What’s On: ’60 Minutes’ and ‘Carol Burnett’ Retrospectives, Streaming Across the World, ‘Curb’ Finale
A critical checklist of notable weekend TV:
Fifty Years of 60 Minutes (Sunday, 7/8c, CBS): Still the gold standard of TV newsmagazines, 60 Minutes looks back at its most memorable moments with world leaders and celebrities, con artists who deserve to be ambushed, exotic beasts in remote locales, whatever it takes to make a great story that adheres to the rules set five decades ago by Don Hewitt: “Keep it timely, keep it relevant and never be dull.” Though the disgraced Charlie Rose is nowhere in evidence, the special retrospective honors the distinguished correspondents, past and present, who burnished the show’s reputation with their reporting, including the late Mike Wallace. Morley Safer, Bob Simon, Ed Bradley, Andy Rooney, Harry Reasoner and more. The only flaw: It should have been at least 120 minutes.
The Carol Burnett 50th Anniversary Special (Sunday, 9/8c, CBS): Two hours may not be enough to contain all the fond memories fans have of what may be the greatest comedy-variety series ever. The legendary Carol Burnett returns to her original soundstage at CBS Television City, with co-stars Vicki Lawrence and Lyle Waggoner, to celebrate the greatest sketches from the beloved series’ 11 seasons. Famous fans paying tribute include Jim Carrey, Kristin Chenoweth, Stephen Colbert, Jane Lynch, Martin Short, Harry Connick Jr. (who joins Carol in singing the theme song) and frequent guest Bernadette Peters. Those of us who were there on Saturday nights were so glad we had that time together in the 1960s and ’70s, and we’re bound to feel the same about Sunday’s special.
Curb Your Enthusiasm (Sunday, 10/9c): Expanding to 50 minutes to close out the season—and who knows when or if the mood will strike Larry David to return—Larry clashes with work associates and ungrateful houseguests in a finale episode titled “Fatwa!” Does that mean the show goes on? Or is he still in danger from the disgruntled ayatollah? It probably won’t end well, in any case.
Also wrapping for the year: Epix spy drama Berlin Station (Sunday, 9/8c), which ends its second season with the Station investigating the recent assassination while a protest grows outside the U.S. Embassy.
Doctor Who?: Before she becomes the first female Doctor in Doctor Who history, check out Broadchurch star Jodie Whittaker in a twisty British thriller in which she plays a very different sort of doctor. In the four-part Trust Me (streaming Friday on Hulu), she plays a dedicated nurse who is fired for whistleblowing and relocates to a small rural hospital in Edinburgh, where she assumes a friend’s identity as an Emergency doctor. She’s almost immediately over her head in this deceit, and you almost can’t help rooting for her, despite the high and crazy stakes of her subterfuge.
Wide World of TV: Trust Me is one of an unusual number of international series launching on Hulu and other platforms this weekend. Other Hulu titles available Friday include Midnight Sun, a moody Swedish-French crime drama, and the eight-part Danish thriller Below the Surface, set over eight days of a hostage crisis on an underground subway train.
Netflix’s first original German series, Dark (Friday), plays with time in an ominous scenario involving the disappearance of two young children that harks back to 30-year-old mysteries. There’s a Twin Peaks feel to this creepy series, although unlike Showtime’s reboot, you might actually care about the characters here.
Imported from HBO’s European arm, and airing in its entirety Saturday (starting at 1 pm/12c) on HBO Signature, though available Friday on HBO’s apps and On Demand, is the Czech Republic drama Wasteland, as gloomy as it sounds as it tracks yet another disappearance of a young girl. The missing teen is the daughter of a village mayor who’s taking an unpopular stand against a mining company. In any language, it sounds like a conspiracy is brewing.
Andi Mack (Friday, 8/7c, Disney Channel): The acclaimed teen dramedy delivers an object lesson in bias and diversity when Jefferson Middle School divides Andi’s (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) classmates into two groups in a “social justice experiment” where one group is severely disadvantaged. Adding to Andi’s angst: discovering that the family home is being sold.
The Exorcist (Friday, 9/8c, Fox): Nearing the end of its second season, the horror series pulls no punches in the exorcism of Andy (John Cho), when the priests enlist one of Andy’s foster kids to reach out to the possessed soul. Mayhem, naturally, ensues, against a very rainy backdrop. Flashbacks provide disturbing insight into the relationship of Mouse (Zuleikha Robinson) with former Father Marcus (Ben Daniels) as their reunion beckons.
Christmas Movies Galore: If you haven’t put up or trimmed your tree yet, a new wave of holiday movies would make excellent saccharine backdrop. Among the many choices: Hallmark’s Christmas in Evergreen (Saturday, 8/7c), set in magical small-town Vermont, and Christmas at Holly Lodge (Sunday, 8/7c), in which an innkeeper (Alison Sweeney) clashes with a developer (Jordan Bridges), but you can guess how that ends; plus two on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries: Christmas in Angel Falls (Saturday, 9/8c), in which an angel (Rachel Boston) helps yet another bucolic berg recapture its yuletide spirit; and Magical Christmas Ornaments (Sunday, 9/8c), in which the charmed trinkets help a book editor realize her romantic dreams. They’d better!
Lifetime weighs in with Four Christmases and a Wedding (Saturday, 8/7c), which pretty much writes itself. And in the timely My Christmas Prince (Sunday, 8/7c) an event planner discovers her European beau is actually a prince in line for the throne. Calling Meghan Markle!
Elsewhere, UP presents 12 Days of Giving (Sunday, 7/6c), in which a man wins a small fortune and decides to become a small town’s secret Santa. And TV One’s Miss Me This Christmas (Sunday, 7/6c) is a romantic Christmas comedy about a couple on the verge of divorce until … you figure it out.
Late Night Comedy: Don’t look for Russell Simmons’ name when HBO launches the stand-up series All Def Comedy (Friday, 10/9c). The network is scrubbing his name and severing ties with the producer, the latest high-profile figure to be accused of sexual misconduct. … All systems go for HBO’s stand-up special Michelle Wolf: Nice Lady (Saturday, 9/8c), in which the rising star (The Daily Show With Trevor Noah and veteran of Late Night With Seth Meyers) sounds off on feminism and other topical topics. … Saturday Night Live begins its run of December originals with Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird) making her hosting debut, and U2 returning for its fourth tour as musical guest.
Killer TV: Charles Manson may be dead, but his notoriety lives on. History’s two-night Manson Speaks: Inside the Mind of a Madman (Sunday, 9/8c; concludes Monday) unearths 26 hours of never-broadcast audio recordings that retired L.A. detective Cliff Shepard believes may shed light on other crimes not previously connected to Manson and his twisted “family.”
Scandal‘s Guillermo Diaz, who plays resident psychopath Huck, is Investigation Discovery’s Dating Game Killer (Sunday, 8/7c), playing serial killer Rodney Alcala, who was charming enough to get cast on The Dating Game in 1978 but who in real life may have lured as many as 130 women and children to their death. Emmy winner Carrie Preston co-stars as a mother seeking justice for her murdered daughter, and Prison Break‘s Robert Knepper and Valor‘s Matt Barr as detectives on the hunt to take Alcala down.
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CBS for me tonight. Saturday is sort of a wasteland, so I'll find some repeats to watch. And I might watch the 60 MInutes and Carol Burnett specials on Sunday too. (I agree w/ DonMI... I hope it's more interesting than an infomercial.)
Any Supernatural fans in the house? **SPOILER for last night's episode.** I can't believe Sam/Dean let the you-know-what get destroyed by fire. They're not usually so slow on the uptake, and when one of them did act, all he did was blow on the burning item. Really? Everyone over the age of seven knows you don't blow on something like that to put a fire out. He should have used his boot.
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Yeah, I'm right there with you on the Winchesters' surprising idiocy. They can be ridiculously dense about consequences at times (and ridiculously immune from them, which the show has hung a lampshade on in the past) but this was just dumb. Honestly, I figured that the paper was in such obvious jeopardy it'd turn out to be fine because the fire was magically linked to the bones being burnt and would thus only harm the body connected to said bones.
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Thank goodness for MeTV! On Saturday, I have the following to look forward to watching (again): The Magnificent Seven, Rawhide, Have Gun Will Travel, Wagon Train. On Sunday, is the Outer Limits and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
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I didn't know you were a big fan of cowboy shows. Yee-haw!
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Oh, yes. I started watching TV in the 1950's, when there were Westerns galore on. Plus, I lived in South Dakota at the time. Love reading western novels, and watching movie and tv westerns.
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C
The fifth season TWO hour premiere of Agents of Shield airs tonight. Love this series. And Blue Bloods is new tonight. I stopped watching Hawaii 50 when Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park left the series (they were the characters I liked best).
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I stopped watching even before that — Peak TV — but I'm way less interested in ever trying to pick it up again given how they left. SHIELD is my big watch tonight.
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AoS was like a movie! Very cinematic. By far the most impressive premiere I watched in recent memory.
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Great 2-hour premiere of AoS, do you agree. I couldn't watch anything else after that . My mind is still baffled.
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I definitely wasn't expecting that. (Although the characters seemed to be a little late to the game on picking up "where" they were; then again they're living their lives and not watching the show.) I'm somewhat disappointed in how much it feels like, as one of my best friends put it, SHIELD becoming a murky SyFy show, but I'll certainly hang around.
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I watched the 17 minute sneak preview and saw lots of promos so I wasn't shocked about the premise. Although I feel the characters picked up the "where" quickly enough but not the "when". Yes it is a dark and murky arc, but there is quite a bit of humor added in for good measure. Many scenes felt cinematic in scope on my 60 inch screen. Can't wait for ep 3!
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Well, I put the "where" in quotation marks to be coy in case anyone reading didn't know that it was a question of when more than where. I wasn't aware of any 17-minute sneak preview but I mostly try to avoid written spoilers (at least close to airtime). The SyFy reference I think is more to generically dystopian grungy space/future milieu with largely unknown cast rather than any morally or even cinematically dark stuff per se.
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Same as last week for me...Z Nation, Dirk Gently, and Walking Dead. Might take a look at the Carol Burnett special, but if it starts looking like all the infomercials for DVDs of the show, I'll be tuning out.
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Super busy weekend. First, will be the 2 hour Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D season 5 movie premiere on ABC. I feel it warranted at least a quick mention.
Later in the evening or sometime this weekend, FOX's Exorcist and Carol Burnett on CBS Sunday. And like usual some movies.
Have a great weekend everybody!!
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Thank you ! Enjoy Exorcist. Yes ratings are terrible even for low expectation Friday. And the production doesn't look cheap at all.
So unlikely to be renewed . But perhaps FOX can shift it to FX. Might be a better fit on cable along with American Horror. I did watch the first season of Stranger Things last season. It was reminiscent of some 80's movies like Stand By Me and Goonies. I really wasn't scared by it and not all that impressed like others in my family. But when I do have time I'll check out season 2, hopefully its scarier. No interested in the drama parts.
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It's not supposed to be that scary, it is much more of a fun and very well produced adventure /fantasy romp. The 2nd season have a much more thrilling vibe to it. The scenes with Will is very reminiscing of "The Exorcist" and that is scary., also there are a particular scene that recalls "The Walking Dead". I think this season is better than the first. The actors are superb.
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