1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. It was 40 years ago that Martin Short joined the “SNL” cast. Already a star from his “SCTV” time, he helped the show’s short-term rebuild; he was gone after a year, but has returned often (shown here). Now comes only his fifth time as host, two of them with Steve Martin; Hozier is the music guest.
2) Football. The first round of the new college playoffs has three games today. On TNT, it’s Penn State and Southern Methodist at noon ET, and Clemson and Texas at 4. Then ABC has Tennessee and Ohio State at 8. Next week, the winners (and Friday’s winner) join the four bye teams for the second round.
3) “The Waltons’ Homecoming” (2021), 8-10 p.m., CW. This is the well-crafted remake of a movie that made a big impression, 50 years earlier. The story tells of a hard-scrabble Virginia family in the Depression. The mom (Bellamy Young) makes do, hoping the dad, working out of town, can get home for Christmas.
4) “Happy Howlidays,” 8-10 p.m., Hallmark. On Dec. 12, viewers saw Ezra Moreland win the “Finding Mr. Christmas” reality show. Now here’s his prize – starring as a shelter owner who befriends a young woman (Jessica Lowndes) who found a stray dog. Moreland, 31, is a model and a former Navy rescue diver.
5) ALSO: It’s the last weekend of new Christmas movies, with three more today. At 7 p.m. ET, Great American Family has “Get Him Back for Christmas.” At 8, Lifetime has “A Carpenter Christmas Romance.” At 9, OWN has “24-Karat Romance.”
— Mike Hughes, TV America