WATCH THIS: SUNDAY
“The 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards” (7 p.m., NBC): Break out your best fake smile, all you Hollywood stars! British actor and comic Ricky Gervais, who has a fondness for cracking jaw-dropping, take-no-prisoners jokes at the expense of the rich and famous, returns for his fifth stint as host of this year’s ceremony. Among nominees, it was a good year for streaming services: Netflix leads the pack with a combined total of 17 film and TV nods, while the recently launched Apple TV Plus picked up its first Globe nominations for “The Morning Show.”
“God Friended Me” (7 p.m., CBS): Miles (Brandon Micheal Hall) stumbles across a new clue to who is behind the God Account when Joy (Jessica Lu) points out what may not be a coincidence: All Miles’ friend suggestions have been clients of the same insurance company. So is the newest one, Abe (Judd Hirsch), a Holocaust survivor desperate to find information about the fate of his long-lost sister.
“Tolkien” (7 p.m., 11 p.m., HBO): Dome Karukoski’s 2019 period biographical drama stars Nicholas Hoult (“Jack the Giant Killer”) as English professor J.R.R. Tolkien, who achieved his greatest fame for writing “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.” The film’s primary focus, however, is on Tolkien’s early years as an academic, when he discovers his passion for languages. Lily Collins plays Edith Bratt, Tolkien’s lifelong love and eventual wife, who inspired several of his female fantasy characters. Colm Meaney and Derek Jacobi also star.
“Crossword Mysteries” (7 p.m., HMM): Lacey Chabert returns as New York Sentinel crosswords editor and part-time sleuth Tess Harper in a new mystery called “Abracadaver.” The story opens as a magician abruptly drops dead in mid-performance, leaving Tess and NYPD Detective Logan O’Connor (Brennan Elliott) to figure out who’s behind what they soon ascertain was a premeditated murder. John Kapelos, Barbara Niven and Romaine Waite also star.
“Worst Cooks in America” (8 p.m., 11 p.m., Food): Alton Brown (“Good Eats”) joins chef Anne Burrell as a team mentor as they lead a new class of 16 decidedly unpromising recruits through another rigorous culinary boot camp, which includes some of the craziest challenges ever. In the season premiere, “Bottom’s Up,” Burrell and Brown gauge the rough talent level of their newbies by having them make a baseline dish, but the results are pretty depressing.
“Sister Wives” (8 p.m., 12 a.m., TLC): As Season 14 opens with a premiere called “Kicked Out,” the Sister Wives have just moved to Flagstaff, Ariz., but they quickly discover they weren’t able to leave behind them the dramatic challenges posed by their polygamous lifestyle. One wife is driven from her home by angry neighbors, and the cost of the properties Kody needs to accommodate his four wives and large brood threaten financial disaster. He considers building one giant house for everyone, but his wives are skeptical.
“Naked and Afraid” (9 p.m., 1 a.m., Discovery): Discovery Channel opens Season 11 of its survivalist challenge with a premise more harrowing than ever before. The show invites some of the strongest and most resourceful players ever featured on past seasons and drops them in isolated areas around the globe, leaving them with not even the clothes on their back — and, this time around, no one by their side.
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