1) Football. The two top teams return to action. The Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions, had 15-2 records, giving them byes in the first playoff week and home games now. The Chiefs host the Texans at 4:30 p.m. ET on ABC and ESPN; the Lions (shown here) host the Commanders at 8 on Fox. One note: In the college playoffs, all four bye teams promptly lost their next game.
2) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. Dave Chappelle has his fourth turn as host – and his third during an intense time. Chappelle hosted on the first Saturday after Donald Trump was elected in 2016 and the first after Trump was defeated in 2020. Now he’s back, two days before Trump’s inauguration; GloRilla is the music guest.
3) “Shifting Gears” and “High Potential,” ABC. After the post-game show, ABC jumps directly (in some time zones) to reruns of its key first-year shows. The first two “Gears” (8 and 8:30) have Tim Allen adjusting to the return of his estranged daughter. “Potential” has an attack on a beach (9) and the murder of a famous sportscaster (10).
4) “I Am JFK Jr.” (2016), 8-10 p.m., CW. John Kennedy Jr. lived in the White House for his first three years. As a grown-up, he had a brief, busy life. He was a lawyer (after failing the bar exam twice), a magazine publisher, a popular figure in society. He died in a plane crash at 38; here’s a profile.
5) “Top Gun” films, Paramount Network. Here was a double shot: “Top Gun” was 1986’s top-grossing film in the U.S. and Canada, with $176 million. And 36 years later – again with Tom Cruise – “Top Gun: Maverick” was No. 1 in 2022 with $718 million, helping bust a pandemic slump. Now the original is at 2:30 and 11 p.m., the sequel at 5 and 8.