What to Watch this Weekend: Dolly Parton spreads holiday cheer with Christmas on the Square

EW Staff
·7 min read
What to Watch this Weekend: Dolly Parton spreads holiday cheer with Christmas on the Square

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We know TV has a lot to offer, be it network, cable, premium channels, or streaming platforms including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Facebook Watch, and others. So EW is here to help, guiding you every single day to the things that should be on your radar. Check out our recommendations below, and click here to learn how you can stream our picks via your own voice-controlled smart-speaker (Alexa, Google Home) or podcast app (Spotify, iTunes, Google Play).

FRIDAY

Small Axe

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Amazon Prime Video

Anthology Debut
Steve McQueen never expected to make five feature films at once. “That was odd,” he admits of BBC and Amazon Prime Video’s Small Axe, which was originally conceived as an anthology, only to keep expanding in scope. "What I loved about this experience was that it shows you can actually push a certain kind of logic. You don't always have to do what has been done before." McQueen (2014 Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave) says the connective tissue between his collection, set from 1968 to 1985, is “Black Britain” and London’s West Indian community. “These are very much British stories that have never been told,” he says of films like Lovers Rock and Red, White and Blue (the latter of which stars John Boyega). “Some of these stories have shaped the environment that we live in now. I wanted to tell what was necessary, important, and urgent.” —Derek Lawrence

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Marvel's 616

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Disney+

Docuseries Debut
While the year of COVID-19 has given Marvel fans plenty of time to stay inside rewatching their favorite superhero movies on Disney+, it has also deprived us of some crucial elements of the nerd experience. This year there weren’t any new Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, nor were there any in-person comic cons that allow fans to meet up with other like-minded people and celebrate their shared obsessions in person. Thankfully, the new documentary series Marvel’s 616 soothes some of those absences, and then some. Each episode has a different director and a different subject, ranging from the creative process of how a Marvel superhero comic is produced to tagging along with superhero cosplayers at last year’s New York Comic Con. In traditional Marvel parlance, “616” refers to the universe where all the main Marvel comics are set, just one of many in a fictional multiverse. The goal of Marvel’s 616 is to remind you of the many connections between superheroes and our own regular world — a fun reminder during a dark time. —Christian Holub

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Animaniacs

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Hulu

Rebooted Series Debut
Animaniacs is back, still zany to the max, and with its irreverent sense of humor intact. Hulu is finally unveiling its long-awaited reboot of the beloved '90s cartoon, with the Warner brothers — and the Warner sister! — breaking loose from the Warner Bros. water tower to wreak havoc around the studio lot once more. Scheming laboratory mice Pinky and the Brain are back, too, of course — as are the original voice actors behind the iconic characters. "My process, and I would probably think the processes of the other actors, hasn't changed at all," Rob Paulsen, the voice of Yakko Warner and Pinky, tells EW. "What has changed is the time. What has not changed is the subversive humor, the lampooning of culturally sacred cows, all the things that made everybody love Animaniacs from the beginning." Those are the facts. —Tyler Aquilina

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Run

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Hulu

Call it American Horror Story: Mom. Hulu's thriller Run stars Sarah Paulson as Diane, who has kept her daughter Chloe (newcomer Kiera Allen) totally sequestered from the outside world. "Chloe's at that point in her life now where she's starting to want to explore beyond the confines of her very isolated life, which is very normal," Paulson told EW. "But I think Diane finds that very scary in the way that most parents do, the minute their children are interested in flying the coop. Diane just may have particular feelings that go a little bit more to the extreme, is all." Indeed: Once Chloe discovers the sinister secrets her mother has been keeping, everything she knows quickly begins to unravel. Run, don't walk, to Hulu to see how it unfolds. —TA

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What Else to Watch

Streaming

The Pack (series debut) — Amazon Prime Video

The Real Right Stuff (doc) — Disney+

The Mandalorian — Disney+

Alien Xmas (movie) — Netflix

Voices of Fire (docuseries debut) — Netflix

Collective (doc) — VOD

Jiu Jitsu (movie) — Digital/VOD

8 p.m.

Shark Tank — ABC

The Blacklist — NBC

9 p.m.

20/20 ("Say Her Name: Breonna Taylor") — ABC

Holiday Crafters Gone Wild (special) — HGTV

Dateline — NBC

Life After Lockup (new episodes begin) — WEtv

Watch the full episode of What to Watch: Small Axe; The Flight Attendant now on PeopleTV.com, or download the PeopleTV app on your favorite device.

SATURDAY

Between the World and Me

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: 8 p.m. on HBO

Just like many this year who've tried to find the right words of comfort, or hope, or inspiration, some found it all in the words of Ta­-Nehisi Coates’ National Book Award­-winning 2015 best­seller Between the World and Me. That includes producer-director Kamilah Forbes, as well as This Is Us' Susan Kelechi Watson, who executive-produces and stars in this adaptation of the author's book-turned-play, written as a letter to his son. Covering not just police violence and other forms of oppression but a wide swath of the Black experience, this special is comprised of a series of impassioned monologues (filmed safely during the pandemic) by a star-studded cast that includes include Oprah Winfrey, Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Yara Shahidi, Joe Morton, and Phylicia Rashad, as well as activists such as Angela Davis and Black Lives Matter cofounder Alicia Garza. “I hope that people are changed for the better by watching it," Watson told EW. "That there’s an opening into something more positive and a deeper understanding of the Black culture.” —Gerrad Hall

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What Else to Watch

Streaming

Onyx Equinox (series debut) — CrunchyRoll

8 p.m.

A Nashville Christmas Carol — Hallmark

Feliz NaviDAD — Lifetime

9 p.m.

Ghost Nation (season finale) — Travel Channel

SUNDAY

Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Netflix

A Christmas Carol meets It’s a Wonderful Life meets COVID-killing country queen Dolly Parton herself in this joyous Netflix musical, filled with irresistible numbers written by Parton and choreographed by the film’s legendary director Debbie Allen. Christine Baranski stars as a ruthless businesswoman handing out eviction notices like bitter candy canes, set on selling her small town to a developer who plans to build an enormous shopping mall in its place. That is, until a sassy, spangly angel (Parton, naturally) steps in to remind her of who she really is — and what Christmas is all about. —Mary Sollosi

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What Else to Watch

Check local listings

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving — PBS

12 p.m.

Barefoot Contessa (Thanksgiving special) — Food Network

6 p.m.

Snapped (500th episode) — Oxygen

8 p.m.

2020 American Music Awards — ABC

NCIS: Los Angeles — CBS

Pandora — The CW

Holiday Wars — Food Network

The Simpsons — Fox

The Reagans (part 2) — Showtime

The Spanish Princess — Starz

8:30 p.m.

Bless the Harts — Fox

9 p.m.

Fear the Walking Dead (midseason finale) — AMC

The Real Housewives of Potomac — Bravo

NCIS: New Orleans — CBS

The Outpost — The CW

Bob's Burgers — Fox

The Undoing — HBO

Belushi (doc) — Showtime

9:30 p.m.

Family Guy — Fox

10 p.m.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond — AMC

Buddy vs. Christmas (series debut) — Food Network

Fargo — FX

Murder on Middle Beach — HBO

*times are ET and subject to change