1) Football. The week starts and ends with big games. Today, the college season has its national championship at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN2, with a pregame show at 7. Michigan (shown here) and Washington – undefeated and ranked No. 1 and 2 – collide. Then the pros start their month-long playoffs. There are two games Saturday and three on Sunday, plus one more on Monday, Jan. 15.
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For TV, this is the post-strike time when dramas gradually return.
A few arrive soon; NBC has “La Brea” on Jan. 9 and the Chicago shows on Jan. 17. Others will be much later — “Grey’s Anatomy,” March 14;“9-1-1: Lone Star” next fall.
But for viewers in a real hurry, there’s PBS. In one burst Sunday (Jan. 7), it has two season-openers (“Miss Scarlet and the Duke” and “All Creatures Great and Small”) and a series debut (“Funny Woman,” shown here).
As it happens, all three improve as their six-Sunday season advances. “Miss Scarlet” starts quite poorly, then rights itself. “Funny Woman” goes from OK to quite good. “All Creatures” starts at very good … then gets even better. Let’s look: Read more…
1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. After a busy spurt, with eight new episodes in 10 weeks, “SNL” is on a month-long break. It has reruns tonight (Jason Momoa, shown here with Chloe Fineman, hosts, with Tate McCrae as music guest) and next week, before returning to a new episode Jan. 20, with Jack Elordi and Renee Rapp. Read more…
