Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, January 2, and Saturday, January 3. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
Brad Meltzer’s Lost History (H2, 10 p.m., Friday): After a season of seeking out (and sometimes even finding) some of the most-lost artifacts in U.S. history, novelist, historian, and comic book writer Meltzer brings the first season of his historical reality series to a close with an episode entitled “Evidence Found.” Which probably means he finally found that crate with the Ark in it. Well done.
Regular coverage
Mozart In The Jungle (Amazon): While this series about an orchestra has had its high and low notes, Vikram Murthi’s been overall impressed—at least until last episode’s off-key trio of unconnected stories landed like someone smashing three boxing gloves on a piano keyboard. After a day off for New Year’s, Vikram’s back on Saturday to see if the show can regroup heading into its final few episodes.
TV Club Classic
Doctor Who (Classic) (Saturday, 2 p.m.): Christopher Bahn returns from wherever his personal time machine takes him in between his monthly Doctor Who reviews. This time, he continues to track the progress of Tom Baker’s iconic Fourth Doctor, checking out the still-creepy “Robots Of Death.”
Elsewhere in TV Club
We at the AV Club may be the wisest, and smartest, and shiniest in all the land—but we ain’t perfect. So check out our contributors’ pop culture resolutions for 2015 in this first AVQ&A of the year for the tiny tweaks we’ve got planned to our all-encompassing genius. Then, as evidence of said shininess, read the TV Reviews of the new seasons of Downton Abbey and Galavant, from shiny, happy people Joshua Alston and Kate Kulzick, respectively. And, Nazis aside, Nick Schager revisits one of the darkest musical classics ever, as he tells you to Watch This (the “this” being Cabaret).
What else is on
Under Armor All-America High School Football Game (ESPN2, 3 p.m., Friday): Before the NFL playoffs kickoff this afternoon, why not indulge your love for football with (theoretically) less cash, corruption, and head trauma as the nation’s top high school players square off in Florida.
College Football: [Corporate Naming Rights] Alamo Bowl: Kansas State vs. UCLA (ESPN, 6:45 p.m., Friday): After the big semi-final playoff games Thursday, the also-ran bowls trot out to diminished effect. At least this one has two ranked teams battling for our entertainment.
Billy Joel: The Library Of Congress Gershwin Prize (PBS, 9 p.m., Friday): Everybody’s favorite singer/songwriter with a couple of songs you sort of like gets the big, career retrospective prize, alongside well-wishers like Tony Bennett, Michael Feinstein, Natalie Maines, and Boyz II Men. Question: would the world simply collapse in on itself if he didn’t close with “Piano Man?”