Icy Escapism with Penguins in ‘Nature’ and Men’s Figure Skating in Beijing, Nick’s Kid of the Year, ‘Pam & Tommy’

8/7c

In this episode Penguins: Meet the Family, One of nature’s most fascinating creatures gets the full-on Nature treatment as the series features all 18 species of penguins for the first time, in locations you’d expect (Antarctica) and some you may not (the forest of New Zealand), with stops in Cape Town and the Galapagos Islands. Heartwarming moments (chicks bonding with papa penguin) alternate with harrowing vignettes including a race between a Gentoo penguin and a predatory sea lion that never seems to end.

Keep the chill going with prime-time live coverage (8/7c, NBC) of the men’s free skate in Figure Skating, the halfpipe final of Women’s Snowboard, Women’s Alpine Skiing and Men’s Freestyle Skiing. Other events covered during the day and evening on NBC, USA Network, CNBC and streamed live on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app include Doubles Luge, Men’s Nordic Combined Skiing, Men & Women’s Cross-Country Skiing, Men’s Biathlon, Curling, Men’s Skeleton and Men’s Ice Hockey. For complete listings by sport of what to watch, when and where, go to nbcolympics.com/schedule.

Special

7:30/6:30c

Need some instant inspiration? Check out the five honorees of Nick’s second annual celebration of youth activism and innovation. Trevor Noah hosts the special, with celebrities including Rob Gronkowski, Scarlett Johansson, Bel-Air’s Jabari Banks, Meghan Trainor and 2020 Kid of the Year Gitanjali Rao helping to surprise and honor these special kids, ages 11 to 14. The top five kids are Cash Daniels, an environmental activist from Chattanooga; Mina Fedor from Oakland, California, who combats racism toward the AAPI community; Brooklyn’s Samirah Horton, who uses music to spread her anti-bullying message; Orion Jean from Mansfield, Texas, whose “Race to Kindness” mission has collected thousands of books and meals for those in need; and Lino Marrero from Frisco, Texas, an eco-friendly inventor.

In the fourth chapter of the propulsively entertaining miniseries, celebrity couple Pamela Anderson (Lily James) and Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan) are elated over her first pregnancy: “I’m gonna be a dad—on purpose!” the rock star crows. Their joy is short-lived when he discovers the safe containing their most private videotape has gone missing, and then the tape goes public via this new-to-the-1990s innovation called a “website.” Pamela’s humiliation is palpable, while Tommy channels his baffled fury (“Where do we get the web?”) into anger, setting a private detective and a motorcycle gang after the out-of-his-depth schlub (Seth Rogen) who orchestrated the theft.

Inside Wednesday TV:

•  Jeopardy! National College Championships (8/7c, ABC): Sharpen your wits for a full night of games, with the second night of Jeopardy! quarterfinals followed by two episodes of The Chase (9/8c and 10/9c), where Brad Rutter and Mark “The Beast” Labbett take on challengers.
• Secrets in the Scat (9/8c, PBS, check local listings at pbs.org): Nova has our attention with its profile of “Scatman” Scott Burnett, an Australian ecologist who analyzes animal droppings for clues in their DNA and hormones to learn how they fit into their ecosystems.
• NBA on ESPN (10 pm/ET): In a broadcasting first, the Western Conference match-up between the Utah Jazz and Golden State Warriors will be led entirely by women, on camera and behind the scenes. Beth Mowins is the play-by-play announcer with analyst Doris Burke and reporter Lisa Salters, and a team of 33 female production personnel will be on hand in Salt Lake City and in ESPN’s control room in Bristol, Connecticut.
• Snowdrop (streaming on Disney+): A hit in Korea, this 16-part romantic thriller (available for binge-watching) stars Blackpink girl-group pop star Jisoo as a college student who risks everything after falling for the blood-soaked man (Jung Hae-In) who bursts into her dorm, plunging her into a world of political intrigue. Also on Disney+: the season finale of the Star Wars spinoff The Book of Boba Fett and, from Marvel, Assembled: The Making of Hawkeye.
• Disenchantment (streaming on Netflix): The fourth batch of episodes in Matt Groening’s animated comedy-fantasy takes its heroes—Queen Bean (Abbi Jacobson), elf Elfo (Nat Faxon) and demon Luci (Eric Andre)—on separate journeys as they race from Heaven to Hell, through Ogreland, Steamland, the Enchanted Forest and the Dreamscape in hopes of reuniting.