Various Networks, 1:00 p.m. ET
What a day for politics. When former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill said “All politics is local,” even he couldn’t have imagined anything as dramatic as the last evening, and this current morning, of Georgia voting returns – with its runoff election results poised to cause a seismic shift in the Senate. Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock defeated the incumbent to win one Georgia Senate seat, and Jon Ossoff seems to have won enough votes to claim the other state Senate seat, perhaps by enough votes to avoid the need for a recount. The decisive vote tallies may arrive this afternoon. Also this afternoon, in a former formality of a congressional event that is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. ET, the Senate and the House of Representatives will meet, with Vice President Mike Pence presiding, to count and accept the electoral college votes awarding the presidency to Joe Biden. A minority of senators and representatives have announced their intention to reject that formality, which will lead to a few hours of debate, and, if we follow the Constitution, more political theater than political drama. But the impact to the Republican party, and to our country, will be significant – as will be the final tally, and results, from Georgia. Watch on C-SPAN, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, or wherever you normally go for your fake or real news.
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
This is a very unofficial, unwieldly and distinctly dissimilar collection of movies shown tonight on TCM – but they’re all very, very entertaining mystery movies, albeit of very different types and tones. Death on the Nile from 1978, and Evil Under the Sun from 1982, are star-studded adaptations of Agatha Christie novels. They start things off at 8 p.m. ET. Then, at 12:45 a.m. ET, comes 1973’s yacht-set The Last of Sheila (pictured), written not by the grande dame of mystery writers, but by a pair of puzzle enthusiasts, one an actor, the other a composer-lyricist: Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim. At 3 a.m. ET, Woody Allen’s very clever Manhattan Murder Mystery, from 1993, is shown – and the evening ends at 5 a.m. ET with a 1982 movie based on Ira Levin’s successful, twisted and plot-twisty mystery stage play: Deathtrap, starring Christopher Reeve and Michael Caine. And both Deathtrap and The Last of Sheila, by the way, co-star Dyan Cannon.
Fox, 9:02 p.m. ET
SERIES PREMIERE: Name That Tune, as a radio quiz show featuring contestants vying to identify songs while hearing fewer notes, premiered on NBC Radio in 1952, and came to TV the following year. It survived on TV throughout the 1950s, then was revived in the 1970s and the Eighties. VH1 even tried a visual version, Name That Video, in 2001. But now, 20 years after that attempt, Fox launches another reboot. This one is audio only, back to the original title of Name That Tune, and is hosted by Broadway musical star and frequent Ally McBeal songstress Jane Krakowski. And yes, that’s former American Idol judge Randy Jackson at the piano…