Daily Best Bets

1) Olympics opening ceremony, 6:30 a.m. ET, NBC, USA, Peacock, Olympic Channel. Then 8 p.m. and 12:38 a.m., NBC. As the first city to host both the summer and winter Olympics, Beijing tries to match its previous success – on a smaller scale. In the summer of 2008, its spectacular ceremony (shown here) had 15,000 performers and a reported $100-million budget. Now it’s in the same building, with the same director; about 3,000 performers are expected. Read more…

1) Olympic competition begins, 8 p.m. to midnight and 12:35-2 a.m., NBC. Figure-skating is starting early, because of double duty: Skaters compete for the team championship first, then will start over in the push for individual medals. Tonight’s skating has rhythm dance, plus the short programs for men (Nathan Chen, shown here, as an American skater with three world championships) in prime time and pairs after midnight. That will be shown live, but prime time will also have taped coverage of alpine skiing, with the men’s and women’s moguls. Read more…

1) “Celebrity Big Brother” debut, 8 p.m., CBS. Well, semi-celebrities, anyway. The line-up includes Khloe Kardashian’s ex-husband (Lamar Odom), Travis Barker’s ex-wife (Shanna Moakler), Justin Timberlake’s ex-bandmate (Chris Kirkpatrick), John Mellencamp’s daughter (Teddi, shown heere) and Gary Coleman’s TV brother (Todd Bridges). Joined by former champs (fighter Miesha Tate, skater Mirai Nagasu) and others, their show will continue most days, through Feb. 23. Read more…

1) “The Resident” return, 8 p.m., Fox. After a seven-week break, here’s a big hour, complete with three potent stories. Two had started previously – Dr. Bell’s secret ailment and Dr. Austin’s mother’s cancer. Now a third has a personal link for Conrad. There’s more — Devon’s clinical trial, a new doctor (shown here with Conrad) with an elusive past – in a packed hour. Despite a few excesses, it’s well-crafted and moving. Read more…

1) “Help,” any time, www.acorn.tv. Here is one of the finest performances you’ll ever see … if you decide to see it. “Help” is a rugged ride, battering the characters and the viewers. But it also has work that’s amazing in its subtlety and depth. Jodie Comer, 28, plays Sarah, trying to steady a teetering life by working in a nursing home; Stephen Graham, 48, plays Tony, with early-onset Alzheimer’s. (They’re shown here.) It’s late in 2019 and worlds are about to implode in deeply moving ways. Read more…

1) Football, 3 p.m. ET, CBS, and 6:30, Fox. Now we’ll learn who will be in the Super Bowl. First is a battle of young quarterbacks: The Chiefs (14-5) and Patrick Mahomes, 26, already have one Super Bowl win; they face Joe Burrow, 25, and the Bengals, hoping to continue their two-year leap from 2-14 to 12-7. Then the veterans take over. Jimmy Garoppolo, 30, and the 49ers (12-7), face the Rams (14-5) and Matthew Stafford (shown here), 33, who had never won a play-off game until this year. Read more…

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. For the next three weekends, the Olympic will gobble up NBC. So we might as well savor tonight, wrapping up a string of three new “SNL” episodes. The host, Willem Dafoe, has rarely been thought of as a funny guy; he’s 66 and had never done the show until last week’s brief visit. The starpower comes from Katy Perry (shown here), with her fourth turn as music guest. Perry, who also hosted once, has a new “American Idol” season starting Feb. 27. Read more…

1) ”Janet Jackson,” 8-10 p.m., Lifetime and A&E; concludes Saturday. Merely with her music career, Jackson (shown here) would merit a documentary. She’s sold 160 million records; in the U.S., she’s had seven No. 1 albums and 10 No. 1 singles; among women, only Madonna and Mariah Carey have more. She’s also an actress (with an Oscar nomination) and has had a complicated life. She discusses the deaths of Michael and her dad, plus the Super Bowl controversy, three marriages, giving birth at 50 and more. Read more…

1) “B Positive,” 9 and 9:30 p.m., CBS. The good news is that we get two episodes of this always-appealing show; the bad is that its future is unclear. “B Positive” will be bumped by a “Celebrity Big Brother” hour next week and by a new comedy (“How We Roll”) on March 31; the rest is pending. The first season introduced the delightful Annaleigh Ashford as Gina, who gave a kidney to a guy she barely knew. In the second, she inherited millions and bought a retirement home; she’s shown here with Linda Lavin, who plays one of the residents. Read more…

1) “Resident Alien” season-opener, 9 p.m., Syfy. This wonderfully weird show mixes solid drama, zesty sci-fi and an abundance of humor. An alien killed Dr. Harry, took over his body and prepared to kill all humans. There were technical woes and he tried to return home, but Max (shown here with him) stowed away and they crashed. Now “Harry” has a concussion and starts babbling the truth – which, of course, everyone ignores. He also think he’s a TV cop. The few humans who know his secret try to help him, with amusing results. Read more…