‘Walking Dead’ Finale, Music Galore (AMAs, Elton John Live, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction), ‘Family Guy’ Hits 400, A Vampire Origin Story

After 11 seasons, The Walking Dead lumbers to the finish line. The American Music Awards returns on a musical weekend that includes a live-streaming Elton John concert and the taped induction ceremony at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Fox’s irreverent Family Guy airs its milestone 400th episode. Let the Right One In lets viewers in on how young Eleanor became a vampire.

Jace Downs/AMC

The Walking Dead

Series Finale

SUNDAY: The series that took TV horror to a new level of graphic extremes, unafraid to kill off major characters during its post-apocalyptic journey, presents its final chapter after 11 seasons. (This isn’t the end of the Walking Dead universe, with multiple spinoffs already underway.) Preceded by a Red Carpet Live show (8:30/7:30c), the supersized 90-minute finale finds our survivors in graver peril than usual, with young Judith’s (Cailey Fleming) life in the balance as the adults fight off a swarm of zombies from within their walled-off section of the Commonwealth that they’re trying to take down. Who will survive this final battle?

Taylor Swift
Cleopatra Entertainment / courtesy Everett Collection

American Music Awards

SUNDAY: Wayne Brady hosts the music-driven awards show, where fans pick the winners. Among the highlights: a tribute to Icon Award recipient Lionel Richie, with Stevie Wonder, Charlie Puth and Ari Lennox performing. P!nk delivers a musical homage to the late Olivia Newton-John, and others taking the Microsoft Theater stage in L.A. include Carrie Underwood, Imagine Dragons, Wizkid, Tems and Yola, whose “Break the Bough” is the AMA’s “Song of Soul.” Bad Bunny leads the nominations with eight, with Beyoncé, Drake and Taylor Swift close behind with six.

Elton John
Erika Goldring/Getty Images

Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium

SUNDAY: After the AMAs, switch to the streamer for another spectacular musical performance, by the Rocket Man himself, in a three-hour concert special from the venue that put him on the map back in 1975. He’ll perform his greatest hits, joined by Dua Lipa, Kiki Dee and Brandi Carlile in what is being billed as his final North American performance.

Dolly Parton Country Music Awards
Stacie Huckeba

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

SATURDAY: More music legends get their due at the annual event, taped Nov. 5 at L.A.’s Microsoft Theater. Among the honorees: Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, inducted by Sheryl Crow; Duran Duran, inducted by Robert Downey, Jr., Eminem, inducted by Dr. Dre, Eurythmics inducted by The Edge, Dolly Parton inducted by P!nk, Lionel Richie inducted by Lenny Kravitz and Carly Simon, inducted by Sara Bareilles. Performers include Bareilles, Olivia Rodrigo, Dave Grohl, P!nk, Brandi Carlile, Crow, Zac Brown Band, Ed Sheeran and Steven Tyler.

Seth MacFarlane Voices Stewie in 'Family Guy'

Family Guy

SUNDAY: Funny, Stewie doesn’t look 400 (days old, that is). Fox’s irrepressible animated satire marks its milestone 400th episode with Stewie exposed to all sorts of haters when a pop star sics her fan base on the sarcastic infant. Elsewhere in the raucous Griffin home, Peter gets lap band surgery and marvels at all of the excess skin.

Aubrey Plaza and Meghann Fahy on 'The White Lotus'
HBO

The White Lotus

SUNDAY: More storm clouds over paradise, as Harper (Aubrey Plaza) begins to suspect that Ethan (Will Sharpe) isn’t being entirely truthful about what the guys were up to during the wives’ overnight away from the hotel. On a happier note, neurotic Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) gets over her husband’s departure by basking in the attention showered on her by Quentin (Tom Hollander) and his campy cronies. “You’re like the heroine of your own Italian opera,” Quentin gushes. Sounds about right.

Ian Foreman and Madison Taylor Baez in 'Let the Right One In'
Francisco Roman/SHOWTIME

Let the Right One In

SUNDAY: An affecting episode of the supernatural drama goes back 10 years to the night of the attack that turned eternally 12-year-old Eleanor (Madison Taylor Baez) into a vampire. For her father Mark (Demiån Bichir), it’s bad enough to watch her suffer. But when it comes to the rules of vampirism and how to keep her ravenous child fed, the learning curve is steep.

Richard Thomas in 'A Waltons Thanksgiving'
Tom Griscom / The CW

A Waltons Thanksgiving

Movie Premiere

SUNDAY: A reboot of the Depression-era family drama presents its second holiday film, with Teddy Sears taking over (from Ben Lawson) as patriarch John Walton, providing for his large brood as Thanksgiving 1934 approaches. The arrival of a young boy into the Waltons’ world changes everyone’s life, almost certainly for the better.

The Yule Log: 

Inside Weekend TV:

  • County Line: All In (Saturday, 8/7c, INSP): Tom Wopat reprises his role as Sheriff Alden Rockwell, who crosses the county line and clashes with fellow Sheriff Jo Porter (Kelsey Crane) as they solve the murder of several no-good lawyers.
  • 48 Hours (Saturday, 10/9c, CBS): Natalie Morales reports her first story for the true-crime franchise, following the investigation of the 1982 murders of two young women near the ski resort of Breckenridge, Colo.
  • Miss Scarlet and the Duke (Sunday, 8/7c, PBS): In the Season 2 finale, Eliza (Kate Phillips) realizes she was the actual target when a fellow private investigator is nearly fatally shot. It’s a night of mystery finales on PBS, including the denouement of the clever Magpie Murders (9/8c) and the Season 1 finale of Nicola Walker’s Annika (10/9c).
  • Yellowstone (Sunday, 8/7c, Paramount Network): While the ruthless Beth (Kelly Reilly) heads to Salt Lake City on business, her brother/patsy Jamie (Wes Bentley) is being set up in a trap by their enemies. Series star Kevin Costner moonlights as host of the four-part documentary series Yellowstone: One Fifty, a celebration of the park’s 150th anniversary, streaming on Fox Nation.
  • Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down (Sunday, 9/8c, CNN): Oscar nominees Julie Cohen and Betsy West (RBG) tell the inspiring story of former U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords, following her rehabilitation and activism after surviving a shooting in January 2011.