Worth Watching: The Emmys, ’60 Minutes’ Premiere, ‘Lovecraft’s New Country (S. Korea), ‘Love Fraud’ Finale
A selective critical checklist of notable weekend TV:
The 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards (Sunday, 8/7c, 6/MT, 5 PT, ABC): Typically touted as TV’s biggest night, this year’s Emmy show will be like most everything else in 2020: Different. Weird. Remote. Jimmy Kimmel hosts and cracks jokes from a mostly empty Staples Center theater in L.A., while nominees await word of who won from their homes (or wherever they’re watching — with cameras watching them). Which means there’s no red carpet — now there’s a mixed blessing. Not that there isn’t plenty to celebrate about the last year in TV. (For my predictions of who is most likely to or should win, and a running tally of the deserving shows and stars that didn’t get nominated, plus other Emmys news, go to our Emmys section.)
60 Minutes (Sunday, 7/6c, CBS): The greatest of all network newsmagazines officially returns for a 53rd season, with a typically eclectic lineup of timely stories. Scott Pelley interviews former national security advisor, retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, whose tough talk rises above partisan rancor; Bill Whitaker visits Pennsylvania for a report on the debate over voting by mail; and Jon Wertheim profiles Ed Orgeron, head coach of national college-football champ LSU as the new football season proceeds under an uncertain cloud of pandemic fears.
Last Tango in Halifax (Sunday, 8/7c, PBS, check local listings at pbs.org): Happily, the dance isn’t over yet. After a three-year absence, the charmingly bittersweet dramedy returns for a fourth season, catching up with octogenarians Celia (Anne Reid) and Alan (Derek Jacobi) seven years into their marriage. New storm clouds emerge as Alan decides to go back to work, and his brother Ted (Timothy West) visits, apparently planning to stay for good. Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley) and Nicola Walker (The Split) provide marvelous support as their prickly daughters.
Lovecraft Country (Sunday, 9/8c, HBO): Surely you didn’t expect any two episodes of this wild horror series to be alike. In another exotic detour, which provides a new and significant piece to the puzzle that is Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors), the story flashes back to his Korean War service in 1950, where he encounters the beautiful and mysterious Ji-Ah (Jamie Chung). This being Lovecraft Country, we’re not talking forbidden love so much as an exploration of the monsters lurking within. Let’s just say the sex scenes are … explosive.
Love Fraud (Sunday, 10/9c, Sunday): Over so soon? The addictive true-crime docuseries ends with bounty hunter Carla and a team of private investigators finally catching up with serial seducer and conman Richard Scott Smith. As the net tightens, the creep is still breaking hearts with an eye on his marks’ bank accounts. The final act, in which Scott bares what amounts to his soul to Fraud‘s producers, is remarkable and chilling.
Inside Weekend TV: Hallmark Channel’s “Fall Harvest” series of seasonal romantic movies kicks off with Love at Daisy Hills (Saturday, 9/8c), starring Cindy Busby and Marshall Williams as exes who clash over how best to save her family’s struggling small-town general store. What are the odds that love is the missing ingredient?… The sudden and apparently suspicious deaths of two rock legends are fodder for speculation in the Reelz special Jimi Hendrix: A Perfect Murder? (Saturday, 8/7c, 5/PT) and an episode of HLN’s How It Really Happened with Hill Harper (Sunday, 9/8c) titled “Tom Petty: Mysterious Ending.”… Lady Gaga opens up to reporter Lee Cowan about the dark side of fame and the upside of collaborating with Ariana Grande in a revealing interview on CBS Sunday Morning (Sunday, 9 am/8c)… NBC’s Sunday Night Football (8:20/7:20c, 5:20/PT) literally kicks off a new season with a rematch of 2015’s Super Bowl rivals New England Patriots (now minus Tom Brady) at Seattle Seahawks… In “Only in Amsterdam,” the second episode of Masterpiece‘s edgy mystery series Van der Valk (Sunday, 9/8c, check local listings at pbs.org), the Dutch detective (Marc Warren) dabbles in mysticism, alchemy and the occult while investigating the murder of a Muslim woman who volunteered at an addiction clinic.
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