Horror in ‘Walking Dead’ and ‘From,’ TCM’s Sidney Poitier Tribute, Salutes to Presidents (Lincoln and LBJ), John Oliver Returns, Winter Olympics Closes

Zombie thriller The Walking Dead resumes its final season, while a new horror introduces itself in the Epix creepshow From. TCM celebrates the late Sidney Poitier on what would have been his 95th-birthday weekend with a two-day marathon of cinema classics. To mark the Presidents’ Day holiday, the History Channel salutes Abraham Lincoln in a three-night docuseries while CNN explores the legacy of Lyndon Baines Johnson in a two-night profile. HBO’s Emmy-winning John Oliver returns for a ninth season of barbed commentary in Last Week Tonight. And the flame goes out on the Winter Olympics in Sunday’s closing ceremonies.

Lauren Cohan as Maggie Rhee in The Walking Dead
Josh Stringer/AMC

The Walking Dead

SUNDAY: The second of three eight-episode arcs of the zombie thriller’s final season commences with the Reapers targeting Meridian—Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) in particular—setting up a showdown between Maggie and their antagonists’ new leader, Leah (Lynn Collins), once upon a time the object of Daryl’s (Norman Reedus) affections. Back in Alexandria, a storm of biblical proportions threatens little Judith (Cailey Fleming) and Gracie (Anabelle Holloway), trapped in a flooding basement as walkers swarm in. And how will the embattled survivors respond when representatives from the Commonwealth show up?

Catalina Sandino Moreno as Tabitha, Eion Bailey as Jim in From
Epic

From

Series Premiere

SUNDAY: Like a proverbial roach motel in The Twilight Zone, once you enter the creepy unnamed town in this existential horror series, you’ll never be able to leave. That’s the dilemma faced by the trapped characters in From, which contains unmistakable echoes of Stephen King, Shirley Jackson, Hitchcock, Rod Serling and Lost—including the latter show’s star, Harold Perrineau. He plays tormented sheriff Boyd, who lays out the rules of survival to a young family that has unfortunately crashed their RV in the nearby woods. Rule #1: Do not go out at night, when ravenous bogeymen lurk.

Abraham Lincoln
Getty

Abraham Lincoln

Series Premiere

SUNDAY: Renowned historian Doris Kearns Goodwin (Team of Rivals) is executive producer of a definitive three-night biographical documentary covering the life and career of the 16th president, who presided over the Civil War and the dissolution of slavery before his untimely assassination. The series features interviews with historians and President Barack Obama and dives deep into an archive of letters, writings and speeches. Actor Graham Sibley portrays Lincoln.

LBJ
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LBJ: Triumph and Tragedy

Special

SUNDAY: Barring breaking news, the channel marks the Presidents’ Day holiday with a two-night profile of the master politician who became president after JFK’s assassination in Texas. LBJ’s triumphs in passing significant civil-rights and Great Society legislation were ultimately overshadowed by the turmoil in Vietnam, but his larger-than-life personality makes Lyndon Baines Johnson one of the towering figures of 20th-century political life. The special features interviews with the last surviving members of his inner circle, and Johnson is heard in secretly recorded audio tapes.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Lloyd Bishop/HBO

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver

Season Premiere

SUNDAY: After a three-month break, the Emmy-winning satirist and brutal wit is back to deconstruct in hilarious and often dyspeptic detail the issues that matter most in a world perpetually on the brink of crisis. Wonder what he’ll tackle next.

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SATURDAY & SUNDAY: Before the torch is extinguished in Sunday’s closing ceremonies, which can be streamed live at 7 a.m./ET or seen in NBC’s prime-time replay (8/7c), there are more sports yet to be enjoyed in the final weekend of the Winter Games in Beijing. Among Saturday’s highlights: the Pairs’ Free Skate in Figure Skating, Men and Women’s Speed Skating, Men’s Cross-Country Skiing, Alpine Skiing Team Events, Curling and Bobsled. Late-night live coverage on Saturday includes the Figure Skating Gala performance on NBC, and on USA, the Men’s Ice Hockey gold-medal game. For complete listings by sport of what to watch, where and when, go to nbcolympics.com/schedule.

Sidney Poitier Tribute:

  • (Starts Saturday at 8/7c, Turner Classic Movies): With 12 movie classics over two nights, TCM celebrates the career of the boundary-breaking Black movie star who passed away last month. He would have turned 95 on Sunday, and in his honor, the movie channel expanded a planned one-day tribute into a full weekend of Sidney Poitier’s great performances. It starts Saturday with 1967’s crime classic In the Heat of the Night, (featuring Oscar winner Rod Steiger), continuing with his breakthrough role in 1958’s The Defiant Ones (10/9c) opposite Tony Curtis, and continuing Sunday with highlights including 1955’s Blackboard Jungle (noon/11c), 1967’s To Sir with Love (2/1c) and his Oscar-winning role in 1963’s Lilies of the Field (4/3c).

Inside Weekend TV:

  • A Discovery of Witches (Saturday, streaming on Sundance Now, Shudder and AMC+): As Diana (Teresa Palmer) plots to rescue Matthew (Matthew Goode) from being tortured to near death by Benjamin (Jacob Ifan) in the series finale, expect revelations from the Book of Life.
  • Caught in His Web (Saturday, 8/7c, Lifetime): Whoopi Goldberg executive produces a movie based on actual events about three women victimized by a cyberbully and their efforts to bring him down with the help of a detective (Garcelle Beauvais).
  • Rich & Shameless (Saturday, approximate 10:30/9:30c): If you’ve been watching the dramatized Pam & Tommy on Hulu, see the real thing in a documentary retelling (airing after the conclusion of the NBA on TNT’s State Farm All-Star Saturday Night), which serves as a preview of an upcoming true-crime anthology series. Get the juicy details of what happened to the celebrity couple Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee when their private sex tape was stolen and marketed on the fledgling Internet.
  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Sunday, 5 pm/4c, Comedy Central): To welcome the acclaimed cop comedy to the lineup, with episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Comedy Central presents a seven-hour marathon of classic episodes.
  • 60 Minutes (Sunday, 7/6c, CBS): Could the “Havana Syndrome” be happening here as well? In a two-part report, Scott Pelley reveals that high-ranking Homeland Security officials in the previous administration have experienced symptoms of vertigo, confusion and memory loss on the White House grounds and in their Washington, D.C. homes-much like the neurological maladies suffered by diplomats in Cuba and other foreign countries since 2016.
  • Around the World in 80 Days (Sunday, 8/7c, PBS, check local listings at pbs.org): In the conclusion of the Masterpiece adaptation of the Jules Verne classic, Fogg (David Tennant) and friends hit New York City, where a distraction could keep them from finishing their race to London. Followed by a special Christmas episode of All Creatures Great and Small (9/8c, check local listings at pbs.org).
  • 71st NBA All-Star Game (Sunday, 8/7c, TNT): Watch the mighty play. And dunk.
  • Summer of Soul (Sunday, 8/7c, ABC): The Oscar-nominated documentary from Questlove gets a much-deserved network showcase, reliving 1969’s rousing Harlem Cultural Festival.
  • Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted by Murder (Sunday, 9/8c, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries): The amateur sleuth played by Candace Cameron Buré is shown as a teen in flashbacks being played by her own daughter, Natasha. Back then, she discovered a dead body in a mansion that’s now being bought to flip by Aurora’s own mother (Marilu Henner).
  • I Was There (Sunday, 10:30/9:30c, History): Bringing history alive with CGI technology and archival material, this nonfiction series is hosted by Theo E.J. Wilson, grandson of a Tuskegee Airman. He inserts himself into recreations of historic events, starting with the 1937 Hindenberg disaster. Another episode airs Monday, dealing with the 1889 Johnstown flood.