1) Winter Olympics. The final week begins, with NBC going live at 10 a.m. ET (instead of noon on other weekdays) and carrying a women’s hockey semi-final at 10:40. The USA Network starts the pairs figure finals — which includes the U.S. duo of Danny O’Shea and Ellie Kam, shown here — at 1:45; at 3:55, NBC takes over and USA catches the other hockey game. And as usual, NBC re-packages it all, from 8-11 p.m. Read more…
1) “The Simpsons,” 8 p.m., Fox. The first episode (back in 1989) included the rescuing of a scraggy greyhound. Now the 800th shows what happened next: Homer overindulges him; Marge transforms him into a sleek champion… and takes him to a national dog show in Philadelphia. The rest is awash in Philly (shown here) and “National Treasure” moments, many of them quite funny. Read more…
1) Valentine’s Day movies, Hallmark Channel. For Hallmark, this is like Super Bowl Sunday. Beginning at 8 am., it reruns romance tales every two hours; four have “Valentine” in the title, all have young love. At 8, “Because of Cupid” (shown here) debuts, adding a supernatural touch. Also, Great American Family has its own love marathon, every two hours starting at 6 a.m. Read more…
1) Figure skating. It’s time for the men’s finals, with strong prospects. Ilia Malinin (shown here), the U.S. “quad god,” has been considered the favorite. Japan’s Yuri Kagiyama, however, topped him in the short program during the team portion and came close during the individuakl short program. That’s 12:45 p.m. ET on the USA Network, then 3-5 on NBC. Read more…
1) “Next Level Chef,” 8 p.m., Fox. In pro football, Jared Veldeer says, he was “a professional fat guy,” 318 pounds. He was a starting offensive lineman for six teams over a decade. Then he trimmed and became a rarity — “a 6-foot-8 lunch lady” at his kids’ school. Now he’s among eight contestants (including a school cop) competing for five spots, in a fun hour. He’s shown here with Gordon Ramsay, a former soccer pro. Read more…
1) “Nova: Mammal Origins,” 9 p.m., PBS. In our minds, we’re descended from the boldest beasts, which ruled the planet. Science, alas, finds that mammals probably evolved from critters (depicted here) who burrowed and hid, while the big guys were vanquished. That’s illustrated here, with terrific special effects. Read more…
1) Winter Olympics. It’s time for the short-program start of men’s figure skating. That begins at 12:30 p.m. ET on USA, with NBC taking over for the top-seeded guys (including U.S. whiz Ilia Malinin and Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, who has b eaten him twice on short programs, including, shown here, Satuirday) from 1:45-5 p.m. NBC also has men’s skiing at noon, women’s luge at 12:45 and cross-country sprint at 1:15. As usual, it re-packages the day from 8-11 p.m Read more…
1) “Independent Lens: The Librarians,” 10 p.m., PBS. Big or (shown here) small, libraries have been quiet refuges. Librarians have been the kindly source of words and wisdom; nNow, however, they’re under attack. Modern book-burners demand the removal of subjects ranging from sexuality to slavery. This compelling film follows several; some lost their jobs, others keep up the quiet fight. Read more…
1) Super Bowl, 6:30 p.m. ET, NBC. The New England Patriots (shown here) have already been to the Super Bowl 11 times (a record), winning six (tied with the Steelers). Now they face the Seattle Seahawks, who have been here three times, winning once. Both were 14-3 in the regular season. Read more…
1) Winter Olympics, NBC. The first full day has mostly-live coverage from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET, then repackages it from 8-11. Figure-skating continues its team event, with men’s short program (1:45 to 3:15) and then the free dance finals — including U.S. leaders Madison Chone and Evan Bates (shown here) from 4-5 p.m.. Also: free-skiing (8 a.m.), speed-skating (10:05), luge (12:45 p.m.) and a snowboarding final (3:15 p.m.). Read more…
