Disney+, 3:00 a.m. ET
DOCUMENTARY SERIES PREMIERE: This six-episode documentary series chronicles the final year of production of Frozen 2. (Why not earlier? As, say, when the Disney brain trust had all those meetings to decide upon the perfect title for the sequel to its mega-popular animated musical, Frozen? I don’t think Disney had conceived yet of filming everything it was doing to generate more programming, and promotion, for its planned Disney+ streaming service.) But here’s the nice surprise: Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2 gets in so close to every aspect of the film’s production, from the composers and orchestra musicians to the animators and voice actors, that any young person watching this documentary series should emerge with new creative dreams, inspirations and aspirations.
Movies On Demand, 3:00 a.m. ET
MOVIE PREMIERE: Here comes Jon Stewart’s latest movie – and this time it’s a comedy. He’s written and directed this story of a Wisconsin mayoral race, which stars fellow Daily Show alumnus Steve Carell as a Democratic political strategist, and Rose Byrne as his primary rival. Co-stars include Chris Cooper, and a small herd of cows.
Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET
MOVIE PREMIERE: On Saturday Night Live, Will Ferrell concocted and starred in more than one recurring sketch in which he played the keyboard half of a singing duo, performing with a a female, equally game SNL player. This new Netflix movie is an extension of sorts of that idea, with Rachel McAdams playing opposite Ferrell in what feels like an expanded, bloated movie version of an SNL skit. Eurovision Song Contest is an affectionate parody of, and salute to, the long-running global variety competition series of the same name – which has been around long enough to have propelled ABBA to international stardom in the 1970s. In this comedy film, two misfit Icelandic children, Lars and Sigrit, watch ABBA win on Eurovision that night, and foster enduring dreams of winning the contest themselves. Eventually, as the singing duo Fire Saga, they set out to do just that, in a movie that makes room for cameos and supporting roles by Demi Lovato, Pierce Brosnan, Graham Norton – and Dan Stevens from Legion, who has great fun playing a sexy Russian singer. Ferrell is Lars, McAdams is Sigrit, and while the cultural craziness of the real Eurovision is reenacted fondly, it isn’t reenacted very… funnily.
HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET
Maybe Bill Maher should retain the socially distant format no matter what happens, because his guest lineups – with him able to pre-tape a day in advance and talk to interviewees without them leaving their homes – keep getting better. Tonight, for example, Real Time is scheduled to land one of the week’s hottest interview “gets”: former National Security Advisor John Bolton (pictured). Also scheduled: James Carville, Kara Swisher, and Wes Moore.
MTV, 11:00 p.m. ET
MTV is conducting a “Flashback Friday” all day today, and it’s flashing back to a time when MTV presented videos, and programs that were worth watching. The videos are shown early in the day – but at 11 p.m. ET, MTV presents two vintage installments of its stripped-down acoustic concert series, Unplugged. First up: From 1993, the neo-acoustic Unplugged edition with Nirvana, in which Kurt Cobain (pictured) delivers a wholly commanding, emotionally intimate tour through his band’s catalogue, including a classic and haunting rendition of “All Apologies.” He and the band also do some cover versions – and last Saturday, one of the guitars played by Cobain during this TV concert was auctioned for $6 million. Then, at midnight ET, it’s a 1992 Unplugged hour with Pearl Jam, in which Eddie Vedder shows off what then was a stunning surprise, but which he’s proven countless times since: his ease and mastery as an acoustic singer and guitarist.