Super Bowl LIX, Puppy and Rescue Bowls, ‘Creatures’ Comfort, Gloria Gaynor’s Survival Story
The Kansas City Chiefs aim for a three-peat against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX from New Orleans, the year’s biggest TV event. Multiple networks simulcast this year’s Puppy Bowl, advocating for pet adoption, while Great American Family presents its Rescue Bowl. More animal stories warm the heart on All Creatures Great and Small. Tony winner Joaquina Kalukango portrays disco diva Gloria Gaynor in a Lifetime biopic.
Super Bowl
Special
SUNDAY: Whether it’s the game, or the music (Kendrick Lamar at halftime, Jon Batiste with the National Anthem), or the avalanche of high-priced ads that draws you in, pro football’s main event is a ratings blockbuster. A rematch between 2023’s finalists, the Philadelphia Eagles and the looking-for-a-historic-threepeat Kansas City Chiefs, this year’s game in New Orleans features Tom Brady, the record-setting seven-time Super Bowl champ, in the broadcast booth as lead analyst alongside play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt, with Tom Rinaldi and Erin Andrews on the sidelines.
Puppy Bowl
Special
SUNDAY: The tussling may be less dramatic, but they’re a heck of a lot cuter, on the annual competition that serves as a platform to advocate for pet adoption. Among the celebrity participants: Dan Smyers from country duo Dan + Shay, bringing a rescue puppy from Wags & Walks Nashville to one of his concerts; and Chiefs defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi and girlfriend Nani, who visit the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City to visit pit bull mix Parsnip, who’s competing in the good-natured Bowl.
Great American Rescue Bowl
Special
SUNDAY: What once was the Kitten Bowl has evolved into a romper room for kittens, dogs, and puppies, spotlighting the importance of shelter pet adoption. GAF teams with North Shore Animal League, the nation’s largest no-kill shelter, for a two-hour special hosted by animal activist Beth Stern with stories of animals rescued from natural disasters including the California wildfires, and the successful adoption of three of Animal League America’s most elderly felines, a reminder that you’re never too old—and neither are the pets—to make a home with each other.
All Creatures Great and Small
SUNDAY: One of Sunday’s very few non-sports options is a new episode of a show any Puppy/Rescue Bowl enthusiast would love. It’s a pivotal hour for the occupants of the veterinary Skeldale House, when young vet trainee Richard Carmody (James Anthony-Rose) gets his final exam results, and with them, an exciting opportunity—but one that would take him away from the warmth and comfort of his newly found family. The awkward Carmody is also distracted by his crush on farm worker Doris (Caroline Menton), while his boss Siegfried (Samuel West) is intrigued by the worldly Miss Grantley (Juliet Aubrey), whose goats have a mysterious malady.
I Will Survive: The Gloria Gaynor Story
Movie Premiere
SATURDAY:Her survival song was an iconic disco anthem in the 1970s, but surviving a turbulent marriage to her manager Linwood Simon (Lance Gross) may have been Gloria Gaynor’s greatest triumph. Bravura belter and Tony winner Joaquina Kalukango stars as Gaynor in the biopic executive-produced by Robin Roberts, with rousing renditions of hits including the title song, “Never Can Say Goodbye” and “I Am What I Am.”
INSIDE WEEKEND TV:
- 26th Annual Super Bowl Soulful Celebration (Saturday, 8/7c, Fox): In a lead-up to the big game, an inspirational concert from New Orleans’ Mahalia Jackson Theater of Performing Arts celebrates Big Easy and gospel traditions with performances from The Isley Brothers, Yolanda Adams, Tori Kelly, Master P, Big Freedia, Trombone Shorty, the NFL Players Choir and more. Michael Strahan receives the Lifetime of Inspiration Award, with New Orleans Saints player Cameron Jordan honored with the Community Award and Los Angeles Rams player Jared Verse the Rising Star Award.
- Sisterhood, Inc. (Saturday, 8/7c, Hallmark Channel): Rachael Leigh Cook is Megan, a corporate exec who decides to run her carefree sister Izzy’s (Daniella Monet) personal life like a business, but then she meets a dashing psych professor (Leonidas Gulaptis) who throws her own plans into disarray.
- Incredible Northern Vets (Saturday, 10/9c, National Geographic WILD): All creatures great and wild are fair game for the three indigenous vets working at clinics across three provinces in a new docu-reality series.
- 48 Hours (Saturday, 10/9c, CBS): Peter Van Sant reports on the 1996 murder of 15-year-old Danielle “Danni” Houchins in Montana, where she was found face down in a swamp, the victim of foul play.
- Yellowstone to Yosemite with Kevin Costner (Saturday, streaming on Fox Nation): The Yellowstone star hosts and executive produces a three-part docuseries tracing the 1903 Yosemite expedition of Teddy Roosevelt and environmentalist John Muir, which led to the establishment of the National Park system.
- Miss Scarlet (Sunday, 8/7c, PBS): “There is no ‘we,’ Miss Scarlet,” insists gruff Detective Inspector Blake (Tom Durant-Pritchard), dismissing the ambitious and pioneering female private investigator (Kate Phillips) during their latest case, involving the murder of a popular operetta composer. But when Blake’s admiring young daughter Sophia (Ruby Siddle) asks her father whether Miss Scarlet is for real, he has to admit she is.
- The Floor (Sunday, approximately 10:30 pm/ET, Fox): A third season of the game show, hosted by Rob Lowe and played on a grid of lit-up squares, returns as the post-Super Bowl attraction.
Conversation10 Comments
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I know most people will be watching the football game, but since the game will turn out the same whether I watch or not, I might as well not put myself through it. Therefore I'll be sticking with my normal schedule of watching PBS for most of Sunday evening: Miss Scarlet and then All Creatures Great and Small.
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You must be on the East coast. I can watch the game plus still see Miss Scarlet, etc.
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I don't know where to ask this question but . . Why did the Today Show air so many Superbowl commercials? I look forward to being surprised on the big day. But the Today Show kept showing them?? That was not cool!
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A lot of people either don't watch the Super Bowl, or don't catch all the commercials. So networks and news/talk shows sometimes air some of them ahead of time. By next week we'll all be tired of them. 😄
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About that Super Bowl: So which Famous Person in attendance will get more camera time-Taylor Swift or President Trump?
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I know who I'm hoping will get more camera time. 😉 Actually, I bet Mr Trump won't be there for the entire game. He can't sit still that long.
(I 'called it' last week... I told a co-worker last Thursday that I thought Trump would end up going to the game. Sure enough, on Tuesday of this week came the announcement.... he just can't resist a big crowd amassing without him.)
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Before next week's "SNL" 50th anniversary celebration, I thought I'd put another tidbit about the show many of you reading this may not know about it: After The First Five Years, producer/creator Lorne Michaels left along with most of the writing staff and the remaining original cast (Chevy Chase, John Belushi, and Dan Aykroyd having previously departed.). The reason may have to do with Fred Silverman who was trying to do to NBC what he beforehand did to CBS and ABC-make it No. 1 or at the very least, take it out of the distant third it had been in. Unfortunately, things didn't go better for Fred so much so that Belushi parodied him in many sketches. Al Franken, a writer who also commented on "Weekend Update", perhaps made things worse with his "Limo for a Lamo" commentary in which he declares that while he deserves one for being on a successful show, Silverman didn't because there were no NBC shows in the Top Ten! Fred took that as Lorne dissing him and refused to extend his contract and the others, citing loyalty, decided to bail out as well. Jean Doumanian, who was the show's associate producer, replaced Michaels and made things worse with her newly picked writers and cast though at least two of the latter managed to break through: Joe Piscopo and a 19-year-old named Eddie Murphy. It was only after another cast member-Charles Rocket-said a bad word live that Jean got the axe, along with most of the other cast other than Joe and Eddie, and Dick Ebersol replaced her.
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Continuing from before, Dick had previously developed the show with Lorne as a network executive and therefore could rehire some of the previous writers. Hiring some Second City veterans, two of whom-Mary Gross and Tim Kazurinsky-were Belushi recommendations, the show went on for a few years until Murphy and Piscopo left after which Billy Crystal and Martin Short provided some highlights during their one season. Those two and Dick left after, the latter because of wanting to start a family with Susan Saint James and also was busy producing "Friday Night Videos" and "Saturday Night's Main Event" which aired in the "SNL" slot when it wasn't live. So with that, Brandon Tartikoff, Silverman's replacement, chose to go back to Lorne Michaels who was ready to come back after suffering some failures like the short-lived prime time show "The New Show". Next week, I'll comment how Lorne has fared from 1985 to the present. "The More You Know"!
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They will never duplicate the first 5 seasons in my humble opinion
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Go Chiefs!
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