NFL Divisional Playoffs, ‘SNL’s First Show of 2025, ‘Mayfair Witches’ Powwow, ‘Creatures’ Baby on Board

SATURDAY: Eight teams take a step closer to next month’s Super Bowl when they face off in pivotal games setting up next weekend’s NFC and AFC Championships. The action begins Saturday (4:30 pm/ET) on ABC and ESPN, with the AFC’s No. 1 team Kansas City Chiefs taking on No. 4 Houston Texans, followed on Fox (8 pm/ET) with the NFC’s No. 1 Detroit Lions battling No. 6 Washington Commanders. On Sunday, NBC broadcasts a rare afternoon match (3 pm/ET) with NFC’s No. 2 Philadelphia Eagles facing No. 4 Los Angeles Rams, followed on CBS (6:30 pm/ET) with the AFC’s No. 2 Baltimore Ravens up against No. 3 Buffalo Bills.

SATURDAY: As a new/old administration prepares for inauguration, the irreverent late-night sketch comedy returns for its first show of the new year, continuing a 50th-anniversary celebration that culminates in a three-hour prime-time blowout next month. (Highly recommended: Peacock’s new four-part docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night.) Comedian Dave Chappelle makes his fourth appearance as guest host, with GloRilla the first-time musical guest.

SUNDAY: Having taken human form, the mysterious Lasher (Jack Huston) has a peculiar appetite for milk, and also a taste for New Orleans’ most prevalent witches, leaving a trail of dead Mayfairs behind. His biological mother Rowan (Alexandra Daddario), determined to stop him, convenes a gathering of the family under her roof with the help of Cortland (Harry Hamlin), laying a trap for the hungry demon. But will Sip (Tongayi Chirisa) and the Talamasca, forever watching and waiting, get to him first?

SUNDAY: “Babies are a law unto themselves,” warns housekeeper Mrs. Hall (Anna Madeley) in the charming Masterpiece drama. Now wearing an air warden’s uniform, she advises James (Nicholas Ralph), recently returned from the service, on his new parental duties. The vet takes it a step too far when he bundles up the wee lad and takes the infant on his rounds, including tending to a calf that keeps kicking the literal bucket. Mrs. Hall is caught in a domestic war of her own when Siegfried (Samuel West) clashes with officious air warden Mr. Bosworth (Ted Lasso’s Jeremy Swift), who reveals his poignant human side in a subplot involving, what else, an animal.

SUNDAY: Realizing that football is a great launching pad, especially for high-concept action series, NBC gives its latest thriller an early preview, two weeks before its originally scheduled Feb. 3 premiere date. Manifest’s Melissa Roxburgh stars as sidelined FBI profiler Bex Henderson, brought back onto the front lines after a mysterious explosion releases an unknown quantity of “the most violent and dangerous criminals the world has ever known” from a secret underground prison. Yes, there’s a new and very hush-hush blacklist in play, and in the premiere, Bex teams with prison guard Shane Florence (La Brea’s Josh McKenzie) and CIA agent Jacob Hassani (Patrick Sabongui) to track down a particularly dangerous madman.

INSIDE WEEKEND TV:

• My Argentine Heart (Saturday, 8/7c, Hallmark Channel): The “Winter Escape” movie series heads to South America, where Abril (Julie Gonzalo) hopes to keep the family ranch in Argentina from being sold to her ex (Juan Pablo Di Pace), but when another buyer emerges, they combine forces, with love conquering all.
• A Priceless Love (Saturday, 8/7c, Great American Family): Secondhand store owner Rose (Erin Agostino) discovers a valuable vintage teapot on her shelf but won’t sell to an eager antiques broker (Luke Humphrey) until she tracks down its original owner.
• Girl in the Garage: The Laura Cowan Story (Saturday, 8/7c, Lifetime): A fact-based drama stars Paige Audrey-Marie Hurd as Laura, whose nightmare begins when she moves her family in with a friend (Stephen Bishop) after her husband is arrested, only to be made prisoner in a garage, where she’s subjected to mental and sexual abuse.
• Heartland (Sunday, 8/7c, UPtv): While Lou (Michelle Morgan) sweats out election night, Amy (Amber Marshall) and Edwin (René Escobar Jr.) become closer when she and Jack (Shaun Johnston) retrain his horse for carriage racing. Followed by the Season 3 premiere of the New Zealand family fantasy drama Mystic (9/8c).
• True Crime Watch: On 48 Hours (Saturday, 10/9c), Erin Moriarty returns to a case she has covered for more than a decade, with new details suggesting key evidence may have been manipulated to convict daycare worker Melissa Calusinksi of murdering 16-month-old Benjamin Kingan in a suburban Chicago facility. On a special edition of Dateline NBC (Sunday, 9/8c), bumped Jan. 10 by coverage of the L.A. wildfires, Josh Mankiewicz reveals details about the 2014 murder of Rob Limon, the subject of the Dateline podcast “Deadly Mirage.”