BEST BETS THIS WEEK
MONDAY 8PMon (26) Popstar’s Best of 2017
Actress and TV personality Elizabeth Stanton hosts this new one-hour special, which counts down the greatest and most memorable moments of the calendar year currently drawing to a close, as compiled by the staff of Popstar Magazine based on polls they conducted. The special is produced by Associated Television International.
10 PM on (HBO) Gunpowder
Kit Harington (“Game of Thrones”) is both the star and an executive producer on this three-night historical miniseries (airing through Wednesday) which chronicles a failed 1605 Catholic plot to murder the Protestant King James I of England (Derek Riddell) by blowing up the House of Lords at the opening of Parliament. The conspirators are led by Robert Catesby (Harington, an actual descendant of Catesby).
TUESDAY 8PMon (7) (10) (12)
A Home for the Holidays With Josh Groban
Singer and actor Josh Groban headlines the 19th annual edition of this feel-good Christmas special, which celebrates families whose lives have been changed for the better through adoption from foster care. The moving personal stories from featured families in Virginia, Utah, Oklahoma and New York are enhanced by musical performances by Groban and other popular contemporary artists.
8PMon (LIF) 12:01 AM on (LIF)
Married at First Sight: Jamie and Doug Plus One
It’s been three years since Jamie Otis and Doug Hehner met for the first time at the altar on Season
1 of “Married at First Sight,” and this new series spinoff follows the couple as they embark on a major new chapter of their lives together: becoming parents.
WEDNESDAY 9PMon (19) (45) Star
Michael Michele (“ER”) plays the new chief of the label for which the girl group records in “Insecure” ... and that title is a good definition of how the women feel when the boss wants them to revise their image. Star (Jude Demorest) independently tries to do something about that demand, displeasing Carlotta (Queen Latifah) in the process. Paris Jackson also guest stars. Benjamin Bratt also stars.
9PMon (HIST) 1:02 AM on (HIST) Vikings
Ivar’s (Alex Hogh Andersen) runaway hubris is put in check when he starts to realize he has met his match in Heahmund (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), the aptly nicknamed warrior bishop, in the new episode “The Prisoner.” Meanwhile, Floki (Gustaf Skarsgard) returns to Kattegat, bearing some exciting news for his old friends, and Bjorn (Alexander Ludwig) receives a lavish and apparently warm welcome as his travels take him to North Africa.
THURSDAY 8PMon (2) (4) (5) Great News
The title of this new yuletide-themed episode is “A Christmas Carol Wendelson,” but the Charles Dickens classic gets cleverly turned on its head in a story that finds Andrea Martin’s maternal character absolutely overflowing with Christmas spirit. Unfortunately, this anti-Scrooge shtick is driving her office colleagues right up the wall.
9:30 PM on (7) (10) (12) Life in Pieces
The unconventional format of this family sitcom manages to pack four storylines, some of them very brief, into each half-hour episode, but there’s a chance things will get even more fragmented — and frenetic — in a new holiday-themed episode called “The Twelve Shorts of Christmas,” as we see how the Christmas spirit manifests itself in wildly different ways for each member of the extended Short clan.
FRIDAY 8PMon (2) (4) (5) Blindspot
As the team makes a united effort to take down a formidable foe, Jane and Weller (Jaimie Alexander, Sullivan Stapleton) confront a poisonous secret that threatens to rip them apart in the fall finale, “City Folks Under Wraps.” Don’t be surprised if it all ends in one of this show’s memorable cliffhangers. Mary Stuart Masterson continues her guest role; other guest stars include David Morse and Ennis Esmer. Rob Brown, Audrey Esparza, Ashley Johnson and Luke Mitchell also star.
9PMon (TRAV) 12 AM on (TRAV)
Josh Gates’ Destination Truth
In a new episode called “WWII Ghost Hunt and a Japanese River Monster,” explorer and host Josh Gates travels to the western Pacific islands of Micronesia to investigate reports of unexplained noises and sightings that appear to be coming from far below the ocean’s tranquil surface.
SATURDAY 8PMon (6) (9) (22)
CMA Country Christmas
Reba McEntire succeeds Jennifer Nettles as host in this rebroadcast from November of the eighth annual edition of the Country Music Association’s holiday special. Taped at Nashville’s legendary Grand Ole Opry House, the two-hour program also features seasonal selections by Luke Bryan, Little Big Town, Lady Antebellum, Kelsea Ballerini, Brett Eldredge, Alan Jackson, Trisha Yearwood, Chris Young and gospel great CeCe Winans, among others.
8PMon (HBO) 1:51 AM on (HBO)
Movie: The Zookeeper’s Wife
Angela Workman adapted Diane Ackerman’s non-fiction book of the same title for Niki Caro’s fact-inspired 2017 drama that chronicles how Jan and Antonina Zabinski (Johan Heldenberg, Jessica Chastain) saved the lives of hundreds of Jews from the Nazis by hiding them inside their zoo during World War II.
SUNDAY 7PMon (2) (4) (5) DreamWorks Trolls Holiday
Many of the voice-cast members of the 2016 “Trolls” movie reprise their roles in this sequel of sorts. Poppy — voiced again by Anna Kendrick — becomes determined to restore holidays to her world, and specifically to the Bergens, who don’t have them. Justin Timberlake, Zooey Deschanel, James Corden, Kunal Nayyar (“The Big Bang Theory”) and Christopher MintzPlasse also return vocally.
10 PM on (TCM) Movie: The Bells of St. Mary’s
Reprising his Oscarwinning role from “Going My Way,” Bing Crosby takes his character Father Chuck O’Malley to a Catholic school facing closure in director Leo McCarey’s memorable 1945 sequel. The priest challenges Sister Benedict (Ingrid Bergman), who is as traditional in teaching students as he is innovative. Nevertheless, they develop a bond made tighter by a personal crisis.