TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
Next year, Orson Welles’ cinematic debut, Citizen Kane, will be 80 years old – and still ranks at or near the top of most lists of the best movies ever made. Watch it tonight, again or for the first time, and see why. The structure, the photography, the characters, the sheer intelligence of the damned thing – it all sticks the landing all these decades later, including the movie’s takes on politics, the media, and show business. It’s an amazing accomplishment, then and now. And it’s very neat that this prime-time telecast is hosted by TCM’s primary host, Ben Mankiewicz, whose grandfather is Herman Mankiewicz, who, with Welles, co-wrote the screenplay of Citizen Kane.
Fox, 9:00 p.m. ET
A month ago, Elton John was diagnosed with walking pneumonia, and was led offstage after performing for two hours at a concert in New Zealand. A month later, with the coronavirus spreading around the world, Sir Elton is hosting this last-minute concert fundraiser on Fox, which uses the network time slot vacated by the virus-canceled iHeart Radio Music Awards to present a socially distanced music charity special. Billie Eilish performs from the privacy and safety of her own home. So does Mariah Carey, and all of the Backstreet Boys – performing as a group, but grouped individually in their respective homes. And there’s no audience… unless you tune in.
NBC, 9:00 p.m. ET
In last week’s episode, Zoey revealed her hidden power, the ability to watch and hear people sing their inner thoughts in songs no one else can witness, to one of her closest friends. “I am a mutant,” she explained. “I am The X-Men meets The Voice.” And tonight, for the first time, Zoey herself takes center stage for the entire episode, singing her own inner thoughts. This is her song, and this one’s for you.
AMC, 9:00 p.m. ET
Last week’s episode was spent with Michonne, and was fairly harrowing. We learned a lot about her, and also learned that her long-missing loved one, Rick Grimes, the former protagonist of this apocalyptic adventure, may still be alive.
HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
The Season 3 premiere of Westworld took place in the “real world” outside the disastrously out-of-control theme park, and focused on a killer female android, Dolores. Last week’s episode, the season’s second installment, went back to the park, introducing a WWII Nazi theme land called Warworld, and focusing on another killer female android, Maeve. But it ended with Maeve (pictured) finding herself in the “real world,” and helplessly controlled by park architects we can only assume are human. Tonight, it’s Dolores vs. Maeve… or, perhaps, Dolores plus Maeve against the world. And Caleb, the newly introduced human played by Aaron Paul, already is at Dolores’ side, at least for now.
Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET
This is almost the end – for Homeland, and maybe for Saul and Carrie as well. And frankly, no one in their inner circle, or even their outer one, looks to have a clear path to redemption or happiness right now.