CMA Awards, ‘Morning Show’ Finale, ‘Buccaneers,’ Santa vs. Santa

Special

8/7c

Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning host “country music’s biggest night” from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, with highlights including a tribute to the late Jimmy Buffett featuring close friends Kenny Chesney and Mac McAnally of the Coral Reefer Band with Alan Jackson and Zac Brown Band. Recently inducted Country Music Hall of Famer Tanya Tucker delivers her signature song “Delta Dawn” with Little Big Town. Bryan is one of many on a performance roster including Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Old Dominion, Carly Pearce, Chris Stapleton, Lainey Wilson, Post Malone, Dan + Shay, Ashley McBryde, Morgan Wallen and more. And yes, there will even be awards handed out throughout the tuneful night.

Season Finale

The blistering third season of the media melodrama ends with a flurry of twists, as enemies become allies and more careers and fortunes blow up amid the pending yet possibly imperiled sale of the UBA Network to Hyperion. With whistleblowing, deal-making and back-stabbing continuing to the 11^th hour, we leave you with these words from embattled CEO Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup), channeling the classic Network as he observes, “A little Howard Beale goes a long way.” See you next season. Wouldn’t miss it.

Series Premiere

Obviously desiring its own Bridgerton-style hit, Apple’s streamer transforms Edith Wharton’s unfinished final novel into Gossip Girl with corsets, set in the 1870s but with a contemporary tone and a very current and noisy female-driven music soundtrack. A gaggle of entitled, “new money” American debutantes just wants to have fun as they head to England to see if they can land a nobleman or two. Nan (Kristine Frøseth) would rather be seen as a human being and less like cattle, so it’s her good luck when her path crosses that of a brooding Duke (Guy Remmers) who has no use for the simpering socialites throwing themselves at him. Their meet-cute is not without complications, of course, and her giddy friends will soon learn that fairy-tale weddings often have a dark side. The eight-part series launches with three episodes.

Season Premiere

The holiday spinoff returns for a second season, with Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) still manning Santa’s sleigh, but now with designs on turning this vocation into a family business, pegging his son Cal (Austin Kane) as the next-gen Santa Claus. But first, they’ll have to fend off a threat from Magnus Antas, also known as “Mad Santa” (Modern Family’s Eric Stonestreet), who has recently been thawed from the frozen nutcracker prison that kept him on ice since 1307 A.D. “Revenge will be swift—and sweet (I am Santa, after all),” growls the Mad Santa as he plots to oust the Calvins, setting up an epic battle in the North Pole. The season opens with two episodes.

Documentary Premiere

9/8c

“Why on Earth would I go back?” wonders filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo as she does exactly that in a personal documentary with more than a touch of John Hughes in its DNA. Staging dramatic recreations that she describes as “an emotional exorcism,” Aldarondo uses young actors to play the crushes and tormentors from her high-school years while also tracking down old friends and frenemies from her past. She’s hoping for catharsis in an elaborate experiment in self-acceptance.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• Survivor (8/7c, CBS): A double elimination awaits at Tribal Council after the first individual immunity challenge. Followed by The Amazing Race (9:30/8:30c), where teams head to Germany for their first self-drive leg before being asked to cut the mustard in a taste test.
• Ultimate Cowboy Showdown (8/7c, INSP): Country icon and host Trace Adkins helps choose a winner after the final three cowboys lock horns in a grueling competition herding cattle. The grand prize includes a $50,000 herd of cattle, portable corral and coveted belt buckle.
• GOP Debate (8 pm/ET, NBC): And then there were five—not counting the front-runner, who once again is skipping the event. NBC’s Lester Holt and Kristen Welker are moderators with radio host Hugh Hewitt from Miami, with participants including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
• Fixer Upper: The Hotel (9/8c, Magnolia Network): Chip and Joanna Gaines take on one of their most daunting projects in a six-episode series following their efforts to restore a 100-year-old building near their flagship Magnolia Market into the boutique 33-room Hotel 1928.
• Feds (10/9c, Investigation Discovery): From true-crime fan and producer Octavia Spencer comes an in-depth look at high-profile FBI cases featuring interviews with FBI agents, informants, undercover operatives and victims. The opener recounts a couple’s kidnapping that leads to a harrowing car chase.
• Escaping Twin Flames (streaming on Netflix): A three-part docuseries, tackling material previously seen in a Prime Video true-crime series last month, explores the manipulative practices of the cult-like Twin Flames Universe, targeting people looking for love on the Internet.