Best-bets for Jan. 9: Pro play-offs begin

1) Football, all day. The new playoff plan has tripleheaders today and Sunday. The six winners – plus the Chiefs and Packers, who have byes – return next weekend, two steps from the Super Bowl. Today has the Bills and Colts at 1:05 p.m. ET on CBS and the Rams and Seahawks at 4:40 p.m. on Fox. At 8:15, NBC has Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay (shown here) facing Washington, the only play-off team with a losing record. Read more…

1) Football, all day. The new playoff plan has tripleheaders today and Sunday. The six winners – plus the Chiefs and Packers, who have byes – return next weekend, two steps from the Super Bowl. Today has the Bills and Colts at 1:05 p.m. ET on CBS and the Rams and Seahawks at 4:40 p.m. on Fox. At 8:15, NBC has Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay (shown here) facing Washington, the only play-off team with a losing record.

2) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m. or later (with football overrun), NBC. Tentatively scheduled is a rerun of the episode that aired on the day that a winner was finally declared in the presidential election. Dave Chappelle hosted, with the Foo Fighters as music guests.

3) “The King of Staten Island” (2020), 8-10:20 p.m., HBO. Speaking of “SNL,” many of its best moments come from Pete Davidson. Now here’s the movie he co-wrote and starred in, based loosely on his own life – including the death of his father (a firefighter) during the Sept. 11 attack and his own subsequent mental illness. Judd Apatow directed, as he did for Amy Schumer’s “Train Wreck.”

4) More movies. It’s a strong film night, starting early – with “Justice League” (2017) from 5:30-8 p.m. on TNT and “The Martian” (2015) from 6-9 p.m. on FX. At 8 p.m. is “Wonder Woman” (2017) on TNT, plus “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (1975) on Sundance – with “Life of Brian” at 10 p.m., repeating both at midnight and 2 a.m. Also, at 8 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies has “North by Norfthwest” (1959); at 8:07, Starz has “Chicago” (2002), the vibrant, Oscar-winning musical.

5) “Hell’s Kitchen,” 8 p.m., Fox. In a quick rerun of Thursday’s season-opener, Gordon Ramsay greets his 16 chef contestants in Las Vegas. That’s followed at 9 by a rerun of Wednesday’s “Masked Dancer.”

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