Welcome back to Tune In: our weekly newsletter offering a guide to the best of the week’s TV.
Each week, Variety’s TV team combs through the week’s schedule, selecting our picks of what to watch and when/how to watch them. This week, “The Orville” begins its second season and “Escape at Dannemora” concludes.
“Alexa & Katie,” Netflix, Wednesday
In the second season of this multi-camera comedy, the indomitable best friends go through their sophomore year of high school. With hair on their heads, Alexa and Katie tackle the challenges of high school and the lingering complications of Alexa’s cancer with the comfort of knowing that together, they can get through anything.
“The Orville,” Fox, Sunday, 8 p.m. (Note: Start time dependent on length of NFL doubleheader)
In the second season premiere, Ed and the crew race to save a small group of survivors on a planet about to be destroyed by its sun. Meanwhile, Bortus and Klyden start marriage counseling when Bortus’ obsession with the ship’s simulation room gets out of hand. The show then moves to Thursdays beginning Jan. 3.
Magnify Movie Marathon, Fox Sports 1, Sunday, 6 a.m.
Fox Sports Films will air a movie marathon on FS1 featuring the first four Magnify documentaries: “89 Blocks,” executive produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter; “Shot in the Dark,” executive produced by Dwayne Wade and Chance the Rapper; “Nossa Chape,” from directors Jeffrey Zimbalist and Michael Zimbalist; and “They Fight,” from Common’s Freedom Road Productions and Argent Pictures with partner Drew Brees.
“Escape at Dannemora,” Showtime, Sunday, 10 p.m.
Ben Stiller’s take on the true story of two prisoners’ escape from an upstate New York prison concludes with its series finale this week.