1) Coronation. The actual ceremony for King Charles III (shown here) starts at 6 a.m. ET and is expected to last a couple hours. Most networks, however, are planning all-out coverage, from 5-10 a.m., bringing some of their stars. Anchors include Anderson Cooper at CNN, Savannah Guthrie at NBC, Martha McCallum at Fox News, Alex Witt at MSNBC, Michael Strahan at ABC and the Saturday-morning trio at CBS. Each will be joined by reporters and royalty experts.
2) More royalty: Some coverage starts earlier – 1 a.m. ET on CNN International, 4 a.m. on Britbox – or runs late; ABC will send a second edition to the West Coast. Then there are the documentaries: Paramount+ has “King Charles: The Boy Who Walked Alone”; Disney+ and Hulu have “King Charles: In His Own Words.” You’ll find more docs streaming on Britbox, on True Royal TV and on PBS.org and the PBS apps.
3) Sports overload. After all that British tradition, we go straight to the American culture. NBC begins its Kentucky Derby preview at noon ET – even though the race doesn’t start until 6:57 p.m.; then it has USFL football at 7:30. Fox has baseball; also, there’s lots of basketball: ABC has pro play-off games at 3:30 (Knicks-Heat) and 7:30 p.m. ET (Warriors-Eagles) …and Turner Classic Movies has the terrific “Hoosiers” movie (1986) at 8 p.m. ET.
4) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. It’s a rerun, on what could have been a great night for “SNL.” Pete Davidson, who gave the show some of its best moments, was set to host … until the show – and, probably, the rest of the season – was scuttled by the writers’ strike. To catch up with Davidson, try the “Bupkis” series, newly arrived on Peacock. It’s too explicit for some viewers, but the second episode offers key insights into his boyhood.
5) “NCIS,” 8 p.m., CBS. This reruns a familiar plot device – a Hollywood actor is shadowing people as they tackle a serious crime. In this case, it’s a prominent actress and the crime is a decapitation.
— Mike Hughes, TV America