Disney+, 3:00 a.m. ET
Three months earlier than scheduled, Disney Plus is making Frozen 2, the most popular animated movie in history, available on its streaming site. Beginning today, Disney Plus subscribers can watch Elsa and company work through their issues by counting on family – a message, and delivery system, Disney wants to distribute widely in this new age of “social distancing.” Frozen 2 has a global box office of $1.4 billlion – and that total was amassed as people went to their local movie theaters. Now they can watch, as many times as they want, from home. Nostalgic for the social experience of watching movies in a large crowd setting? Let it go…
CNN, 8:00 p.m. ET
This is worth watching, for sure, because it’s television history in so many ways. Two weeks ago, it seemed like news was moving at breakneck speed as the Democrats quickly winnowed its field down to two major candidates, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. Then came last week, when coronavirus concerns upended the way we all go about our daily lives. So tonight, the previously scheduled debate – the first mano a mano between Biden and Sanders – will still be held, but back in Washington, D.C., and without an audience. Wow. And surely, response to the pandemic will be the primary topic of discussion. What have and haven’t we done, and what do we do next? Double wow.
Showtime, 8:00 p.m. ET
If this installment is presented as scheduled, with new documentary footage covering the week in politics, I’m not sure how they’ll do it. Or what it will show. But when this series selected its subtitle, it had no idea how amazingly prescient it was being.
NBC, 9:00 p.m. ET
Zoey had a musical moment with Simon in her apartment in last week’s episode, in which he flirted with flirting with her as his internal singing voice belted out “Should I Stay Or Should I Go?” And now, with that romantic tension unresolved, Simon and Jessica hold their wedding. Expect lots of music, and not just from the wedding singer.
AMC, 9:00 p.m. ET
The assault on Hilltop went all-out last week, with our characters caught, at the cliffhanger climax, between a rock and a hard place. Except, in this instance, the rock was a wall of flame keeping them from retreating, and the hard place was a horde of still-advancing zombies.
HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: The Season 3 premiere of this big-budget HBO series is set in the “real world” of this somewhat dystopian, completely economically divided future, with Evan Rachel Wood’s vengeful robot Dolores, most prominently, infiltrating the glossy reality of her wealthy creators. Eventually, we’ll get back to the theme parks, and spend more time with Jeffrey Wright as Bernard, while introducing a new character, Caleb, played by Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad and El Camino. The new season, as it begins, looks good, but doesn’t pull you in as quickly or completely as it should. Some additional retooling seems to be in order.
Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET
What is it this season about TV series predicting real-life events with their story lines? This year, Homeland has been dealing with a possible presidential negotiation to end the long-running war with Afghanistan, and to reach a cease fire with the Taliban. But in last week’s episode, things seemed really, really bad for some of the characters, presidential and otherwise. And Saul and Carrie, at this point, could do nothing but watch helplessly as dire reports came back from the field. And the crash site.
HBO, 10:15 p.m. ET
SEASON FINALE: This space comedy series was just renewed for a Season 2, so this isn’t the last we’ll see of Hugh Laurie and Josh Gad and all the cruise spaceship passengers lost in space. But my, oh my, how this series has become unexpectedly relevant of late. An elite luxury cruise ship (albeit in outer space) whose passengers become helplessly marooned? A percentage of people who don’t believe the threat around them is real, and end up dying as a a result of their own ignorance? The people in charge being both clueless and hopelessly incompetent, and making one bad decision after another, while desperately trying to shift blame to others? Gee. What possible lessons could be gleaned from those story lines?
HBO, 10:45 p.m. ET
Tonight’s episode has Larry David shopping for a new car, and revealing his concerns, preferences and dislikes – such as not caring about the color, because once he’s inside the car, he never sees it. There are only two episodes left this season, so enjoy them. I plan to.
HBO, 11:20 p.m. ET
On Friday, Bill Maher announced on his Real Time with Bill Maher show on HBO, which he performed with one guest appearing by satellite (the others showed up in person) and with his staffers serving as the only studio audience, that it would be his last show for a while, until the coronavirus concerns subsided a bit. And even before tonight’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is taped or televised, John Oliver has let it be known that tonight’s program will be a “shortened episode” – and that, after that, Last Week Tonight will be going dark for a while. So after tonight, at least for a while, it’ll be even harder to laugh at adversity.