Watch This: The Best of Streaming This Week: ‘Saturday Night Live’ & Walt Disney World’s 50th
New season premieres are still going on this week — and the biggest of them has to be the opener for the 47th season of Saturday Night Live, which, for the first time, will simulcast on NBC and Peacock. Owen Wilson guest hosts this week with musical guest Kasey Musgraves. Wilson is fresh off of co-starring in the first season of Disney+’s Loki and stars in the upcoming motion picture The French Dispatch, debuting in theaters on October 22. Musgraves’ newest album, “star-crossed,” debuted this week at #1 on the Album Sales Chart with a companion film now streaming on Paramount+.
Friday marks the 50th Anniversary of the grand opening of Walt Disney World in Florida. Everyone was familiar with Disneyland in California and how it appealed to the masses around the world. But the idea of a similar type of park on the opposite end of the nation was unheard of in the late 1960s when Walt Disney dreamed up his Florida project. Thousands of acres of Florida swampland south of Orlando were quietly purchased under the names of assumed corporations until plans were eventually made public as construction of the “Happiest Place on Earth” got underway. A special edition of ABC’s 20/20 marking the anniversary airs Friday night at 8 pm ET. And the edition will stream the following day on Hulu Disney is marking the occasion with a special category on Disney+.
What else is streaming that’s worth your time this week? Watch This:
‘It Fell Into The La Brea Tar Pits’
NBC continues to make its way into the realm of epic science fiction with La Brea. Imagine an earthquake that rips a hole in the middle of Los Angeles, opening a portal into another world. That rift also tears a family apart as a mother and son are trapped in that other world along with others who fell in during that earthquake. How will they get back? And what will happen to folks on our side of the rift? La Brea premieres Tuesday at 8 pm ET on NBC.
‘He’s Back…’
Six years after walking away from the anchor desk at The Daily Show, Jon Stewart returns to television as host of The Problem With Jon Stewart on Apple TV+. Each episode of the new bi-weekly program will focus on a single issue. In addition to the weekly television series, Stewart will host a companion podcast. The Problem With Jon Stewart premieres on Thursday on Apple TV+.
‘Come On Down!’
In September 1972, announcer Johnny Olsen implored contestants to “Come On Down” for the first time on The Price Is Right. America’s longest-running game show continues to have contestants “Come On Down” in the very same studio, now dubbed the Bob Barker Studio at CBS Television City in Hollywood after the show’s original host. On Thursday night, CBS and Paramount+ will host a two-hour special marking the start of the show’s 50th anniversary season, including a tribute to long-time host Bob Barker as well as current host Drew Carey.
You Mean That Show Is Still On The Air?
Shonda Rhimes’ magic touch still lives on ABC on Thursday nights as her longest-running series, Grey's Anatomy, enters its 18th season. The medical drama has seen many cast members, as well as writers, come and go, but the central figure of the show — Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey — has remained firmly in place. Not bad for a show that was originally scheduled as a mid-season replacement series. The Grey’s Anatomy season premiere is Thursday night at 8 pm ET on ABC.
Going Back To The Beginning
Sopranos fans can see how the entire story began as a prequel movie to the HBO series, titled The Many Saints of Newark premieres simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. The prequel follows the teenage years of Tony Soprano in the midst of a violent gang war his uncle and family are involved in.