CMA Awards, ‘Morning Show’ Finale, Streaming Holiday Movies, ‘American Revolution’ Battles On

CMA Awards

Everyone who’s anyone in country music will be celebrating at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, the site for this year’s tuneful ceremony, hosted by Lainey Wilson. Top honors include the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to Country Music Hall of Famer Vince Gill, an 18-time CMA winner who hosted the awards show 12 times. A tribute to Gill leads the musical highlights, including a special performance marking Kenny Chesney‘s induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, with a talent roster including Keith Urban, Kelsea Ballerini, Brandi Carlile, Little Big Town, Miranda Lambert, Luke Combs, Old Dominion, Shaboozey, Chris Stapleton, and many more.

The Morning Show

Forget reporting the news. Once again, the talent at the UBN network has become the news. In the high melodrama of the Season 4 finale, Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) lies in a cell in Belarus, undergoing grueling psychological torture. (Watching this increasingly contrived show this season, I know how she feels.) As most, though not all, at her network work feverishly to secure her freedom, new revelations about the Wolf River cover-up and other scandals lead to a showdown between Alex (Jennifer Aniston) and the devious CEO Celine (Marion Cotillard).

Champagne Problems

The Yule Log: Looking for new Christmas movies? For this day at least, the action is on streaming. Netflix‘s Champagne Problems stars Friday Night Lights‘ Minka Kelly in a bubbly romcom as Sydney, an exec who jets to Paris to acquire a champagne brand for her firm, but on her one night off, who should she fall for but the son of the vineyard’s owner? “It’s Moulin Rouge without the tuberculosis,” quips one observer. In The Roku Channel‘s Merry Little Mystery, American Idol winner Jordin Sparks is Natasha, who inherits her grandfather’s role as a small town’s Secret Santa, but has trouble hiding her identity from a snoopy though charming investigative reporter (Keon Alexander).

The American Revolution

In the fourth night of Ken Burns’ epic documentary, covering January 1777 to February 1778, the colonists are desperate to win over France to fight on their side and help bankroll their rebellion. (An early ally, the Marquis de Lafayette, notes, “To injure England is to serve my country.”) Though Philadelphia falls to the Redcoats, a stunning American victory at Saratoga shifts the tide in their favor.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• Wicked (8/7c, NBC): Maybe you’ve heard the Wicked sequel is hitting theaters this weekend. NBC is doing everything in its power to remind you, including devoting an entire night to the very popular Oscar-winning 2024 blockbuster.
• Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent (8/7c, The CW): The detectives discover a disturbing cycle of abuse when investigating the death of a local hockey team’s captain, who was suspended after a hazing scandal.
• Survivor (8/7, CBS): Two immunity necklaces are on the line during the immunity challenge. Followed by The Amazing Race (9:30/8:30c), where the teams head to Athens after a live double U-Turn.
• Expedition Unknown (9/8c, Discovery): Josh Gates teams with Gold Rush star Parker Schnabel to search for $10 million in lost treasure from an infamous stagecoach robbery in California.
• Southern Charm (9/8c, Bravo): Season 11 of the Charleston reality show introduces former model and pageant queen Charley Manley to the group, with Shep Rose inviting his good friend Whitney Slagsvol to join the gossipy fun.

 ON THE STREAM:

• Murdaugh: Death in the Family (streaming on Hulu): The docudrama ends with the sensational murder trial.
• The Mighty Nein (streaming on Prime Video): An animated fantasy gathers a group of underdogs, including a homeless wizard, an inebriated goblin, a shipwrecked sailor, a cocky ringmaster, and a temperamental monk, to save a magical realm from a weaponized beacon known as “The Beacon.” The impressive voice cast includes Alan Cumming, Mark Strong, Auli’i Cravalho, Anika Noni Rose, Ming-Na Wen, and Tim McGraw.
• Down Cemetery Road (streaming on Apple TV): While Sarah (Ruth Wilson) and Downey (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) learn more about each other’s dark pasts during their search for the missing Dinah, private eye Zoë Boehm (the great Emma Thompson) discovers the ghastly truth behind the government cover-up that puts them all in danger.