5 THINGS YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS

Sunday, 8 p.m. (Ch. 2) Academy of Country Music Awards So here’s why you might want to watch this, even though you live in New York. It’s fun, and it’s got a lot of live performances. It’s a good one-stop for catching up on some of the most popular music in America. You might even find you like it, since a lot of it is just a catchier version of mainstream pop — with more twang and more trucks. And, oh yes, a whole lot of New Yorkers really do like country music in the first place. (Above: Kenny Chesney, who has nine nominations.) Sunday, 9 p.m. (Ch. 13) Masterpiece Classic: Great Expectations Charles Dickens and PBS’ “Masterpiece Classic” couldn’t be more perfectly matched. So fans of either won’t want to bypass this adaptation of what some consider Dickens’ greatest novel — about Pip, the boy plucked from a life of poverty and given a shot at upward mobility. That wasn’t a terribly common possibility in Victorian England, and Dickens knew the hoops through which Pip would be required to try to jump. Gillian Anderson (above) stars at the translucent Miss Havisham, who is at the center of this enterprise. Friday, 10 p.m. (STARZ) Magic City TV’S latest ambitious drama is debuting, and fans of shows like “Mad Men” may want to take note. “Magic City,” set in Miami in the late ’50s, focuses on Ike Evans (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, r.), who owns one of the classiest hotels on the beach. Trouble is, Ike’s in financial straits, so he has to deal with some people who aren’t always nice. Also, the Cuban Revolution is shaking everything up. “Magic City” explores it all at a careful pace, taking note of all the details as it goes. David Hinckley Sunday, 8 p.m. (AMC) The Killing This dark murder mystery was cruising along quite nicely last year until the final episode, when a lot of viewers were expecting it to arrive at its destination and instead it just kept cruising. So no, we still don’t know who killed Rosie Larsen, but the producers vow that by the end of the season that starts tonight, we will. It’s possible to argue, though, that extending the mystery wasn’t a bad thing, because so much of the story is about the psychology of the hunters, not the crime of the hunted. (Above: Michelle Forbes, who plays Rosie’s mother.) Thursday, 8 p.m. (Ch. 2) The Big Bang Theory No show better reflects the rise of nerd and fanboy culture than “The Big Bang Theory,” about a circle of very smart and very quirky people obsessed with the greater questions of the universe and not always so good at everyday life. This episode is particularly worth watching because the guest star is Stephen Hawking (l., with Jim Parsons), the ultra brilliant physicist all Big Bangers dream of becoming.