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TV This Week

Weekend TV: ‘Sunday Night Football’ is back

The top draws on broadcast and cable and in sports

By Louisa Ada Seltzer

September 9, 2016

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FRIDAY

Best bet on broadcast: CBS, “ACM Honors,” 9 p.m. Lady Antebellum hosts the 10th annual special, which looks at honorees from the Academy of Country Music Awards.

Best bet on cable: Cinemax, “Quarry,” 10 p.m. Series premiere. Crime drama set in 1972 Memphis following a former Marine who turns to crime.

Top sporting event: ESPN2, “College Football,” 8 p.m. No. 13 Louisville travels to Syracuse to take on the new-look, fast-paced Orange.

SATURDAY

Best bet on broadcast: NBC, “Aquarius,” 10 p.m. Season finale. Manson sends Sadie, Emma, Patty and Tex on a mission.

Best bet on cable: Reelz, “Rich and Acquitted,” 9 p.m. Series premiere. The first episode of this new series looks at Michael Jackson’s child molestation case.

Top sporting event: ESPN, “Tennis,” 4 p.m. The women’s final from the U.S. Open.

SUNDAY

Best bet on broadcast: ABC, “Miss America Competition,” 9 p.m. Chris Harrison and Sage Steele hosts the 96th annual pageant.

Best bet on cable: CNN, “9/11: 15 Years Later,” 8 p.m. New documentary looking back at the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

Top sporting event: NBC, “Sunday Night Football,” 8:20 p.m. The Tom Brady-less Patriots take on the Cardinals in Arizona, as Brady finally begins serving that suspension from Deflategate.

A look at this week’s top TV draws
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9
Time	Network	Program	Description
3 a.m.	Amazon	“One Mississippi” (C)	Comedian Tig Notaro’s semi-autobiographical comedy about returning to her hometown debuts the rest of its rookie season after last year’s pilot premiere. Nine additional episodes drop today.
8 p.m.	Various networks	“Stand Up to Cancer” (A)	Keith Urban, Celine Dion and Little Big Town are among the performers scheduled to join many other celebrities asking for donations in support of research to eradicate cancer.
9 p.m.	Showtime	“Martin Lawrence: Doin’ Time (Uncut)” (N)	The TV (“Martin”) and movie star (“Bad Boys”) returns to perform his first stand-up comedy special in 14 years. Taped at the Oprheum Theater in Los Angeles.
10 p.m.	ABC	“20/20” (N)	The ABC Friday night staple starts its 39th season with Diane Sawyer interviewing host Elizabeth Vargas about her struggles with alcohol addiction and anxiety.
10 p.m.	Cinemax	“Quarry” (D)	Series premiere. In 1972 Memphis, a returning Vietnam vet is seduced by the city’s criminal underworld after being shunned by loved ones and rejected by everyone else. Based on the Max Allan Collins novels.
10 p.m.	We TV	“Million Dollar Matchmaker” (R)	Season finale. Patti Stanger has her work cut out for her when a “Baywatch” star and a has-been rocker walk through her doors asking for her help in finding their soulmates.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10
Time	Network	Program	Description
4 p.m.	ESPN	“U.S. Open 2016” (S)	The women’s final match, live from the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York.
7:30 p.m.	Fox	“College Football” (S)	For its sixth-season premiere, “CFB on Fox” presents BYU at Utah.
7:30 p.m.	NBC SN	“NASCAR Racing” (S)	The Federated Auto Parts 400, part of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series. Live from Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Virginia.
8 p.m.	ABC	“College Football” (S)	Virginia Tech welcomes Tennessee.
8 p.m.	Lifetime	“The Girl in a Box” (M)	A 22-year old girl is abducted in 1977 by a couple who force her to be their slave and babysitter.
10 p.m.	Lifetime	“Colleen Stan: The Girl in the Box” (N)	A made-for-TV movie not enough for you? Then spend two more hours with this special mixing news footage and interviews with the woman depicted in Lifetime’s “Girl in the Box.”
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11
Time	Network	Program	Description
1 p.m.	Fox	“NFL Football” (S)	The first NFL doubleheader Sunday afternoon of the season belongs to Fox, which wisely has scheduled a sneak preview of a new fall show right after to benefit from the late game’s lead-in audience.
4 p.m.	ESPN	“U.S. Open 2016” (S)	The men’s final match, live from, where else, the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York.
8 p.m.	Fox	“Son of Zorn” (C)	Fox’s new Sunday night comedy mixing animation and live-action, about a barbarian from the land of Zephyria learning to live as a 9-to-5 office worker in California’s Orange County, gets a sneak preview.
8:30 p.m.	NBC	“Sunday Night Football” (S)	NBC’s No. 1 show makes its proper day debut featuring a match between the Tom Brady-less New England Patriots and Carson Palmer’s Arizona Cardinals.
9 p.m.	ABC	“2016 Miss America Competition” (A)	The 96th edition of the beauty pageant, featuring young women vying for the title of Miss America. Live from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
10 p.m.	Showtime	“Masters of Sex” (D)	Season premiere. Masters and Johnson try to forge independent career paths without each other.
A = awards show or special, C = comedy, D = drama, DD = daytime drama, G = game show, K = kids, M = movie, N = news/documentary, R = reality, S = sports, T = talk/variety show.