The Media Tourist

Dec. 30 – Jan. 5

Top picks for TV, books, music & more!

All Times Eastern.

FRIDAY, Dec. 30

Wildcat
If you fell under the spell of The Tiger King, you’ll purr over this documentary, about a couple of animal conservationists caring for an orphaned African wildcat (Amazon Prime).

Island
Korean fantasy series, set on the tropical Jeju Island, taps into legends and folklore as it follows a group of young characters fighting an evil force that threatens to destroy the world (Prime Video). 

SATURDAY, Dec. 31
New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash
Yep, it’s big, all right. Ring out the old and usher in the new, Nashville-style, with performances all over Music City by Brooks and Dunn, Sheryl Crow, Elle King, Jason Aldean, Little Big Town, Kelsi Ballerini and more (10:30 p.m., CBS).

United in Song: Ringing in the New Year Together
With so many things dividing us, how about something to bring us all together? This holiday special celebrates America’s rich diversity in music, from folk, rock, opera and country to hip hop, showtunes, bluegrass and beyond (8 p.m., PBS).

Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve with Ryan Seacrest
It’s nearly a 20-year tradition as hosts Ryan Seacrest, Billy Porter, Liza Koshy and singing superstar Ciara anchor down in New York City’s Times Square—and beyond, in a pre-taped Disneyland segment—for this festive, fun celebration of stars, music, and fireworks! (8 p.m., ABC)

Lizzo Live in Concert
The world’s most rockin’, rappin’ flautist gives a full concert with her band, The Lizzbians, and special guests from the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif. (HBO Max).

A Toast to Twilight
It wouldn’t be New Year’s Eve with a marathon of Twilight Zone episodes, and your cup will runneth over for this one, featuring 84 back-to-back episodes of creator Rod Serling’s sci-fi TV masterpieces and sparkling with a galaxy of guest stars from the 1950s and ‘60s, including Carol Burnett, Robert Redford, Charles Bronson, Elizabeth Mongomery and (of course!) William Shatner (12 p.m., MeTV).  https://vimeo.com/777154241/3fc542d9e9

SUNDAY, Jan. 1
Paul T. Goldman
Watch the dramatized true story about a man who went “from wimp to warrior” after a shocking betrayal…and brought down an alleged international crime ring (Peacock).

Kaleidoscope
Like the object in its title, little episodic “fragments” come together bit by bit to ultimately reveal the details of a tense, heist-drama crime caper spanning 25 years. The non-linear story is inspired by real events that transpired in Manhattan, when $70 billion in bonds went missing during the chaos of Hurricane Sandy (Netflix).

Fantasy Island
Beat the winter blahs with the season two return, spun off from the iconic 1970s series, about a luxury tropical-isle resort where every dream can come true—but they rarely turn out as expected (8 p.m., Fox).

America’s Got Talent All-Stars
Cue the magicians, the singers, the jugglers, the dancers, the aerialists. Winners, finalists, fan faves and viral sensations from around the world—and AGT’s global franchises—return for this new series to compete for the hit TV competition’s ultimate All-Star title (8 p.m., Jan. 2)

TUESDAY, Jan. 3
FBI
The team jumps into action when an intelligence officer (Taylor Anthony) is taken hostage (8 p.m., CBS).

Sometimes When We Touch
Three-part soft-rock documentary explores the retro roots of the format that spawned such 1970s acts as Air Supply, Ambrosia, Christopher Cross, Kenny Loggins and many others in the 1970s—and ultimately crashed and burned in the ‘80s, only to stage an unlikely comeback later as “yacht rock” (Paramount+).

American Experience: The Lie Detector
You’ve seen it in the movies and on TV, but how much do you know about the device that knows if you’re telling the truth—or lying? This documentary takes you in the history, and the science, of the device that revolutionized police work…and more (9 p.m., PBS).  

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4
Tough as Nails
In tonight’s two-hour premiere, host Phil Keoghan welcomes another hard-working crew to compete—in challenges designed to represent real-world work—for the $200,000 grand prize and prove that they’re, well, as tough as nails (9 p.m., CBS).

Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street
Meet the man behind the infamous $64 billion-dollar Ponzi scheme, the largest in history, that swingled countless investors who put their misplaced trust in the revered financial guru (Netflix). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k31dKoFsniU

Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test
This “social experiment” competition premieres tonight with a two-hour kickoff in which a group of famous and semi-famous celebs (including Jamie Lynn Spears, Dr. Drew Pinsky and Anthony Scaramucci) trade spotlight glam for gutsy gung-ho grit in a series of challenges from the Special Forces playbook (8 p.m., Fox).

THURSDAY, Jan. 5

Ginny & Georgia
Season two of the comedy-drama series features Brianne Howrey and Antonia Gentry (right) returning to their roles as a New England daughter and her mom, now dealing with a deadly secret (Netflix).

Young Sheldon
Sheldon (Iain Armitage) considers dropping out of college to focus on building his own computer database (9 p.m., CBS).

Kold x Windy
Not a weather forecast, as the title suggests, but rather an eight-episode scripted drama series about the street culture of Chicago’s south side, following a rising hip hop star (Sh’Kia Augustin) and her rapper friend (Nijah Brenea) (10 p.m., WeTV).