‘Killing Eve,’ SAG and NAACP Awards, ‘1883’ Finale, ‘American Idol’ Turns 20

Season Premiere

8/7c

SUNDAY: Has that wacky international assassin Villanelle (Emmy winner Jodie Comer) truly found religion? That’s just one of the bizarre twists in the colorful spy thriller as it returns from a nearly two-year hiatus to wrap up the story in a fourth and final season. (A second episode can be streamed on AMC+.) While Villanelle eagerly awaits baptism, as if that can wash away all her sins, lapsed MI6 spy Eve (Sandra Oh) isn’t buying it. Though their strange dance of mutual desire and fascination is far from over, Eve stays busy chasing The Twelve when she’s not shagging her hot partner (Robert Gilbert) in private security. For former spy boss Caroline (Fiona Shaw), her demotion to cultural attaché in Mallorca hasn’t dimmed her dreams of taking down The Twelve, either. Where will it end for these ladies of intrigue?

8/7c

SUNDAY: To open the ceremony, rewarding actors in movies and TV, a Hamilton mini-reunion features Daveed Diggs, Leslie Odom Jr. and creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. The fabulous Helen Mirren receives SAG’s Life Achievement Award (presented by Kate Winslet, a nominee for Mare of Easttown). Among the TV nominees, odds favor Succession and Ted Lasso walking away with the ensemble prizes in drama and comedy.

8/7c

SATURDAY: Seven-time Image Awards winner Anthony Anderson (black-ish, Law & Order) hosts the annual celebration of diversity in film, TV and music, with Mary J. Blige scheduled to perform. Samuel L. Jackson (of Apple’s upcoming The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey miniseries) receives the Chairman Award, and philanthropists Prince Harry and Meghan will be honored with the President’s Award for public service.

Season Finale

8/7c

SUNDAY: The dark Western drama, an origin-story prequel to Yellowstone, rests the ill-fated wagon train’s horses as the first season wraps on what promises to be an ominous note. Will the show’s narrator, Elsa Dutton (Isabel May), succumb to the arrow that pierced her body during last week’s latest calamity? This series is so fatalistic it almost makes Lonesome Dove look like a comedy.

Season Premiere

8/7c

SUNDAY: There’s nothing that makes you feel your age quite like a series you watched at the beginning announcing a milestone 20th season. So it is with the one-time pop phenom, embarking on its latest search for a musical superstar. Once upon a time (in the early 2000s) Idol was a giant among TV shows, launching superstar careers including Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. Whether it’s still capable of such a feat is questionable, and yet the game continues, with audition stops in a nationwide search including Nashville, Austin and Los Angeles. Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie return as judges, and the one constant is host Ryan Seacrest, chipper as ever.

11:30/10:30c

SATURDAY: Look who’s joining the five-timers’ club as he returns to guest-host Saturday Night Live: two-time Emmy-winning comedy writer/performer John Mulaney (a 2019 nominee for guest-host). SNL tends to raise its game whenever Mulaney appears, and the show has certainly picked a momentous time to return. LDC Soundsystem is musical guest, returning for a second gig.

Series Premiere

10/9c

SUNDAY: The excellent Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the centerpiece of the first season of a docudrama anthology, playing Travis Kalanick, the controversial cofounder and former CEO of ride-sharing app company Uber. The limited series, based on Mike Isaac’s book, details Kalanick’s dazzling rise and fall, with Kyle Chandler co-starring as his frustrated mentor and Uma Thurman arriving in the fourth episode as entrepreneur Arianna Huffington.

Inside Weekend TV:

• Murdoch Mysteries (Saturday, 7/6c, Ovation TV): The 15th season of the enduring Canadian period procedural opens with a two-parter (concluding March 5) in which Det. Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) seeks local help in early-1900s Montreal to keep his son Harry (Etienne Kellici) out of danger from the Black Hand gang. (Episodes can also be streamed on Acorn TV starting Monday.)
• Welcome to Mama’s (Saturday, 8/7c, Hallmark Channel): Wynonna Earp’s Melanie Scrofano stars in a romance about an unemployed restaurant manager who inherits an Italian eatery in Brooklyn—and its head chef (Daniel di Tomasso).
• Girl in the Shed: The Kidnapping of Abby Hernandez (Saturday, 8/7c, Lifetime): Based on a true story, an on-brand docudrama relives the ordeal of 14-year-old Abby (Lindsay Navarro), kidnapped while walking home from school in New Hampshire. Ben Savage plays her captor, who keeps Abby in a soundproof container with a shock collar while she suffers daily abuse.
• 48 Hours (Saturday, 10/9c, CBS): In a change-of-pace hour, the docuseries profiles retired NYPD detective Katrina Cooke Brownlee, who shares her story of surviving being shot multiple times by her ex-fiancé (who carried a badge) and how the experience inspired her distinguished career in law enforcement.
• The Equalizer (Sunday, 8/7c, CBS): Queen Latifah reunites with her Girls Trip co-star Jada Pinkett Smith when the latter guests as a master thief whom Robyn enlists to help retrieve a painting stolen from a Black family during the infamous 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
• It’s a night of finales on HBO, starting with the buzzy Euphoria (9/8c), followed by the comedies The Righteous Gemstones (10/9c) and Bridget Everett’s heartwarming Somebody Somewhere (10:45/9:45c).
• The Simpsons (Sunday, 8/7c, Fox): The animated lineup returns with all-new episodes, starting with Homer and Marge getting lost in an icy wilderness.
• Tournament of Champions III (Sunday, 8/7c, Food Network): Guy Fieri pits 32 elite chefs—including Top Chef veterans/brothers Michael and Bryan Voltaggio, Eric Adjepong and Antonia Lofaso—against each other in a bracket-style East-vs.-West showdown.
• Adam Eats the ’80s (Sunday, 10/9c, History): More food fun as Adam Richman celebrates the roots (and creators) of the era’s iconic snacks in a diet-busting history lesson. First stop: A visit to Auntie Anne’s original food-court spot.