What to Watch this Weekend: Mariah Carey spreads Christmas cheer and Selena comes to Netflix
Mariah #Mariah
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).
HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Apple TV+
‘Twas three weeks before Christmas
And across the U.S.
The people were spent
From a long year of stress.
But who should appear on Apple TV+?
Why, look, it’s Mariah, how lucky for us!
The true Queen of Christmas
Is spreading good cheer
With the magical special
We all need this year.
There’s music! And dancing! And famous guest stars!
(A trio of divas will sing a few bars!)
Carey’s dazzling show will warmly remind you:
Even in 2020, Christmas wishes come true. —Mary Sollosi
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Big Mouth
HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Netflix
Season Premiere
Big Mouth season 4 is headed to summer camp and bringing in famous guest voices including John Oliver and Seth Rogen. But, more importantly, the animated Netflix series is focusing on half-Jewish, half-Black teen Missy discovering what it means to be Black. And with that came a needed change. Jenny Slate, the white actress behind Missy, decided she should step down, paving the way for recently-hired Big Mouth writer Ayo Edebiri to take over. “I think Missy is one of the characters that I relate to the most,” Edebiri tells EW. “I’m very anxious and kind of dorky and weird, and definitely was that as a kid…Missy’s journey of her discovering herself, her sexual identity, and her Blackness, and even discovering that those are things that she needs to discover are all things I definitely related to growing up.” —Derek Lawrence
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Selena: The Series
HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Netflix
Series Debut
Netflix is prepping for the holiday season with warm content like Selena: The Series, a story about the Queen of Tejano music, Selena Quintanilla Perez, during her early years. The drama goes back in time and shows how Selena’s story began, the music that inspired her, and a special look at who her family is and their struggles while seeking the American dream. Madison Taylor Baez portrays Selena as a young girl, passing the baton later to Christian Serratos, who plays her as a teen and an adult. The series has the Quintanillas’ seal of approval, and Selena’s sister Suzette Quintanilla served as executive producer. —Rosy Cordero
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The Great British Baking Show: Holidays
HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Netflix
Season Premiere
Has a merrier match ever existed in the history of television than The Great British Baking Show and Derry Girls? Honestly, talk about Christmas coming early. Yes, the cast of the hilariously irreverent Netflix comedy — including Saoirse-Monica Jackson (Erin), Nicola Coughlan (Clare), Jamie-Lee O’Donnell (Michelle), Siobhan McSweeney (Sister Michael), and Dylan Llewellyn (James a.k.a the wee English fella) — is trading catholic school uniforms and nun habit’s for aprons, all to take part in a festive bake-off. The holiday special sees the girls and Llewellyn start things off with a trifle — which isn’t nearly as trifling as they had hoped (indeed Paul even uses the word “slime” to describe McSweeney’s jelly at one point), before they attempt to dazzle the judges with some blinis with piped cream cheese, beetroot and horseradish, and topped with hot smoked salmon and caviar. Fancy! A snarky comment or two, some confusion over a tablespoon and teaspoon, and many trepidatious looks from Paul later, and the gang attempts a showstopper decade celebration cake. They’re about as successful as you might expect from a bunch of inexperienced baker — indeed, Jackson rather hilariously describes hers as, looking like something “a five-year-old made, who had broken thumbs” — but in the end, it all makes for brilliant craic! In the words of Mr. Hollywood, “It’s Derry Girls, innit? Anything can happen.” —Ruth Kinane
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What Else to Watch
Streaming
Sound of Metal (movie) — Amazon Prime Video
Small Axe: Red, White and Blue — Amazon Prime Video
Stillwater (series debut) — Apple TV+
Earth at Night in Color (docuseries debut) — Apple TV+
Godmothered (movie) — Disney+
The Mandalorian — Disney+
The Hardy Boys (series debut) — Hulu
Captain Underpants Mega Blissmas — Netflix
Mank (movie) — Netflix
Luxor (movie) — Digital/VOD
Wander (movie) — Digital/VOD
Dear Santa (doc) — Digital/VOD
What Lies Below (movie) — Digital/VOD
I Hate New Year’s (movie) — VOD
Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan (movie) — VOD
Love, Weddings & Other Disasters (movie) — VOD
Elyse (movie) — VOD
Free Lunch Express (movie) — VOD
7:30 p.m.
Nickelodeon and TIME’s Kid of the Year — Nick/TV Land/TeenNick/NickToons
8 p.m.
Shark Tank — ABC
MacGyver (season premiere) — CBS
Disney Holiday Magic Quest (special) — Disney Channel
9 p.m.
20/20 — ABC
Magnum P.I. (season premiere) — CBS
Dateline — NBC
Macho: The Hector Camacho Story (doc) — Showtime
10 p.m.
Blue Bloods (season premiere) — CBS
Warrior (season finale) — Cinemax
SATURDAY
Streaming
Mighty Express: A Mighty Christmas — Netflix
12 p.m.
Beyond Breathless (doc) — A&E
8 p.m.
Baby Chimp Rescue (series debut) — BBC America
Let’s Meet Again on Christmas Eve — Lifetime
9 p.m.
President in Waiting (doc) — CNN
Most Terrifying With Jason Hawes (series debut) — Travel Channel
11:30 p.m.
Saturday Night Live (with Jason Bateman, Morgan Wallen) — NBC
SUNDAY The Real Housewives of Atlanta
HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: 8 p.m. on Bravo
Season Premiere
So much has happened since the last season of Atlanta, between the exit of NeNe Leakes and Eva Marcille to a global pandemic and national reckoning fighting for Black lives and Black futures. The season 13 premiere immediately breaks the fourth wall to address the new normal and dives right back into the drama of Kenya Moore figuring out the next steps of her separation, Kandi Burruss contacting her college-bound daughter’s biological father for unpaid child support, Cynthia Bailey planning a wedding during a pandemic, and Porsha Williams flying to Kentucky to protest the killing of Breonna Taylor right on the steps of the Louisville district attorney’s house. —Marcus Jones
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The Real Housewives of Potomac
HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: 9 p.m. on Bravo
Season Finale
Turns out the scuffle between Monique Samuels and Candiace Dillard-Bassett that has colored the entire fifth season of Potomac isn’t the only physical altercation this season. The Maryland women watch their finale end with a bang as Candiace’s husband faces off against the infamous Michael Darby at a party that may or may not be meant for Robyn Dixon to finally get engaged. —MJ
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Shameless
HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: 9 p.m. on Showtime
Season Premiere
Sadly, it’s time to say goodbye to the Gallaghers. After 11 years of hilarious debauchery, Shameless is returning for the final season of Showtime’s hit series. And it’s a season that the creative team had to write twice. After the pandemic caused production to be canceled three days before it was set to begin, showrunner John Wells and company threw out seven to eight completed scripts and rewrote everything. “It seemed essential for us to address what was going on for communities all over the country that were bearing the brunt of the financial consequences of what was happening,” says Wells. “We’re not pulling any punches on what’s going on in the country and how difficult it is for people in these financial circumstances, and how things have only gotten worse.” And for anyone worried about how the end could possibly live up to what has come before it, William H. Macy is here to ease any concerns. “Almost every TV show when it gets to the end of its tether will jump the shark at a point, and the last seasons are notoriously bad because everyone is out of gas and there are no stories,” says the Emmy-winning actor. “But, man, I’ve got to tell you, we’re about to start episode 5 and they’re still bringing these great, surprising scripts.” —DL
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Your Honor
HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: 10 p.m. on Showtime
Limited Series Debut
Bryan Cranston has done it all during his nearly 40 years in Hollywood, including playing a judge. Or at least he thinks he has. With more than 100 credits to his name, it’s hard for him to keep track, but Your Honor does definitely mark one first: Cranston leading a post-Breaking Bad series. Seven years after wrapping his legendary run as drug kingpin Walter White, the 64-year-old actor is back playing a law-abiding man who turns to crime to help his family. This time around, there’s no meth empire — rather, a father forced to choose between protecting his son and upholding the law after a deadly hit-and-run. “Whenever there’s a character who is facing an emotional, ethical dilemma, it draws me in,” Cranston tells EW of why Your Honor was the right project to return to TV with. “And with this dramatic construct of having your son make a mistake and panic and leave the scene of an accident, which results in a death, is disturbing and very, very possible. You go, ‘Yeah, I think under stress and shock, you could make a mistake like that.’ That possibility lends itself to some really terrific drama.” —DL
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What Else to Watch
7 p.m.
Challenge Accepted! Disney Channel’s Epic Holiday Showdown — Disney Channel
The Case Died With Her (two-hour special) — Oxygen
8 p.m.
Supermarket Sweep — ABC
Pandora — The CW
Holiday Wars (season finale) — Food Network
The Simpsons — Fox
MTV Movie & TV Awards: Greatest of All Time — MTV
The Reagans (finale) — Showtime
Power Book II: Ghost (midseason premiere) — Starz
90 Day Fiancé (season premiere) — TLC
8:30 p.m.
A Holly Dolly Christmas (special) — CBS
9 p.m.
The Outpost — The CW
Brittania (season finale) — Epix
Bob’s Burgers — Fox
9:30 p.m.
NCIS: Los Angeles (special time/back-to-back eps) — CBS
Family Guy — Fox
10 p.m.
Card Sharks — ABC
Murder on Middle Beach — HBO
12 a.m.
Lazor Wulf (season premiere) — Adult Swim
*times are ET and subject to change