Remembering Lennon
TV TONIGHT: Birthday concert features long list of top-notch performers
The TV universe is constantly expanding, and new channels and shows vie for attention just as much as old favourites. Here are the best bets on the box.
Saturday Imagine: John Lennon 75th Birthday Concert
Filmed in live performance at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 5, this gala celebration of the diamond jubilee of the late Beatle’s birth features a glittering roster of performers, including Sheryl Crow, Peter Frampton, Kris Kristofferson, Pat Monahan of Train, Willie Nelson, The Roots, Steven Tyler, Brandon Flowers from The Killers, Chris Stapleton, Eric Church and Aloe Blacc. There will be special video appearances by the two remaining Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. (AMC)
Saturday Night Live
The show is pulling out all the stops for its new Christmas episode, since Tina Fey and Amy Poehler — who shared successful stints hosting the Golden Globe Awards, and are reunited again in the new movie comedy Sisters — return to the program as guest hosts. The musical guests are notable, too, to put it mildly: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, who are sure to get into the spirit of the season with their performances here. (NBC, Global)
Movie: The Spirit of Christmas
In Vermont to broker the sale of an old inn, Kate ( Jen Lilley, Days of Our Lives) is nonplussed to learn that the place is said to be haunted — and that the handsome Daniel Forsythe ( Thomas Beaudoin), whom she just met, is actually the restless spirit of a man who died nearly a century before but takes the form of a human 12 days before Christmas on a quest to resolve his mysterious death. Bates Wilder also stars in this 2015 romance. (Lifetime)
Movie: The Water Diviner
Four years after the Battle of Gallipoli in the First World War, Australian farmer and water diviner Joshua Connor ( Oscar Award- winner Russell Crowe) travels to Turkey to scour the battlefield for the bodies of his three missing sons, in this affecting (if fictional) 2014 war drama which also marked Crowe’s directorial debut. Olga Kurylenko, Ryan Corr, Jai Courtney, Cem Yulman and Jacqueline McKenzie also star. (Movie Central)
Movie: Chasing Christmas
Based — very loosely — on Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol, this 2005 comedy stars Tom Arnold as Jack Cameron, a man who hates Christmas because of his wife’s infidelity years earlier. The ghosts of Christmas Present (Andrea Roth) and Christmas Past ( Leslie Jordan) are tasked with his reformation, but the ghost of Christmas Past is fed up with the whole thing and decides to go AWOL, stranding Jack back in 1965. It’s up to Jack and the ghost of Christmas Present to get the wayward spirit back on track. (Global)
BBQ Pit Wars
The second season of the competition series, in which the top barbecue chefs in the U.S. battle it out to be known as the Baron of Brisket or Prince of Pork, airs its first four episodes tonight.
In the premiere, The Pit Warriors travel to Georgia for the Smoke on Water BBQ Festival where they compete with each other as well as 62 other teams. (Discovery)
Movie: The Shop Around the Corner
Alfred and Klara (James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan) are rival store employees who constantly argue. Little do they know that they have been corresponding with each other through the mail. Alfred has fallen in love with the woman to whom he writes, clueless that it is Klara. This 1940 movie is a precursor to 1949’s In the Good Old Summertime. (TCM)
NCIS
Part of DiNozzo’s ( Michael Weatherly) past resurfaces for him in the repeat episode Cadence, as the investigation into the murder of a Marine who attended the same military academy takes the agent back to the school. The victim had a photo of a current student there, clearly a major clue in the probe. (CBS)
Sunday
The Librarians
A new episode called And the Happily Ever Afters opens with the team completely scattered, all of them living idealized versions of their usual lives. The sudden appearance of Ariel, the sprite bound by magic to Prospero’s service, draws these “strangers” together for an urgent joint mission, but taking it on will mean turning their backs on their personal happy endings. Rebecca Romijn, Christian Kane, Lindy Booth, John Harlan Kim and John Larroquette star. (Space)
Into the Badlands
In the season finale, a new episode called Hand of Five Poisons, a frustrated yet undaunted Sunny and M. K. ( Daniel Wu, Aramis Knight) continue their fight to escape Quinn’s (Marton Csokas) vice-like grip once and for all. Meanwhile, on a much wider playing field, the Baron’s assorted enemies conspire to take him down and change the Badlands forever. (AMC)
The Affair
Events that were set into motion long ago reach their inevitable conclusion in the season finale, as Alison (Ruth Wilson) is completely honest with both Noah (Dominic West) and herself. Following a startling revelation, Noah starts to withdraw from his new life, while a dispute between Cole ( Joshua Jackson) and Scotty ( Colin Donnell) is followed by tragedy. (Movie Central)
Undercover Boss
Corporate execs take low-level jobs at their firms to see what really takes place among their employees on a day-to-day basis as this Emmy Award- winning unscripted series returns for Season 7, with Buffalo Wings & Rings. The show will air on three consecutive Sundays before moving to a Friday night berth for the rest of this season. (CBS)
Olive, the Other Reindeer
Title notwithstanding, Olive is actually a plucky little dog who learns that Blitzen is on the disabled list and Christmas may be called off unless “all of the other reindeer” can help. She mishears “all of ” as “Olive” and is soon North Pole- bound to save the day. Drew Barrymore provides the voice of Olive in this charming animated adaptation of the children’s book. Ed Asner supplies the voice of Santa. (Toon)
The 64th Annual Miss Universe Pageant
Beauty and talent are two of the most important qualities the judges will be looking for as the latest edition of the annual pag- eant unfolds in Las Vegas, but poise may be even more important: The contestants must appear as cool as a cucumber during a live telecast that is distributed to about 190 countries and territories around the world. (Fox)
Homeland
The fifth season finale of the Emmy Award-winning spy drama starring Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin airs this evening. But for fans who need to play catchup, the entire fifth season will air in an all- day marathon beginning early in the morning. In the finale, Carrie is no longer working for the CIA and is at a philanthropic foundation in Berlin. (Super Channel)
Movie: The Sound of Music Sing-Along
Sing-along fans can sing right along as Julie Andrews’ sweet voice fills the hills in this 1965 Academy Award-winning musical based on the true story of Austria’s Von Trapp family. Andrews plays the convent-trained governess of a wealthy Austrian’s (Christopher Plummer) children. The score features such songs as Edelweiss and My Favourite Things. (ABC, CTV Two)
Work Out New York
As a new competition day dawns, Lena hopes her rockin’ bikini body will garner enough favourable notice to take her career to the next level. Elsewhere, in the aftermath of a clash between Courtney and Noah, a new “bromance” between Noah and Joe materializes. Courtney, however, has a more troubling issue on his mind: He has developed a serious and progressive problem with his shoulder that could threaten his career as a trainer, in the new episode Spot Me, Bro! (Slice)