What’s on TV This Week: ‘American Auto’ and ‘MTV Unplugged’
NBC debuts a sitcom about bumbling auto executives. And Tony Bennett sings with Lady Gaga on “MTV Unplugged.”Between network, cable and streaming, the modern television landscape is a vast one. Here are some of the shows, specials and movies coming to TV this week, Dec. 13-19. Details and times are subject to change.MondayAMERICAN AUTO 10 p.m. on NBC. In “Superstore,” the TV producer and creator Justin Spitzer lampooned a distinctly American workplace — a Costco-like big-box store — threatened by industry innovation. His new sitcom, “American Auto,” does the same for the automotive industry. It follows a group of bumbling executives at a fictional Detroit auto manufacturer as they try to keep up with an industry being transformed by self-driving cars and electric engines.SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING (2017) 5 p.m. on FX. Tom Holland leaps back into theaters this week in “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” his latest outing as that superhero, and the newest in a long line of attempts to capture the energy of comic book panels inside of film frames. This 2017 entry was the first time that Holland had a Spider-Man movie to himself. In her review for The New York Times Manohla Dargis called it a “likable, amusing” reboot. “What makes Spider-Man different and, ideally, work as a character, giving him an off-kilter charm, is he retains the uncertainties and vulnerabilities of adolescence,” Dargis wrote. “The team behind ‘Homecoming’ certainly gets that Spider-Man is a kid,” she said, “even if the movie plays the naïf angle too hard at times.”TuesdayAlan Cumming in “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.”Andrew YoungTHE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). The actor Alan Cumming teams up with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for this new take on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story of the same name. Conceived by the producer and conductor John Mauceri, who leads the performers here, this version combines live narration with music.ERNST LUBITSCH MOVIES 8 p.m. on TCM. On Tuesday night, TCM will show a string of early movies by the formative filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch. First up: THE DOLL (1919), a comedic fantasy about a young man who decides to marry a life-size doll. (The story was adapted from “La poupée,” an operetta by Edmond Audran, itself an adaptation of the E.T.A. Hoffmann story “Der Sandmann.”) Next: THE OYSTER PRINCESS (1919) at 9:15 p.m. and THREE WOMEN (1924) at 10:30 p.m., both also about relationship shenanigans. The Lubitsch continues into the early-morning hours for the hardiest among us.WednesdayTHE IHEARTRADIO JINGLE BALL 2021 8 p.m. on the CW. Lil Nas X, Ed Sheeran, the Jonas Brothers and Saweetie are among the headliners of this year’s iHeartRadio holiday tour. This special will compile highlights from that tour, which included a stop at Madison Square Garden last week.ThursdayTony Bennett and Lady Gaga in “MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga.”Kevin Mazur/MTVMTV UNPLUGGED: TONY BENNETT & LADY GAGA 9 p.m. on MTV. Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga perform songs from “Love for Sale,” their album of duets, in this special. The album was released in September, months after Bennett announced that he has been living with Alzheimer’s disease. It has been promoted as Bennett’s final record. That gives this old-school-jazz-club set a bittersweet flavor, but the sweetness prevails; the tone here is warm and celebratory.FridayLIVE FROM BRADLEY SYMPHONY CENTER: MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). The conductor Ken-David Masur leads the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in classic works by Ellington, Gershwin and Stravinsky and a new piece by Eric Nathan in this concert, which celebrates the opening of the orchestra’s restored concert hall. The pianist Aaron Diehl joins as a guest.THE REAL CHARLIE CHAPLIN (2021) 10 p.m. on Showtime. The filmmakers Peter Middleton and James Spinney use reams of archival footage; narration from the actress Pearl Mackie; and, perhaps most interestingly, dramatizations of audio interviews by lip-syncing actors to revisit the life and career of Charlie Chaplin in this documentary. It’s a rags-to-riches tale: The film follows Chaplin’s journey to Hollywood heights from a difficult childhood in Victorian London. The filmmakers “mostly run through the well-trodden timeline of Charlie Chaplin’s life and fame — from poverty to ubiquity to exile in Switzerland,” Nicolas Rapold wrote in his review for The Times, “but they keep up a wondering, questing approach.”SaturdayA scene from “Ron’s Gone Wrong.”Locksmith Animation/20th Century StudiosRON’S GONE WRONG (2021) 8 p.m. on HBO. A kind of “Black Mirror” for the whole family, this computer-animated movie casts Zach Galifianakis as the voice of Bubble, a cute little robot who becomes the companion of boy named Ben (Jack Dylan Grazer). Bubble is the product of big tech company. Ben’s copy is defective, which may or may not be the reason this human-robot relationship is destined to be a bumpy one. Released after recent revelations from a Facebook whistle-blower have made the role of tech giants in the real-world more concerning than ever before, “Ron’s Gone Wrong” immerses viewers in “a world that suddenly looks more dystopian than it did before,” Ben Kenigsberg wrote in his review for The Times. But “as family entertainment,” he wrote, “it’s fine.”Sunday1883 9 p.m. on Paramount Network. Paramount has had a big hit with “Yellowstone,” its modern-day Western series that stars Kevin Costner as a headstrong rancher. As its title suggests, this new prequel spinoff series brings the action to the 19th century. It follows Costner’s ancestors on a journey through the Great Plains. Sam Elliott, the actor and veteran of westerns, stars alongside the singers Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. More
