What to Watch this Weekend: The Crown returns with a new season and new faces

We know TV has a lot to offer, be it network, cable, premium channels, or streaming platforms including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Facebook Watch, and others. So EW is here to help, guiding you every single day to the things that should be on your radar. Check out our recommendations below, and click here to learn how you can stream our picks via your own voice-controlled smart-speaker (Alexa, Google Home) or podcast app (Spotify, iTunes, Google Play).

FRIDAY

Dollface

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Hulu

Series Debut
Everyone has experienced a friend ditching them as soon as they get into a long-term relationship. But what happens when that relationship ends and the friend realizes that they let all of their friendships expire? That’s exactly what the new high-concept comedy Dollface seeks to explore when a young woman named Jules (Kat Dennings) is dumped by her longtime boyfriend and needs to re-enter the world of women, rekindling all the female friendships she left behind. This pitch-perfect show blends reality with fantasy in creative ways as Jules’ imagination runs wild while she learns how to cope with her new life. But it’s the way the Hulu series explores and subverts cliché tropes of female friendships where it truly shines. Smart, bold, and unapologetically real, Dollface will make you laugh and immediately want to call up your best friends. —Sydney Bucksbaum

Related content:

• Shay Mitchell promises her Dollface character isn’t just another Peach from Netflix’s YOU

• See the first photos from Hulu’s adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People

• See a first look at Zoe Kravitz in Hulu’s new High Fidelity series

Klaus

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Netflix

There have been origin stories for Santa Claus before (perennial Rankin-Bass favorite Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, for instance), but Netflix’s Klaus offers a fresh — and visually stunning — take. When hapless postman Jesper (Jason Schwartzman) stumbles upon Klaus (J.K. Simmons), a mysterious carpenter with a stockpile of handmade toys, the two form an unlikely partnership to deliver the toys to children. “He’s certainly not the cuddly St. Nick that people see when they go to Macy’s when we first meet him,” Simmons, who was a mall Santa one year when he was “fresh out of college,” told EW of his take on Kris Kringle. “Part of what was interesting and challenging and fun was that these characters go on a journey and Klaus really starts in a dark, unhappy place. He’s not jolly when we first meet him and it takes a lot of relentless cajoling to bring him out of himself.” Santa Claus, a Grinch? Color us intrigued. —Tyler Aquilina

Related content:

• J.K. Simmons reveals he was a mall Santa before starring in Netflix’s Klaus

• Kiernan Shipka and Isabela Merced dish on Netflix’s new teen holiday flick Let It Snow

• Watch Romany Malco try to save Christmas for his family in exclusive trailer for Netflix’s Holiday Rush

The Morning Show

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Apple TV+

A new status quo is being established on The Morning Show. Picking up in the aftermath of Bradley’s (Reese Witherspoon) intense interview with one of Mitch’s victims, the drama’s fifth episode explores how everyone is adjusting to this new world now that the dust has started settling and as a forthcoming New York Times exposé looms over them. “People begin to observe where they are in this new power structure, and they then have to occupy those powerful spaces,” says star Billy Crudup, who plays network executive Cory Ellison. “It becomes quite dramatic. So, the expression of then how the power is wielded amongst those who are newly adopting it and those who are observing that becomes this rather sophisticated chess game amongst entertainment. So you get the benefit of watching entertaining people behave in extraordinary ways.” More specifically, you can expect Crudup’s Cory to perform a musical number with Jennifer Aniston’s Alex. —Chancellor Agard

Related content:

• The Morning Show recap: Kelly Clarkson’s truth-teller

• Reese Witherspoon says Morning Show episode 4 has ‘one of my favorite things I’ve ever gotten to play’

• There’s a Gilmore Girls musical in The Morning Show, and we wrote the songs for it

What Else to Watch

Streaming
The Man in the High Castle (final season premiere) — Amazon Prime Video
I Lost My Body (movie) — Netflix
I’m With the Band: Nasty Cherry (docuseries debut) — Netflix
The Toys That Made Us (season premiere) — Netflix
Llama Llama (season premiere) — Netflix
Earthquake Bird (movie) — Netflix
Encore! — Disney+
Forky Asks a Question — Disney+
The Imagineering Story — Disney+
Marvel’s Hero Project — Disney+
The World According to Jeff Goldblum — Disney+
The Mandalorian — Disney+
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series — Disney+
Line of Duty (movie) — VOD/Digital platforms
See — Apple TV+
For All Mankind — Apple TV+
Ghostwriter — Apple TV+
Snoopy in Space — Apple TV+
Titans — DC Universe

8 p.m.
American Housewife — ABC
The Blacklist — NBC
Charmed — The CW
Hawaii Five-0 — CBS
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK — Logo
Christmas A La Mode — Lifetime

8:30 p.m.
Fresh Off the Boat — ABC

9 p.m.
Dynasty — The CW
Magnum P.I. — CBS
One Fine Christmas — OWN

10 p.m.
Blue Bloods — CBS

SATURDAY

Saturday Night Live

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: 11:30 p.m. on NBC

Related content:

• Will Ferrell to host Saturday Night Live, join Five-Timers Club

• SNL just released every appearance of Bill Hader as Stefon ever

• Saturday Night Live recap: Kristen Stewart and Coldplay are back!

What Else to Watch

9 a.m.
Sesame Street (50th season premiere) — HBO

8 p.m.
Christmas Under the Stars — Hallmark
Christmas in Louisiana — Lifetime

9 p.m.
Blue Planet Now — BBC America

SUNDAY

The Crown

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Netflix

Season Premiere
Netflix’s British royal family drama returns for a third season with a new cast portraying the Windsors in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Olivia Colman takes over the role of Queen Elizabeth II from the Emmy-winning Claire Foy; Outlander star Tobias Menzies replaces Matt Smith as Prince Philip; Helena Bonham Carter plays Princess Margaret; and Ben Daniels portrays Lord Snowden. Will fans easily adjust to these new faces? “It’s a bit like changing contact lenses,” says The Crown creator Peter Morgan. “I think it takes you about five minutes to get used to it.” —Clark Collis

Related content:

• The Crown season 3 review: New cast, who dis?

• The Crown creator explains why Queen Elizabeth II is like Tony Soprano

• The Crown actor Josh O’Connor had never been on a horse before playing polo-mad Prince Charles

What Else to Watch

Check local listings
Poldark (series finale) — PBS

7 p.m.
America’s Funniest Home Videos — ABC
Christmas Cupcakes — UPtv

8 p.m.
Kids Say the Darndest Things — ABC
Batwoman — The CW
The Real Housewives of Atlanta — Bravo
90 Day Fiancé — TLC
The Simpsons — Fox
Ray Donovan (season premiere) — Showtime
Dublin Murders — Starz
Random Acts of Christmas — Lifetime
2019 Soul Train Awards — BET
Write Before Christmas — Hallmark

8:30 p.m.
God Friended Me — CBS
Bless the Harts — Fox

9 p.m.
Shark Tank — ABC
Supergirl — The CW
The Walking Dead — AMC
Watchmen — HBO
Shameless — Showtime
Bob’s Burgers — Fox
A Godwink Christmas: Meant for Love — Hallmark Movies & Mysteries

9:30 p.m.
Family Guy — Fox
NCIS: Los Angeles — CBS

10 p.m.
Mr. Robot — USA
The Rookie — ABC
Silicon Valley — HBO
Unpolished (series debut) — TLC
Get Shorty (season finale) — Epix
Macy’s Thanksgiving Cake Spectacular — Food Network

10:30 p.m.
Madam Secretary — CBS
Mrs. Fletcher — HBO

11:30 p.m.
Rick and Morty — Adult Swim

*times are ET and subject to change