Inside Notre Dame with ’60 Minutes,’ A Decimated Earth ‘Abides,’ Carol Burnett and TCM, Holiday Movie Bonanza

60 Minutes

SUNDAY: Call it a Christmas miracle. Five years after the historic medieval cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris was nearly destroyed by fire, the structure has been restored and will reopen to the public next weekend. Correspondent Bill Whitaker travels to Paris to get an inside look at the project, meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, who set a five-year deadline shortly after the catastrophe. In the same year as he presided over a triumphant Summer Olympics, Macron and his nation have even more reason to celebrate.

Earth Abides

SUNDAY: Based on a 1949 science-fiction novel by George R. Stewart, this grim survival fable (launching with two episodes) takes place in the immediate wake of a global pandemic that wipes out much of the human race. For most of the first episode, it appears that a geologist known only as Ish (Alexander Ludwig of Vikings and Heels fame) might be the sole survivor, having missed the calamity while in the mountains recovering from a snake bite. Eventually, others emerge who are immune to the plague, but they’ll all face the challenge of rebuilding a civilization and repopulating a nearly extinct species. Happy holidays!

Gone With the Wind

Sundays with Carol Burnett: One of the many highlights of the classic sketch comedy The Carol Burnett Show (1967-78) was its lampooning of Hollywood classics. Over four Sundays, the legendary Carol Burnett (now 91) joins host Dave Karger for screenings of movies that were memorably spoofed on the show, followed by their parodies—none more hilarious than the 1976 “Went with the Wind” send-up of 1939’s epic Gone with the Wind (8/7c), with Burnett as a hysterical Starlett O’Hara to Harvey Korman’s swaggering Capt. Ratt Butler. The sight gag of Starlett wearing a dress (designed by Bob Mackie) made from curtains—with the rod still attached!—was a meme before memes were a thing, and the dress was donated to the National Museum of American History in 2009. (Movies in weeks to come include Born to Be Bad and Torch Song on Dec 8, The Heiress and A Stolen Life on Dec. 15, and Mildred Pierce and Double Indemnity on Dec. 29.)

Believe in Christmas

The Yule Log: Gospel great BeBe Winans stars in Lifetime’s BeBe Winans’ We Three Kings (Saturday, 8/7c) as Lincoln King, whose three estranged daughters return home after their mother’s death for a holiday visit. With the help of a family friend (played by his niece Deborah Joy Winans), Lincoln heals the family rift through music. Also on Lifetime: Make or Bake Christmas (Sunday, 8/7c) stars Vivica A. Fox as a lifestyle goddess who sends an employee (Jasmine Aivaliotis) undercover at a bakery she hopes to acquire.

Hallmark Channel’s Saturday double feature includes Believe in Christmas (6/5c), a fable starring Chesapeake Falls alum Meghan Ory as a skeptic who succumbs to the charms of Christmasland and a handsome stranger (John Reardon), and the football-themed Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story (8/7c), starring Hunter King as a Kansas City Chiefs superfan determined to show the team’s director of fan engagement (Tyler Hynes) that her family deserves to win “Fan of the Year” honors. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and Chiefs players Trey Smith, Mecole Hardman Jr., Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and George Karlaftis appear in cameos, along with Donna Kelce (mother of Travis and Jason) as the manager of a BBQ joint. Hallmark also doubles up on Sunday, with The Finnish Line (6/5c), in which Anya (Kim Matula) travels to Finland to continue her late father’s legacy of dog sled racing with the help of a journalist and former racer (Beau Mirchoff); and The Christmas Quest (8/7c), set in Iceland, where an archaeologist (Lacey Chabert) and her ex-husband (Kristoffer Polaha) search for a fabled treasure at Christmastime.

And there’s more! Great American Family follows an encore of I Heard the Bells (Saturday, 8/7c) with Home Sweet Christmas (Sunday, 8/7c), starring channel faves Candace Cameron Bure and Cameron Mathison as childhood buds who reunite to save a maple sugar farm. On UPtv: A Prince and Pauper Christmas (Saturday, 7/6c) presents a caper in which a federal agent convinces a look-alike to step in when a confidential informant goes missing; and A Bluegrass Christmas (7/6c) stars Amanda Jordan as Katie, who convinces her grandfather, a bluegrass legend, to go back on the stage for the good of the family horse sanctuary.

Somebody Somewhere

SUNDAY: If Christmas movies are too saccharine for you, sample this warm yet tart slice of Midwest life before it’s over. You won’t find scenes more touching than Sam (Bridget Everett) overcoming her self-doubt while preparing for a date with Iceland (Darri Ólafsson), then sharing her feelings during a slumber party with her bestie Joel (Jeff Hiller).

INSIDE WEEKEND TV:

• America’s Funniest Home Videos’ Wreck the Halls: 35 Years of Holiday Hijinks (Sunday, 7/6c, ABC): The Sunday night staple collects the best yuletide clips from its 35-year history. Followed by The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular (8/7c), hosted by Dancing with the Stars’ Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro, with narration by Kristen Bell and performances from Elton John, John Legend, Auli’i Cravalho, Leslie Odom Jr., Carly Pearce, Pentatonix, Anika Noni Rose, SEVENTEEN and Seth MacFarlane with Liz Gillies.
• Mickey and the Very Many Christmases (Sunday, 7/6c, Disney Junior): Mickey Mouse stars in a new animated special in which he lives to regret making a wish that every day was Christmas.
• Yellowstone (Sunday, 8/7c, Paramount Network): Jamie (Wes Bentley) has good cause to fret, now that assassins have taken out his conspirator in the death of John Dutton (an unseen Kevin Costner). Elsewhere in Taylor Sheridan’s world: The mission shifts drastically for Lioness (Sunday, streaming on Paramount+), with a recovering Joe (Zoe Saldaña) raring for action; and on Landman (Sunday, streaming on Paramount+), Tommy’s (Billy Bob Thornton) shark of a lawyer, Rebecca (Kayla Wallace), proves that she’s more than a match for any litigator in Texas.
• HBCU Honors (Sunday, 8/7c, BET): Kym Whitley, a proud alumnus of Fisk University, hosts a ceremony from Howard University celebrating distinguished HBCU grads including producer Will Packer, former NASA engineer Dr. Lonnie Johnson and tech entrepreneur Jewel Burks Solomon. Performers include Fantasia, Hezekiah Walker and Mac Royals from The Voice.
• Tracker (Sunday, 9/8c, CBS): Colter (Justin Hartley) looks for a “ghost” who was thought to have died in a car accident months earlier. Followed by The Equalizer (10/9c), where McCall (Queen Latifah) and Mel (Liza Lapira) go undercover in a prison after an inmate vanishes on the day of her release.