‘Miss Austen’ on ‘Masterpiece,’ ‘Gemstones’ Finale, Back to ‘Dead City,’ Mark Twain Prize for Conan

SUNDAY: There’s a reason Jane Austen wrote so memorably about devoted sisters. According to this poignant four-part Masterpiece drama, she and her older sister Cassandra were thick as thieves throughout their lives. Set in 1830, more than a decade after Jane’s untimely death at 41, Miss Austen focuses on her surviving sister Cassandra (the sublime Keeley Hawes), who’s determined to protect Jane’s privacy when a batch of personal letters are discovered. These missives bring the past vividly to life, spinning a fable of unrequited love and undying loyalty between the younger Cassie (Synnøve Karlsen) and the defiantly independent Jane (Patsy Ferran).

SUNDAY: Having barely escaped a violent death at a gator farm in the last episode, patriarch Eli Gemstone (John Goodman) and Baby Billy (Walton Goggins) each experience life-changing epiphanies in the eventful series finale of the irreverent comedy. The mayhem isn’t entirely over when the Gemstones retreat to their Galilee Gulch lake house, but amid the chaos, you might actually believe there’s redemption possible for Eli’s hilariously self-absorbed offspring: Jesse (Danny McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson), and Kelvin (Adam Devine).

SUNDAY: Broadway is more like Death Valley in the dreariest of the Walking Dead spinoffs, set in and on the outskirts of a post-zombie-apocalypse Manhattan. The second season opens with a morose Maggie (Lauren Cohan) reluctantly recruited by the New Babylon Federation army to join an exploratory mission into the rotted Big Apple — shirking service has serious consequences — while her nemesis turned frenemy Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is forced to do the bidding of the villainous Croat (the hammy Željko Ivanek) from within the city limits. At least he gets a new updated version of Lucille in the bargain. This makes me miss the simpler days of the Sharks vs. the Jets in West Side Story.

SUNDAY: “History will show this will have been the most entertaining gathering of the resistance ever,” declares David Letterman, presenting his fellow late-night TV veteran Conan O’Brien with the coveted Mark Twain Prize in a ceremony filmed in March, not long after O’Brien’s well-received Oscar hosting debut. Part roast, all celebration, the tribute features a Hot Ones demonstration with Stephen Colbert, and Sean Evans, and remarks from the likes of Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, former sidekick Andy Richter, John Mulaney, Sarah Silverman, Nikki Glaser, Tracy Morgan, Kumail Nanjiani, Bill Burr, and Robert “Triumph the Insult Comic Dog” Smigel.

SATURDAY: The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and his current companion Belinda (Varada Sethu) take a breather in a startling change-of-pace episode that catches up with the Fifteenth Doctor’s first sidekick, the adorable Ruby Tuesday (Millie Gibson), who’s still in an emotional limbo after her interstellar adventures. Turns out she has an admirer: the charming podcaster Conrad (World on Fire‘s Jonah Hauer-King), who’s never forgotten his childhood encounter with the Time Lord in the blue box and wants to hear all about Ruby’s exploits. Scary aliens and interference from UNIT are among the complications in their too-good-to-be-true romance.

SUNDAY: A car bomb reignites the war between the Harrigans and the Stevensons in this violent mob drama, and loyal fixer Harry (Tom Hardy) springs into action to protect his own family as well as his boss’s unruly clan. The suspense is excruciating as Harry tries to locate Harrigan outliers Brendan (Daniel Betts) and Seraphina (Mandeep Dhillon), who’ve gone off the grid in Antwerp to pull off an illegal deal involving Mozambique rubies. Pulling everyone’s strings with malicious glee is malicious matriarch Maeve (Helen Mirren), about whom her husband Conrad (Pierce Brosnan) rightly observes, “Sometimes I think the devil’s bile runs in your veins.”

INSIDE WEEKEND TV:

• Kentucky Derby (Saturday, coverage starts at 2:30 pm/ET, NBC, streaming on Peacock): Post time for the 151st running of the iconic horse race is 6:57 pm/ET from Churchill Downs in Louisville.
• 2025 iHeartCountry Festival (Saturday, 8 pm/ET, streaming on Hulu): From Austin’s Moody Center, a celebration of country music features mainstage performances from Brooks & Dunn, Thomas Rhett, Rascal Flatts and many more.
• Hats Off to Love (Saturday, 8/7c, Hallmark Channel): The Kentucky Derby is the backdrop for a romance between hat designer Stella (Ginna Claire Mason) and horse trainer Christian (John Clarence Stewart).
• Two for One (Saturday, 8/7c, TCM): The series of celebrity-curated double features returns with Hamilton‘s Lin-Manuel Miranda choosing (what else) musicals: 1953’s MGM classic The Band Wagon, followed by Bob Fosse‘s 1979 All That Jazz (10/9c).
• 48 Hours (Saturday, 10/9c, CBS): Erin Moriarty reports on the 1979 murder of college student Catina Salarno by her high-school sweetheart, who lives across the street, and her family’s decades-long crusade for justice.
• Saturday Night Live (Saturday, 11:30/10:30c, 8:30 pm/PT, NBC): Abbott Elementary‘s Quinta Brunson returns to host for the second time, with Benson Boone the first-time musical guest.
• Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld (Sunday, streaming on Disney+): May the Fourth be with this new batch of animated shorts from the Star Wars universe, focusing on the villainous characters of assassin/bounty hunter Asaji Ventress and outlaw Cad Bane.
• The Month of Mayberry (Sunday, 4 pm/3c, MeTV): A monthlong tribute to the iconic The Andy Griffith Show features a rare broadcast of 2003’s The Andy Griffith Show Reunion: Back to Mayberry (5 pm/4c), a 50th-anniversary celebration with Griffith joined by Ron Howard and Don Knotts.
• 60 Minutes (Sunday, 7/6c, CBS): Scott Pelley reports on major law firms under attack by the new administration, and Lesley Stahl delivers a two-part segment on the growing trend of women freezing their eggs.
• American Idol (Sunday, 8/7c, ABC): Miranda Lambert guests as the Top 10 celebrate “Iconic Women of Music” in song.
• Tracker (Sunday, 8/7c, CBS): Having finished filming her NBC series The Hunting Party, Melissa Roxburgh returns as Colter’s (Justin Hartley) sister, Dory.
• Family Guy (Sunday, 8:30/7:30c, Fox): What does little Stewie know about tariffs? When the tyke notices the “Made in China” tag on his beloved stuffed Rupert, he heads to the Far East to meet Rupert’s family.
• The Last of Us (Sunday, 9/8c, HBO): Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) arrive in Seattle on their perilous quest, unaware of a local war brewing between the Washington Liberation Front “Wolves” and the renegade “Scars.” And you thought the “clickers” were scary.
• Watson (Sunday, 9/8c, CBS): A member of Watson’s (Morris Chestnut) team falls ill in the first of a two-part season finale. Followed by the Season 5 finale of The Equalizer (10/9c), where an ambush disrupts McCall’s (Queen Latifah) and Dante’s (Tory Kittles) romantic getaway.
• Time100: The World’s Most Influential People (Sunday, 10/9c, ABC): A special spotlights the magazine’s annual list of influential celebs, including cover subjects Demi Moore, Serena Williams, Ed Sheeran, Snoop Dogg, and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis.
• Dateline NBC (Sunday, 10/9c, NBC): A rare new episode on a Sunday night explores the 2012 murder of Staten Island teacher Simeonette Mapes-Crupi, who was found dead at the bottom of her stairs, with her husband the prime suspect.