Kennedy Center Honors, ‘Dune’ Finale, Hallmark’s Mr. Christmas makes its debut, Marvel Wonder’s “What If?”

Kennedy Center Honors

SUNDAY: Washington, DC’s fabled Kennedy Center rocks more than usual in this year’s annual celebration of the arts, with tributes to the Grateful Dead, blues rocker Bonnie Raitt, Harlem’s Apollo Theater, jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval—and less musical Francis Ford Coppola, whose film cut. The honorees get a night off from performing, while famous fans pay tribute to them from the stage of the Opera House. Raitt’s tribute, led by Julia Louis Dreyfus, includes appearances from Dave Matthews, Emmylou Harris, Sheryl Crow, Brandi Carlile, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Keb Mo and Susan Tedeschi. Sandoval’s segment features Andy Garcia, who played the musician in an HBO biopic, trumpeter/composer Chris Botti and an ensemble featuring Trombone Shorty. Show host Queen Latifah joins the Apollo Theater anniversary, which features Dave Chappelle, Savion Glover, Doug E. Fresh and The War and Treaty. Robert De Niro leads the Francis Ford Coppola tribute with family members Talia Shire (his sister), Jason Schwartzman (his nephew), Gia Coppola (his granddaughter) reminiscing with director Martin Scorsese, actors Al Pacino and Laurence Fishburne and fellow director George Lucas. The climactic celebration of the Grateful Dead features David Letterman, actors Miles Teller and Chloe Sevigny, remembrances of late band members Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh, and performances by Don Was, Leon Bridges, Dave Matthews, Susan Tedeschi and more.

Dune: Prophecy

SUNDAY: Getting to this point has often felt like a close fight through a mythological thicket Dune prequel, but there are payoffs in the eventful 80-minute season finale, with game-changing twists within the Sisterhood (which will one day become the all-powerful Bene Gesserit) and the Imperium, led by the weak-willed Emperor Corrino (Mark Strong). As arrogant Mother Superior Valya (Emily Watson) prepares for a climactic showdown with soldier Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel), whose influence with the Emperor may be waning as a palace coup is brewing, Valya’s troubled sister Tula (Olivia Williams) reflects over her own personal connection with the military hero turned zealot. Both sisters have taken their eyes off their acolytes at an inauspicious time, when a possessed Lila (Chloe Lea) reveals the sect’s darkest secrets.

Happy greetings

The Christmas log: Leading the weekend’s cornucopia of Christmas movies: Hallmark Channel’s Happy greetings (Saturday, 8/7c), featuring the debut of Ezra Moreland, the handsome winner of Hallmark+ Finding Mr. Christmas reality competition. The model and former Navy rescue driver joins Hallmark’s hall of hunks as Max, a dog shelter owner who bonds with Seattle website editor Mia (Jessica Lowndes), who is taken in by a stray dog ​​at Christmas time.

for life, A carpenter’s Christmas romance (Saturday, 8/7c) novelist Andrea (Sasha Pieterse), who has holed up in her family’s farmhouse to finish a book in private, pairs up with ex-broken Sam (Mitchell Slaggert), a lumberjack who helps rebuild the town of Wildwood after a fire. IN Engaged for Christmas (8/7c), heartbroken Zoe (Brittany Bristow) confronts advice columnist Dear Adora, only to find out that Adora is a guy named Adam (Marcus Rosner). OWN 24-carat Christmas (Saturday, 9/8c) stars Samantha Marie Ware as jewelry designer Trish, who tracks down missing wedding bands with best man Book (Curtis Hamilton) before a Christmas Eve wedding deadline. Other highlights include the Great American Family’s A royal Christmas ballet (Sunday, 8/7c), starring Brittany Underwood as a former ballerina who helps a team of royal ambassadors stage The Nutcrackerand on UPtv, A country music Christmas (Saturday, 7/6 c), North by North Pole: A Dial S Mystery (Sunday, 7/6c), and a new season of Small town Christmas (Sunday, 9/8c), with visits to holiday parties in Oxford, Mississippi and Bryson City, South Carolina.

What if…?

SUNDAY: In a third and final season, Marvel’s animation arm presents alternate scenarios for some of its most popular heroes with The Watcher (voiced by Westworld‘s Jeffrey Wright), who serves as narrator and guide for their all-world adventure. With new episodes dropping over eight consecutive days, characters braving new fantasy universes include Captain America, The Winter Soldier, The Hulk, Agatha Harkness, Shang-Chi, Storm, Captain Peggy Carter and the Red Guardian.

INSIDE WEEKEND TV:

• 48 hours (Saturday, 10/9c, CBS): The true-crime series revisits the 1996 Christmas murder of 6-year-old JonBenét Ramsey, with father John Ramsey revealing another theory about the crime in an interview with Erin Moriarty, who covered it cold case since 1999.
• Saturday Night Live (Saturday, 11:30/10:30c, 8:30/PT, NBC): To wrap up 2024, former cast member (1984-85) and Only murder in the building star Martin Short returns for his third solo guest hosting gig (his fifth overall) in the traditional pre-Christmas episode. Hozier returns as musical guest for the second time.
• The Simpsons (Sunday, 8/7c, Fox): A new episode sends the Pin Pals to the capital to compete in the state bowling championship, with Glenn Close returning as the voice of Mona Simpson.
• Lucy Worsley’s Holmes Vs. Doyle (Sunday, 8/7c, PBS): In the final episode, historian Lucy Worsley explores Arthur Conan Doyle’s decision to revive his most famous character, Sherlock Holmes. The ravages of World War I and the influenza epidemic (which claimed his eldest son) led to his obsession with spiritualism, and a feud with Harry Houdini threatened to cloud his legacy.
• Sunday night football (Sunday, 8:15 p.m./ET, NBC): The Tampa Bay Buccaneers take on the Dallas Cowboys in the primetime game.
• The earth remains (Sunday, 9/8c, MGM+): In back-to-back episodes of the post-apocalyptic drama, the not-so-safe port of San Lupo experiences a drought and then the virus returns.
• Farmer (streaming on Paramount+): Hard to say what’s a more troubling issue for Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton): his dealings with the cartel or with his ex, Angela (Ali Larter), and daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph) when they calms down.