TV's Best Bets
■ GHOST HUNTERS
discovery+
New Series! This reboot of the seminal paranormal investigation show Ghost Hunters features 12 new hourlong episodes, with the original members of The Atlantic Paranormal Society — Jason Hawes, Steve Gonsalves and Dave Tango, along with Shari Debenedetti — reuniting to revisit their most chilling cases and investigate disturbing new hauntings. Joining the core team are a host of experts from different paranormal backgrounds who add their own points of view to each case. In the series premiere, “The Lost Souls of Joliet,” the TAPS team is joined by Dakota Laden, Tanner Wiseman and Alex Schroeder of the discovery+/ Travel Channel series Destination Fear as they check out Old Joliet Prison, a now-shuttered former penitentiary in Illinois where volunteers are desperate for answers regarding unsettling paranormal activity. New episodes are available Saturdays.
■ “HARRY POTTER” 20TH ANNIVERSARY: RETURN TO HOGWARTS
HBO Max
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and other cast from all eight Harry Potter movies reunite to celebrate the franchise’s 20th anniversary.
■ “COLUMBO” MARATHON
Cozi TV, beginning at 8 a.m. Starting with today’s daylong marathon of episodes from Peter Falk’s classic detective series Columbo, Cozi TV is expanding its 2022 programming to include more of the series. Starting Jan. 8, Columbo will be part of Cozi’s weekly six-hour Saturday block of programming alongside episodes of Mcmillan and Wife, Banacek and Mccloud, all of which were part of NBC’S famed Mystery Movie “wheel” series.
■ WE BABY BEARS
Cartoon Network, beginning at 10a.m.
New Series! This spinoff of the 2015-19 animated series We
Bare Bears follows the ursine protagonists of that show — Grizz (voice of Connor Andrade), Panda (Amari Mccoy) and Ice Bear (Max Mitchell) — in the magical adventures the brothers had when they were babies seeking a place to call home. We Baby Bears launches with 10 episodes today; two new episodes then air Saturday mornings throughout the month beginning Jan. 8.
■ “HART TO HART” MOVIE MARATHON
Ovation, beginning at 11 a.m. Enjoy back-to-back airings of all eight of the made-fortelevision follow-up Hart to Hart movies that Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers made between 1993 and 1996, reprising the roles of Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a wealthy, jet-setting couple who frequently find themselves embroiled in mysteries and working as unpaid detectives to solve them.
■ 133RD ROSE PARADE
NBC, 11:30a.m. Live After a year off because of the pandemic, NBC returns to its now 95-year-old New Year’s Day tradition of broadcasting the famed Rose Parade from Pasadena, California. Actor/ educator Levar Burton has been announced as this year’s grand marshal. This Is Us stars Chrissy Metz and Susan Kelechi Watson host NBC’S coverage. (Note: Your market may be airing the optional coverage of the parade that NBC is offering beginning a half-hour earlier.)
■ COLLEGE FOOTBALL
ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, beginning at noon. Live
New Year’s Day college football bowl games are Penn State vs. Arkansas in the Outback Bowl (ESPN2), Iowa vs. Kentucky in the Vrbo Citrus Bowl (ABC), Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma State in the Playstation Fiesta Bowl (ESPN), Ohio State vs. Utah in the Rose Bowl (ESPN) and Ole Miss vs. Baylor in the Allstate Sugar Bowl (ESPN).
■ DOCTOR WHO: “EVE OF THE DALEKS”
BBC America, 2 p.m. BBC America will air three Doctor Who specials in 2022 as part of the BBC’S centenary celebration, and the first one is the New Year’s Day global premiere of the holiday special “Eve of the Daleks.” Jodie Whittaker’s time as the Thirteenth Doctor concludes this fall.
■ A FACE IN THE CROWD
TCM, 3:15 p.m.
Catch a Classic! Andy Griffith gives an extraordinary performance as Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes, the lead character of this 1957 Elia Kazan-directed drama that marked Griffith’s screen debut. Although Rhodes is a Southern character like Griffith’s Sheriff Andy Taylor from the actor’s later classic sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, this man’s charming accent and folksy “aw-shucks” persona is not the genuine article, and instead hides a cruel, ambitious and egomaniacal personality that only grows as the one-time drunken drifter finds himself — thanks to the radio journalist (Patricia Neal) who discovers him (and later regrets the monster she created) — rising as a nationally renowned media personality and political demagogue. Check out his dynamic acting range here as Rhodes, a role that helped the actor become a star and really should have earned him an Oscar nomination. A Face in the Crowd also had mixed reviews on its original release, and wasn’t overly successful at the box office. But time has looked kindly on the film, which was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry in 2008, thanks not only to Griffith’s performance but also the story’s look at the volatile intersection of media, celebrity and politics that appears ever more prescient with each passing year. —
Jeff Pfeiffer
■ AMC’S MUST WATCH MOVIE MONTH
AMC, beginning at 5 p.m. AMC has deemed the month of January as its “Must Watch Movie Month,” and begins the film fest with a Lethal Weapon movie marathon. Every night a blockbuster film will air, from The Great Outdoors and Gran
Torino to Friday night network premieres like Midway (Jan. 7), Edge of Tomorrow (Jan. 20) and Mad Max: Fury Road (Jan. 23). You can expect to find something to catch your interest.
■ NHL WINTER CLASSIC: ST. LOUIS AT MINNESOTA
TNT, 7 p.m. Live
The NHL’S Winter Classic outdoor game airs on TNT for the first time as Jordan Kyrou and the St. Louis Blues face off against Kirill Kaprizov and the Minnesota Wild at Target Field in Minneapolis.
■ CRIKEY! IT’S THE IRWINS
Animal Planet, 8 p.m.; also strea.m.s on discovery+ Season Premiere! In the Season 4 premiere, Bindi and Chandler’s daughter Grace discovers her new world at Australia Zoo, while Robert and the team attempt the biggest gator move in the zoo’s history; for the first time, they will try to capture 10 alligators from Gator Lake, home to over 40 crocodilians. Meanwhile, Terri helps her Sumatran Elephants as they learn to use a purpose built, giant runway which will allow them to freely move around the Zoo. And Bindi later encounters the joys and tragedies of another Koala breeding season.
■ WHERE YOUR HEART BELONGS
Hallmark Channel, 8 p.m. Original Film! Mackenzie Sullivan is a New York-based marketing executive struggling to keep her clients. When she returns home to a rural maple farm to help her best friend plan her wedding in just two weeks, Mackenzie learns the hard way that the love and support of family and true friends means more than she’d imagined. Stars Jen Lilley and Christopher Russell.
■ DEADLY INFIDELITY
Lifetime, 8 p.m. Original Film! When a woman awakes from a monthlong coma, she discovers that the last five years of memories with her husband and daughter are gone. But things go from bad to dangerous when a man she doesn’t remember appears, claiming that they had a passionate affair. Stars Kate Watson, Anna Marie Dobbins and Houston Rhines.
■ GREAT PERFORMANCES: “FROM VIENNA: THE NEW YEAR’S CELEBRATION 2022”
PBS, 8 p.m. (WTTW Chicago, 7 p.m.)
Great Performances continues its tradition of ringing in the New Year with the Vienna Philharmonic at the worldfamous Musikverein, with actor Hugh Bonneville returning as host for a fifth year. The concert features guest conductor Daniel Barenboim leading the Vienna Philharmonic in performances of favorite Strauss family waltzes.
■ WHEN NATURE CALLS
ABC, 9 p.m.
Season Finale! In “The Optimistic Mosquito,” Helen Mirren narrates a documentary examination of the animal kingdom featuring a mosquito that wants to do good in the world, a chipmunk that over-packed trying to outsmart the TSA, an old wild boar looking for love and Anaconda ASMR. Following is the season finale, “Omen Cat,” in which hippos solve crimes ripped from the headlines, a cheetah is haunted by everyone it ever ate, a snake celebrates its 30th birthday alone and more.
■ THE ’80S: TOP TEN
Nat Geo, 9 p.m.; all episodes strea.m.ing on Disney+ New Series! Rob Lowe executive produces and hosts this six-episode series, with two hours airing this evening and the next two nights, that offers fun and nostalgic top 10 countdowns of various 1980s topics in each hourlong installment. Tonight’s first episode is “Watercooler Moments,” a look at everything from Charles and Diana’s wedding to the burning question of “Who Shot J.R.?” and more. That is followed by the “Streetwear” episode, which reveals the inside stories behind ’80s fashions like Air Jordans, Ray-bans, shoulder pads, the Miami Vice look and more. The entire series will be available to stream on Disney+ beginning Dec. 31.
■ THE INCREDIBLE DR. POL
Nat Geo Wild, 9pm
■ SEASON PREMIERE!
As Season 20 begins, the vet staff see canine patients for broken legs, bulbous cysts and overgrown nails, and they treat a hypothermic horse, a constipated cat and reindeer.
■ DEADLY CHEERS
Lifetime, 10 p.m. Original Film! Brianna (Camille Calvin) and her teenage daughter Julie (Katherine Marsh) move to a new town where Brianna will be the high school’s new assistant principal, while Julie joins the highly regarded competitive cheer team under the esteemed Coach Allison (Shannon Skiles). When one of the cheerleaders suffers a mysterious accident, Coach Allison will stop at nothing to cover it up, even if it means sacrificing her own cheerleaders.
■ NEW YORK HOMICIDE
Oxygen, 10 p.m.
New Series! New York is a shining beacon of opportunity to people across the world, and the convergence of almost innumerable cultures, customs and languages makes it a true melting pot. It’s a city with a gritty core, where tensions run high. This new 12-episode series details the brazen crimes that happen in New York and the intense work by law enforcement and civilians who race to take murderers off the streets.
■ KINDRED SPIRITS: “THE LURKER”
Travel Channel, 10 p.m.; also strea.m.s on discovery+ Amy Bruni, Adam Berry and Chip Coffey investigate an 1850s manor in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, where an eyeless entity looms over sleeping guests. Bruni and Berry attempt an off-the-cuff experiment that bends paranormal reality so much they shock themselves.