TV's Best Bets

Saturday, June 25

“Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. Jerrod Carmichael hosted this rerun (with Gunna as music guest), returning to the network where he first drew attention. He did three short seasons (partially in summers) as producer and star of “The Carmichael Show,” drawing praise for injecting topical humor into a situation comedy. In the five years since then, he’s mainly helped produce other people’s series (“Ramy,” “Rel”) and stand-up specials. Here’s a return to the spotlight.

“The Intern” (2015), 8 p.m., TNT, and “Taxi Driver” (1976); 10 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. Here are two extremes for Robert De Niro. At 71, he played a post-retirement intern in a pleasantly predictable comedy. At 32, he was a brutal cabbie, getting the second of his eight Academy Award nominations. He’s won Oscars for “Raging Bull” and “The Godfather, Part II” — both on the American Film Institute’s best-movie list, at No. 4 and 31. Also listed are “Taxi Driver” and “Deer Hunter,” at No. 52 and 53, plus “Goodfellas” at No. 92.

More movies. The emphasis is on crowd-pleaser, starting with the zesty “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018) at 5:30 p.m. on TNT. Others include Matt Damon’s “The Martian” (2015), at 8 p.m. on FX, and a Freeform double-feature — “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” (2018), at 7:40 p.m. and “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” (2014) at 10:45.

Sports overload. Three sports fill up the big networks. It’s baseball on Fox (7:15 p.m. ET), auto racing on CBS (8) and football on two networks. Yes, football, via the struggling USFL. It has its semi-finals at 3 p.m. ET on Fox and 8 p.m. on NBC; the winners will collide July 3 on Fox.

“Murdoch Mysteries,” 7 and 8 p.m. ET, Ovation. This Canadian series usually settles for amiable, self-contained hours. Lately, however, it’s had big finishes to each season. The two-part finale for this 15th season starts with someone killing a guy who looks like Murdoch. Now Murdoch frets about protecting his wife (Dr. Ogden) and baby, while finding the killer. Meanwhile, Crabtree heads to his wedding in his bride’s home town, which has a mystical reputation. When the maid-of-honor disappears, he suspects other-worldly beings.

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Saturday TV's Best Bets