‘Simpsons’ Halloween Trilogy, ‘Bass Reeves,’ JFK Remembrance, ‘Planet Earth III’

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SUNDAY: Halloween isn’t officially over until The Simpsons unleashes its annual “Treehouse of Horror” trilogy—in this case, nearly a week after the fact. No matter, it’s always worth the wait. The fun begins when prankster Bart accidentally becomes digitized. “My baby is an app!” shrieks Marge, causing Homer to clarify: “Uh no, apps actually do stuff. He’s an NFT.” Nobody knows quite what that is, which doesn’t stop Marge from entering the blockchain to retrieve her beloved son. Other segments include a grisly parody of David Fincher’s Se7en, with Lisa turning to a familiar source in her search for a serial killer, and an Outbreak-inspired climax in which Homer injects a radioactive donut and his belches turn everyone in Springfield into versions of Homer. The horror!

Series Premiere

SUNDAY: Yellowstone’s Taylor Sheridan is an executive producer of series creator Chad Feehan’s traditional Western, starring David Oyelowo (also an executive producer) as the nontraditional and should-be-legendary Bass Reeves, who made history as the first Black U.S. Marshal West of the Mississippi. His arrest record—some 3,000 outlaws—is as impressive as his strict moral code. “I need a man with a good gun and a strict spine,” says Donald Sutherland as the judge who gives Bass the badge. He gets his wish. The first chapters track Reeves’ journey from slavery, where he was forced to fight for the Confederacy, to freedom among Native Americans and ultimately to represent the U.S. Government, all while raising a family. A grizzled Dennis Quaid co-stars as the shoot-first marshal who recruits Bass, representing the sort of lawman Reeves hopes never to become.

Documentary Premiere

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SUNDAY: As the 60^th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination approaches this month, TV will provide many retrospectives—fittingly, considering how TV acted as a national hearth for mourning in the days that followed. Start with this three-part (airing consecutively) documentary, using archives and testimony from surviving witnesses, journalists and law officers who searched for the killer, Lee Harvey Oswald. The you-are-there approach includes police radio recordings and dispatches as well as live news broadcasts in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Documentary Premiere

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SATURDAY: Seals, flamingos and turtles, oh my! Sir David Attenborough is back with another visually entrancing travelogue getting up close and personal with the wonders of the natural world. The third iteration of the award-winning series starts “on the front line” with coastlines. You’ll want to be there.

Movie Premiere

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SATURDAY: The Yule Log: From Hallmark: Never Been Chris’d (Saturday, 8/7c) finds two BFFs (Janel Parrish, Pascal Lamothe-Kipnes) reuniting and forming a love triangle with their high-school crush (Tyler Hynes). On a lighter and boozier note, The Santa Summit (Sunday, 8/7c) takes place during a pub crawl of Santa-clad partiers, with Jordin (Hunter King) hunting all night for Liam (Benjamin Hollingsworth), the guy she met at the start but didn’t get his deets. From Great American Family: A Dash of Christmas (Saturday, 8/7c) stars Broadway veteran Laura Osnes as a marketing exec in a bakeoff with a hot baker (Christopher Russell). In the movie sequel Our Christmas Wedding (Sunday, 8/7c), Nicole (Holly Deveaux) and Michael (Drew Seeley) head to the altar with Christmas two weeks away in a wedding planned by her boss. UpTV offers We’re Scrooged (Sunday, 7/6c) in which two former high-school sweethearts (Tamara Duarte and Andrew Bushell) reconnect at a reunion, each visited by Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future to set them straight. From the unscripted world: Holiday Wars (Sunday, 9/8c, Food Network) gathers cake, candy and cookie masters to create goodies inspired by holiday stories, with the grand prize an all-expenses-paid trip to Iceland for the Northern lights.

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SUNDAY: In the second chapter of the fascinating historical drama set mostly in the 1950s, Hawk (Matt Bomer) feels the heat when the State Department begins investigating employees for “deviant” behavior, telling the naïve Tim (Jonathan Bailey) he “broke the rules” by attending a party of closeted homosexuals, including co-worker Mary (Erin Neufer). “They’re my friends,” insists Tim. “They’re liabilities,” cautions Hawk, who begins getting closer to senator’s daughter Lucy Smith (Allison Williams) for convenient cover.

INSIDE WEEKEND TV:

• Night Court Catchy Binge (Saturday, starts at 11 am/ET, Catchy Comedy Network): A weekend-long binge of the original Night Court (through Monday morning) includes a Top 10 devoted to the late Richard Moll, who played bailiff Bull Shannon and died Oct. 26 at 80. Those episodes air Saturday from 5 pm/ET to 10 pm/ET.
• You’re Not Supposed to Be Here (Saturday, 10/9c, Lifetime): A thriller follows an expecting lesbian couple (Chrishell Stause and Diora Baird) to a cabin retreat for R&R when they’re besieged by the unwelcoming townspeople.
• New York City Marathon (Sunday, 8 am/ET, ESPN2): Live race coverage (with Spanish speaking simulcast on ESPN3) continues through the morning of the annual marathon attracting 50,000 runners through the boroughs to Central Park. ABC airs a recap at 3 pm/ET.
• 60 Minutes (Sunday, 7/6c, CBS): Scott Pelley interviews law professor John Eastman, one of many alleged co-conspirators in Georgia’s election court case, while Lesley Stahl travels to the so-called “Monkey Island” (Cayo Santiago) off the coast of Puerto Rico and Anderson Cooper reports on a Social Security glitch that has burdened some seniors and disabled people with debt.
• The Chosen (Sunday, 8/7c, The CW): As Season 3 begins, Jesus (Jonathan Roumie) delivers his most famous sermon, while Andrew (Noah James) visits John the Baptist (David Amito) in prison.
• The Real Housewives of Potomac (Sunday, 8/7c, Bravo): The 8^th season welcomes Nigerian-American lawyer Nneka Ihim to the cast. Followed by the Season 10 premiere of Married to Medicine (9/8c), where former Atlanta Real Housewife Phaedra Parks joins the cast, sure to raise everyone’s blood pressure.
• Lost Women of Highway 20 (Sunday, 9/8c, Investigation Discovery): Oscar winner Octavia Spencer, who played a true-crime podcaster on the Apple TV+ series Truth Be Told, is executive producer and narrator of a three-part true-crime series (all in one night) that begins with a 13-year-old girl gone missing in 1990, revealing a string of unsolved murders of women along Oregon’s U.S. Highway 20 in which the killer is hiding in plain sight.
• The Gilded Age (Sunday, 9/8c, HBO): Stage star Laura Benanti (Younger) guests in the period drama as an attractive widow who takes a shine to young Larry Russell (Harry Richardson) when she hires him to spruce up her Newport home. “I long for a bit of disruption,” she says. Larry’s mother Bertha (Carrie Coon) will not be amused.
• World on Fire (Sunday, 9/8c, PBS): Restless Polish refugee Kasia (Zofia Wichłacz) finally gets her wish and goes to work as a secret agent in the World War II drama.
• On the Fly: Adventures at Altitude (Sunday, 9/8c, Smithsonian Channel): Ordinary folks take to the skies in a new docuseries. The opener observes stunts from the Red Bull Air Force and flies with Grandview Aviation as a team transports a donated organ with the clock ticking.
• The Winter King (Sunday, 10/9c, MGM+): In the season finale of the dark Arthurian drama, warrior Arthur (Iain De Caestecker) unsheathes his mighty sword Excalibur to rescue warlord Derfel (Stuart Campbell) and druidess Nimue (Ellie James) from the Isle of the Dead. Guilt-ridden over a deal with the Saxons, Arthur vows to fight to save Britain.