billy Taylor’s jazz trio. “Soul” added dance, poetry, blues and beyond, lasting five years; here are warm memories.
7) “Name That Tune,” 8 and 9 p.m. Wednesday, Fox. “The Masked Dancer” has ended, with nimble pros at the top. (Olympic gymnast Gabrielle Douglas won, with dancers Maxsim Chmerkovsky and Mackenzie Ziegler second and third.) Now we have to wait until March 10 for the new season of “The Masked Singer.” Meanwhile, Wednesday doubles up on “Tune,” which started on radio in 1952 and is in its fourth TV version, now with Jane Krakowski hosting and Randy Jackson as music director.
8) “Mom,” 9 p.m. Thursday, CBS. Already one of TV’s best comedies, “Mom” had a great addition when Bonnie started seeing a therapist, Trevor. Here are two tall, talented actors: Rainn Wilson had three Emmy nominations on “The Office”; Allison Janney has won six Emmys and an Oscar. Bonnie rarely accepts advice from anyone, so her verbal duels with Trevor have been hilarious. Now there’s a fresh twist, with Bonnie’s friend Jill attracted to Trevor. Both are newly single, so this seems promising.
9) “The Manchurian Candidate” (1962), 8 p.m. ET Friday, Turner Classic Movies. The trouble with remakes, we’re told, is that people re-do films that were already good. This one was remade in 2004, but the original stands on its own. Beautifully directed by John Frankenheimer, it has a smart script that toys with memories; it also has an evil Angela Lansbury. If you prefer action, Friday has “Justice League” (2017) is 8 p.m. on TNT and the first Harry Potter films at 12:30, 4:02 and 7:59 p.m. on Syfy.
.10) “The Walking Dead,” 9 p.m. Sunday, AMC, rerunning at 11:02 p.m. and 1:02 a.m. Viewers have “a voracious appetite” for this show, AMC programmer Dan McDermott said, so six “bonus episodes” were added, shot in a COVID-safe way. That starts here with the return of Maggie – who departed two-plus years ago, then re-appeared in the Oct.1 episode. She leads her son and a rag-tag group, linking with Daryl. It’s a strong hour, including a moving scene in which she offers hints of her recent ordeal.