Grammys Preview, Stumble Goes Dark, Hockeys Miracle on Ice, Rose Byrnes Legs

Inside the 68^th Annual Grammy Awards (8/7c, CBS): We’re well into the winter awards season, and CBS is so eager to present “Music’s Biggest Night” on Sunday that they’ve produced a curtain-raiser preview, hosted by New Zealand DJ Zane Lowe. Scheduled interviews include Reba McEntire, Pharrell Williams, Best New Artist nominees sombr and Leon Thomas, and newly reunited hip-hop duo Clipse. Industry insiders are grilled about their take on the major categories, with Kendrick Lamar, Jack Antonoff, Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny, and Sabrina Carpenter among the top nominees. (The Grammys air Sunday at 8 pm/ET.)

The underdog cheer squad from Heådltston State Junior College hits yet another speed bump on the road to Daytona when the town loses power and water thanks to the resource-sucking AI data center that coach Courteney (Jenn Lyon) begged to set up shop there. Now she’s pleading with CEO Jolene (Annaleigh Ashford), a former cheerleader, to move the facility anywhere else. The mockumentary also features Somebody Somewhere Emmy winner Jeff Hiller in a hilarious cameo as the local candy-button factory owner Augustus Blimpfh, who’s reluctant to intervene on Courtney’s behalf. The only one who’s enjoying the crisis: Courteney’s husband Boon (Taran Killam), who relishes being her cheerleader and having her close to home.

With the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics just a week away, a rousing documentary relives one of the most memorable events from any Winter Games: the “Miracle on Ice” at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics, when the scrappy U.S. hockey team comprised of amateurs faced the dominant USSR team during the height of Cold War tensions. “To this day, it gives me chills,” remembers one of the players on the team, returning to the scene of their unexpected triumph four decades later. The film features never-before-shown 16mm footage capturing the action.

Described by the New York Times as “a howl of maternal desperation spiked with jagged humor,” director/writer Mary Bronstein’s harrowing account of an overwhelmed mother dealing with her child’s mysterious illness makes its streaming debut, featuring one of the year’s most acclaimed performances by Rose Byrne (Apple TV’s Platonic). Nominated for an Oscar and an Actor (SAG), she has already won numerous critics’ awards, a Golden Globe, the National Board of Review for Best Actress, and the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Conan O’Brien makes a rare dramatic appearance as her unusually hostile therapist. The movie makes its linear premiere on HBO Saturday at 8/7c.

Guess who’s coming to Capua? None other than Julius Caesar (Jackson Gallagher), returning with the powerful statesman Pompey (Joel Tobeck), who’s got his eye on the lovely Viridia (India Shaw-Smith) as his future bride. In the penultimate episode of the graphically lurid spinoff, Ashur (Nick E. Tarabay) — who carries a forbidden torch for the widowed Viridia — welcomes the Roman leaders into his ludus, where the female gladiator Achillia (Tenika Davis) puts on a show to prove she’s worthy of the title of champion, while grieving a recent loss. Ashur’s scheming takes a dark turn, setting up next week’s season finale.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• Happy’s Place (8/7c, NBC): With things getting more serious between Bobbie (Reba McEntire) and Emmett (Rex Linn), can their relationship survive should the secret get out that he knew about her half-sister Isabella (Belissa Escobedo) long before she did?
• RuPaul’s Drag Race (8/7c, MTV): In part 1 of the “Rate-a-Queen Talent Show,” half of the contestant pool takes the stage to perform while the other half passes judgment. Swedish singer Zara Larsson serves as a guest judge.
• True Crime Watch: ABC’s 20/20 (9/8c) follows a Massachusetts mother’s years-long crusade for justice after the brutal killing of her daughter, Amanda Plasse, 20, in 2011. On Dateline NBC (9/8c), Blayne Alexander reports on the 2022 disappearance of University of Mississippi student Jimmie “Jay” Lee.
• Real Time with Bill Maher (10/9c, HBO): Comedian Nate Bargatze is the one-on-one interview guest, with MS NOW’s Joe Scarborough and former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene participating in the panel discussion.

ON THE STREAM: