1) Football. The12-team college playoffs begin, with Oklahoma (shown here) and Alabama colliding at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Three more games are Saturday, with the four winners going on to play the top-ranked teams. Meanwhile, other bowl games continue on ESPN; today’s are 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. ET. Read more…
1) “Elsbeth,” 10 p.m., CBS. Lots of ballerinas started in the “Nutcracker” story that begins with a kids’ Christmas party. Now an avante-garde director decides to do the show without children. This leads to distress, to murder and (shown here) to Elsbeth donning a tutu. Read more…
(NOTE: President Trump plans to give a talk at 9 p.m. ET tonight. The shows listed here were scheduled prior to this; for an overview of changes and options, see the story at “News and Quick Comments.”)
1) “Survivor” finale, 8-11 p.m., CBS. After last week’s scrambling (shown here), five survivors remain. There’s Rizo Velovic, 25, in tech sales; Sophie Balardi, 27, entrepreneur; Sage Ahrens-Nichols, 30, clinical social worker; Savannah Louie, 31, former reporter; and Kristina Mills, 36, career counselor. Tonight, one will become the 49th million-dollar winner. Read more…
1) “The Nutcracker,” 8-9:30 p.m., PBS. This lush English National Ballet production (shown here) does everything right –gorgeous sets, costumes and stagecraft, backing 100-plus dancers, all of them deeply talented. The “Nutcracker” structure leaves the first 15 minutes fairly flat; then the magic begins. Read more…
1) “Tabernacle Choir: Hope For the Season,” 8 p.m., PBS, rerunning at 9:30. Here is epic-scale music at its best. There are great moments from soprano Ruthie Ann Miles (shown here) and narrator Dennis Haysbert. But the peak comes when the 360-voice choir goes directly from two “Alleluia” pieces (by Bach and Ginastera) to Handel’s thundering “Hallelujah” chorus. Read more…
1) “Avatar: The Way of Water” (2022), 7-11 p.m., ABC. Five days before the third “Avatar” film opens, here’s the second (shown here) — a $2.3-billion hit worldwide. Producer-director James Cameron continues the mystical world he created in 2009, now adding Kate Winslet, his former “Titanic” star. Read more…
1) “Taylor,” 8-10 p.m., CW. At a New Jersey park, a girl saw 12-year-old Taylor Swift, confidently singing original songs to a few people. She soon was a Swift fan, playing her songs constantly during tough times. Such early glimpses are the best parts of this biography. We see the current stardom (shown here) and commotions, but we also see a young star-to-be and her fans. Read more…
1) “American Masters,” 9 p.m., PBS. Here’s a joyous journey through Dick Van Dyke’s life. He turns 100 Saturday, so there’s a lot to cover. We see his elastic face and body in a nightclub act. His TV shows floundered until the brilliant “Dick Van Dyke Show” (shown here). Then came “Mary Poppins” and some serious turns, reflecting his struggle with alcoholism. Read more…
1) “Frozen” (2013) and “Frozen II (2019),” 6 and 8:25 p.m., Freeform. These animated gems (SHOWN HERE) lead an extraordinary night of movies. It ranges from the 1946 Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” (8 p.m., USA) to the 2025 terror of “Sinners” (6:40 p.m., HBO). Also at 8, MGM+ has “Big” (1989) and Showtime has “The Godfather” (1972). Read more…
1) “The Amazing Race” finale, 9:30-11 p.m., CBS. This started with 13 duos, each with a “Big Brother” alumnus. Now two are definitely still in — Jag Bains with his brother Jas and Kyland Young and his girlfriend (also from “Big Brother”) Taylor Hale. As this starts, the final spot will go to Joseph Abdin and his brother Adam or Izzy Gleicher and his fiance, Paige Seber (they’re shown here in an early episode). Read more…
