1) College football. For the first time ever, there are primetime games on all five of the top commercial, broadcast networks. We expect that from ABC (which has Wisconsin,shown here, and Washington State at 7:30 p.m. ET), CBS (UCLA-San Diego State, 7:30) and Fox (Oregon-Texas Tech, 7). But now NBC, no longer confined to Notre Dame, has Charlotte-Maryland at 7:30. And CW carries Atlantic Coast Conference games; at 6:30, it has Cincinnati-Pittsburgh.
2) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m. (barring a football overrun), NBC. This rerun has Molly Shannon in only her second turn as host. She left in 2001, after seven seasons, and visited occasionally to be in a sketch. Her only previous hosting was in 2007; now she’s back, with music from the Jonas Brothers.
3) “Shakespeare and Hathaway,” 7 and 8 p.m. ET, Ovation. Amiable folks are living for free on a sprawling English estate. But now there are suspicions on all sides. Is the owner trying to oust them? Are they trying to kill her scheming companion? It’s a tangled and interesting story that gets, as always, a hasty confession. In the second story, the daughter of a “carpet king” wants her sisters investigated.
4) Movie series. You can settle in and catch the entire batch: “Toy Story” films are on Freeform, at 5:15, 7:15, 9:20 and 11:50 p.m. … “Hangover” ones are on MTV at 7:30 and 10 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. … “Police Academy” ones are on IFC, at 6 and 8:15 p.m. … and the wonderful “Back to the Future” ones air twice on TBS – at noon, 2:30 and 5, then at 7:30, 10 and 12:30.
5) More movies. And if you just want one film? There’s a fun one — “Captain Marvel” (2019) — at 8 p.m. on FX. And there are true classics: Martin Scorsese’s “Casino” (1995), at 6 p.m. on Showtime … Rob Reiuner’s “Stand By Me” (1986), at 8:30 on BBC America … and Michael Apted’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (1980), at 9 on CMT.
— Mike Hughes, TV America