Farm Aid tradition continues
Willie Nelson will host Farm Aid 2018 (7 p.m. today, AXS TV), live from Hartford, Connecticut, featuring performances by Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, Kacey Musgraves and more.
This marks the fifth year Farm Aid has been broadcast on AXS TV, a destination for live concerts and music documentaries.
Farm Aid began in 1985, inspired by the massive Live Aid concert and organized by Nelson, Mellencamp and Young as a way to save family farms facing crippling mortgage debt. Many music styles (and careers) have come and gone in the last generation, but the trio behind this charity event has stuck together.
LIFETIME REVIVAL
A mom’s (Shannen Doherty) joy turns to ashes when her daughter’s dream boyfriend turns out to be a nightmare in the 2018 shocker “No One Would Tell” (8 p.m. today, Lifetime, TV-14), a remake of a Lifetime movie classic from 1996. This is billed as a “Special Edition” of the film.
OSCAR’S BEST
A mutant secret awakens something in a mute lab assistant in the 2017 fantasy “The Shape of Water” (8 p.m. today, HBO), winner of Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards.
SEARCH FOR BIGFOOT
Worries about Rupert Murdoch’s company buying National Geographic may resurface with three hours of “Bigfoot: The New Evidence” (8, 9 and 10 p.m. today, National Geographic Channel, TV-PG, repeat).
LIFE’S SUBCULTURES
“This Is Life With Lisa Ling” (10 p.m. Sunday, CNN) enters its fifth season. The eight-part investigative series takes deeper, hourlong looks at newsworthy topics. This year, “Life” will examine some of the myths and preconceptions behind gender fluidity, visit with children whose parents are mass murderers, explore the impact of social media and technology on people with mental illness, go inside the world of crystal meth dealers and users, and descend into a subculture of people so obsessed with animals that they call themselves “furries.”
Her first segment spotlights the violent MS-13 street gang, a subject of both genuine concern and demagogic fear-mongering.
POLICE PROCEDURAL
A week of network debuts begins with the second-season opener of “9-1-1” (8 p.m. Sunday, Fox, TV-14). This police procedural nail-biter has one major distinction — it’s from Ryan Murphy’s production company. Don’t expect it to have the gothic touches of “American Horror Story” or the topicality of “American Crime Story,” but it does keep viewers on the edge of their seats. Look for Angela Bassett, a regular from the “American Horror Story” ensemble company.
NUCLEAR CLIFFHANGER
CBS repeats the fourth season ender for “Madam Secretary” (10 p.m., Sunday, repeat, TV-14). As cliffhangers go, this one packed a nuclear punch, as President Dalton (Keith Carradine) considered a retaliatory missile strike.
“Madam” was one of the few CBS dramas in the just-ended Leslie Moonves era to depart from familiar procedural cop/lawyer/ doctor franchises and feature a strong and opinionated female lead (Tea Leoni) of a certain age not entirely defined by her gorgeousness.
“Madam” was clearly created to appeal to fans of a particular former secretary of state. In an upcoming season five episode, three former secretaries — Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton — will appear as themselves and offer advice to Leoni’s character, Elizabeth McCord.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
› College football action includes Florida at Tennessee (7 p.m., ESPN), Stanford at Oregon (8 p.m., ABC) and Wisconsin at Iowa (8:30 p.m., Fox).
› On two helpings of “My Cat From Hell” (Animal Planet, TV-PG), a therapy pet increases tension (8 p.m.), a cat becomes a bully (9 p.m.).
› Winter gives way to spring on “Planet Earth: Yellowstone” (9 p.m., BBC America, TV-G).
› Two strangers develop a knead for each other when they inherit an antique bakery in the 2018 confection “Truly, Madly, Sweetly” (9 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
› Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (7 p.m., CBS): Questioning Google’s size and influence; a profile of wildlife photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen.
› The 2017 television movie “Anne of Green Gables: Fire and Dew” (7:30 p.m., PBS, TV-G) continues the orphan’s coming-of-age saga set on Canada’s Prince Edward Island. Fans of the beloved books should also sample Netflix’s “Anne With an E,” now in its second season.