Coverage of the 57th annual Primetime Emmy Awards, television’s self-congratulatory orgy, is enhanced this year by the reappearance of comedian Ellen DeGeneres.
It was the comic/daytime talk-show host who came to the rescue of the show, postponed twice in 2001 following the terrorist attacks, with a sensitive-yet-funny performance.
She will emcee for the first time since (7 p.m. Sunday, KCNC-Channel 4) from Los Angeles.
A highlight will be tributes to anchormen Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and the late Peter Jennings and their influence on TV news.
There are more awards than an elementary-school field day but, me, I’m pulling for “Arrested Development,” a brilliant show critics love and the public ignores, to win something.
Weekend highlights:
Today
Weird things are going on with aliens and sailors in the Atlantic and the feds send out an investigative team, including Carla Gugino, Peter Dinklage and Brent Spiner, on the debut of “Threshold” (8 p.m., KCNC-Channel 4).
The weekly PBS show “NOW” travels to Baton Rouge for a roundtable discussion of the cleanup and rebuilding challenges in Louisiana and Mississippi in “Katrina: The Response” (8:30 p.m., KRMA-Channel 6).
Saturday
Can’t beat staying home on a Saturday night with a Jules
Verne science-fiction tale, especially if it stars Patrick Stewart as Captain Nemo in “Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island.” Kyle
MacLachlan co-stars (6 and 9 p.m., Hallmark Channel).
Sunday
Hank tries to loosen up to please his pals when “King of the Hill” makes its 10th-season debut (6:30 p.m., KDVR-Channel 31).
The violent crime series “Wanted” ends its first season with Gary Cole assigned to bag a ruthless gang lord (8 p.m., TNT).
Around the dial
The star-studded Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert, hosted by Laurence Fishburne and Wynton Marsalis from Lincoln Center, airs live on KUVO 89.3-FM, beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday. At 5, KUVO will do a special “All Blues” show to aid New Orleans R&B musicians. … “Colorado Spotlight” notes the opening of the Colorado Symphony season with a performance by new CSO music director/pianist Jeffrey Kahane and violinist Joshua Bell (5 p.m. tonight, KVOD 90.1-FM). … Quotable: “Don’t you wish there were a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence? There’s one marked ‘Brightness,’ but it doesn’t work.” – Gallagher.
Dick Kreck’s column appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He may be reached at 303-820-1456 or dkreck@denverpost.com.
