1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:30 p.m., NBC. On the eve of its 50-year celebration, “SNL” reruns it first episode. It’s not like the current version, with a huge cast doing sketches; instead, it’s a ragtag variety show, blending sketches with music from Billy Preston and Janice Ian, comedy from Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson and mini-monologs from George Carlin.
2) “Ladies & Gentleman … 50 Years of SNL Music,” 8 p.m., NBC. We mostly remember the sketches, but “SNL” also has a rich musical history. This film (already on Peacock) is by Questlove, who is both an Oscar-winning filmmaker (“Summer of Soul”) and a musician (The Roots).
3) “Wild Cards,” 8 and 9 p.m., CW. It’s a good time to meet this oft-terrific show … even though these episodes are barely semi-terrific. “Wild Cards” thrived in the first season, when Max pulled her scams. These hours started the second season with street racers and ranchers. There’s less scam and glam, more grit, with fairly good results.
4) “Waitress: The Musical” (2023), 8 p.m., HBO. This tale keeps surviving. It was an indie-movie gem whose writer-director was killed before it opened. A decade later, it was a Tony-nominated musical, with Sara Bareilles as star and composer. It closed (twice) due to the pandemic, but filmed the stage version. The result has drawn strong reviews and few moviegoers.
5) ALSO: ABC has hockey’s “4 Nations Face-Off.” It’s Finland and Sweden at 1 p.m. ET, then the U.S. and Canada at 8 ET. CBS reruns the “Watson” pilot (slick, but coldly distant) at 8 p.m.; its second episode is 9 p.m. Sunday. And Turner Classic Movies has great westerns – “True Grit” (1969) at 8 p.m. ET and “Cat Ballou” (1965) at 10:15.
— Mike Hughes, TV America