1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. A good season could turn into a great one: Kate McKinnon (shown here) is hosting and Billie Eilish is the music guest. “SNL” often seems to have one person who dominates the sketches. It’s Bowen Yang now (with Kenan Thompson a close second); at other times, it’s been Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig and, especially, McKinnon. Add Eilish and you may have one of the show’s best episodes.
2) Cartoon classics. Two of TV’s greatest half-hour are available today. “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is at 8 a.m. (yes, early morning) on TBS; “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” on Apple TV+, will be available to non-subscribers today and Sunday. Also, CBS has “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” at 8 p.m., “Frosty the Snowman” at 9 and the so-so “Frosty Returns” at 9:30.
3) “Designing Christmas for You,” 8 p.m. ET, Great American Family. This will keep you guessing for at least 3-4 minutes. After that, you’ll just have to savor how attractive everything is – especially the stars, Susie Abromeit and Liam McIntyre, who took over the hunky title role in cable’s “Spartacus.”
4) More movies: Lifetime has two new Christmas movies, starring Tatyana Ali at 8 p.m. and Jackee Harry at 10. Hallmark also has a new one at 8, led by Katie Findlay, one of the stars of the likable “Spencer Sisters.” But the best movie is a very old one – “The Wizard of Oz” (1939), at 8 on TBS.
5) Bowl games. The bowl season begins, with a seven-game flurry. ABC has three – at noon, 3:30 and (UCLA-Boise State) 7:30 p.m. ESPN has the rest, at 11 a.m. and 2:15, 5:45 and (California- Texas Tech) 9:15 p.m. And. Fox has its “Hoops Saturday” plan, with Baylor and Michigan State at 8 p.m.