Scary Showdown in ‘Derry,’ ‘Landman’ Pays Respects, College Football Championships, Melissa McCarthy on ‘SNL’

It: Welcome to Derry

SUNDAY: Stephen King and It fans know that the monstrous Pennywise the Clown (Bill Skarsgård) feeds on fear and hatred, and he’s in for a feast in the season’s penultimate episode. A lynch mob of racist Derry vigilantes, seeking the fugitive Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), has arrived to cause havoc at the Black Spot speakeasy, where some of our favorite characters have gathered. Turns out humans are just as capable of evil as the supernatural forces haunting this town.

Landman

SUNDAY: Taylor Sheridan‘s Texas oil drama, just renewed for a third season, takes a more contemplative mode when Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton, never better) faces an emotional reckoning during a road trip with his fractious family and crew to lay his long-estranged mother to rest. Though Tommy warns, “Let’s not get all misty” about her memory, mournful skeletons from the past tumble out as he and his grizzled dad, T.L. (the great Sam Elliott), come to terms with their past. Elsewhere, Cami’s (Demi Moore) negotiations with Gallino (an impressive Andy Garcia) take a surprising turn.

College Football

This is the weekend college football fans have been waiting for all season, with conference championships teeing up the 12 teams that will advance to the Playoffs. Among the major games airing on Saturday: the Big 12 Championship between BYU and Texas Tech (noon ET, ABC), the SEC Championship pitting Georgia against Alabama (4 pm/ET, ABC, with alternate viewing options on ESPN and SEC Network), the ACC Championship featuring Duke vs. Virginia (8 pm/ET, ABC) and (drum roll) the Big Ten Championship (8 pm/ET, Fox) in which undefeated teams from Ohio State and Indiana face off in a highly anticipated #1 vs. #2 showdown. Once the dust settles on Sunday, ESPN presents a three-hour College Football Playoff Selection Show (noon ET) revealing the Playoffs’ 12-team bracket with reaction and expert analysis.

She’s Making A List

The Yule Log: And the holiday-movie deluge continues. On Hallmark Channel, She’s Making a List (Saturday, 8/7c) stars channel favorite Lacey Chabert as Isabel, an inspector from the Naughty or Nice Group consulting firm hired by Santa to scope out good and bad kids, a job complicated when she falls for the widowed dad (Andrew Walker) of a bratty 11-year-old. In Hallmark’s Single on the 25th (Sunday, 8/7c), Lyndsy Fonseca and Daniel Lissing star as romantically unattached neighbors who form, guess what, an attachment.

Lifetime’s Saturday double feature includes Deck the Hallways (8/7c), starring Naika Toussaint as Zoe, who’s determined to keep her grandmother’s (Loretta Devine) Christmas traditions alive; and Merry Missed Connection (10/9c), a romcom set against a speed-dating event. Great America Family offers Christmas at the Inn (Saturday, 8/7c), starring Jill Wagner and Trevor Donovan, and Mistletoe at the Manor (Sunday, 8/7c), starring Madeleine Coghlan as a food influencer who finds magic and romance at an ancient English castle. OWN presents The Christmas Showdown (Saturday, 9/8c), again with Loretta Devine, as a producer overseeing a Christmas Eve Spectacular event, a gig that frenemy rivals April (Corbin Reid) and Chastity (Amber Stevens West) both hope to land. UPtv’s A Christmas Murder Mystery (Sunday, 7/6c) stars Morgan Bradley as Vera, who serves as a newspaper’s puzzle editor and freelances as a consulting detective for the local sheriff, the latter coming in handy when a murder occurs at the wealthy family’s home she’s visiting for Christmas.

Saturday Night Live

SATURDAY: Returning for her sixth time as guest host (having won a 2017 Emmy and three additional nominations for her appearances), Melissa McCarthy always brings it. She leads off a three-week run of holiday episodes, featuring first-timer Josh O’Connor (Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery) on Dec. 13 and Wicked‘s Ariana Grande back for a third time on the Dec. 20 Christmas show, with the legendary Cher as her musical guest.

INSIDE WEEKEND TV:

• CNN Heroes (Saturday, 8/7c, CNN): Anderson Cooper and Laura Coates host the 19th annual tribute to everyday heroes making a difference in their community. A special Legacy Award will be presented to the late Robert Redford, with former VP and environmentalist Al Gore accepting on behalf of the actor/activist.
• Paws in the City (Saturday, 8/7c, The CW): A disgraced social-media manager (Emeraude Toubia) takes a job as a pampered dachshund’s caretaker and falls in puppy love with the pooch’s reclusive owner (Carter Jenkins).
• 48 Hours (Saturday, 10/9c, CBS): Erin Moriarty reports on the long-unsolved disappearance and murder of 16-year-old Massachusetts lifeguard Molly Bish in 2000.
• 60 Minutes (Sunday, 7/6c, CBS): Lesley Stahl interviews political firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene in advance of her resignation from Congress, Sharyn Alfonsi explores the dangers of AI chatbots, and Jon Wertheim visits Switzerland’s “Watch Valley.”
• 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days (Sunday, 8/7c, TLC): Eight couples (including Hunt for Love‘s Elise) embark on the journey to turn their long-distance connections into something more permanent.
• The Simpsons (Sunday, 8/7c, Fox): Home Alone‘s Kieran Culkin and That ’70s Show‘s Kurtwood Smith are among the guest voices when Principal Skinner tries parenting a runaway child whom he finds living in the school library. Followed by new episodes of Universal Basic Guys (8:30/7:30c), Krapopolis (9/8c), and Bob’s Burgers (9:30/8:30c).
• Tracker (Sunday, 8/7c, CBS): Colter (Justin Hartley) hopes to clear the name of a grieving mother when she becomes the prime suspect in her missing daughter’s murder.
• Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking (Sunday, 8/7c, Food Network): In the final round, three remaining teams create tasty masterpieces inspired by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire‘s epic Triwizard Tournament.
• The Whole Story With Anderson Cooper (Sunday, 8/7c, CNN): In “Justice Defenders: Change Inside Prison,” anchor Anderson Cooper reports on conditions inside maximum-security prisons in African prisons, including in Kenya.
• Sunday Night Football (Sunday, 8:15 pm/ET, NBC): The Houston Texans take on the Kansas City Chiefs in the prime-time match. During the game, Peacock livestreams a Reality Hot Seat special in which reality-TV stars “Boston Rob” Mariano, Heather Gay, Justin Sylvester, and Kate Chastain dish about the gridiron action as if it were a reality-show reunion.
• Words + Music (Sunday, 10/9c, MGM+): Sheryl Crow takes the stage to illustrate her career and life through song.
• Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints (Sunday, streaming on Fox Nation): The series profiles “millennial saint” Carlo Acutis, aka “God’s influencer,” who spread the word online until his death from leukemia at 15 in 2006.
• Miss Scarlet (Sunday, streaming on the PBS app): If you can’t wait for the period mystery’s sixth season to begin airing weekly in January, all six episodes will be available for streaming.