Most of the fare of MTV’s “True Life” has to do with personal individual stories: “I Want a Perfect Body,” “I’m a Textaholic,” “I Have a Hot Mom.”
Today’s episode has something a little more relevant . Seven weeks into the action, MTV presents “True Life: I’m Occupying Wall Street” (6 p.m.).
It follows the progress of Bryan, left, a high school graduate from Massachusetts, who doesn’t see the benefit of attending college. That may be because of stories like that of Kait and Caitlin, who can’t find jobs while they’re in college.
All are occupying Zucotti Park when the cameras roll right about the time the police were going to move in and clean the park and arrest those there (they eventually backed off). Where once they changed “I Want My MTV” or “G.T.L” we now hear kids yelling “The people united will never be defeated.”
The special gets a terrible time slot, putting reruns of “16 and Pregnant” (MTV, 8:30 p.m.) and “The Real World” (MTV, 9:30 p.m.) into primetime. Skeptics will believe it’s because network parent Viacom is owned by the 1 percent.
Rose McGowan plays the wife suspected of shooting her husband in a small Tennessee town in the badly acted torn-from-the-headlines TV movie “The Pastor’s Wife” (Lifetime, 8 p.m.). (Nancy Grace appears in it more than once, with reports from the original case).
With a hot new album out this week, Miranda Lambert headlines a new “Austin City Limits” (PBS, 9 p.m., check local listings).
The commercials have long since gone Christmas so now comes the way too early programming – “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (TBS, 7:30 p.m.) and a four hour original movie, “Love’s Christmas Journey” (Hallmark, 8 p.m.) with Ernest Borgnine as the Santa substitute helping out a widow at Yuletide.Let us speak instead of “Last Holiday” (TNT, 8 p.m.).
A new baby comes out of the oven a little too early on “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” (OWN, 9 p.m.).
Jim Caviezel, Sophia Myles, Ron Perlman and John Hurt star in “Outlander” (Syfy, 9 p.m.), which blends space aliens and ancient Vikings.
Julie Harris is the star of the night on Turner Classic Movies, with “East of Eden” (8 p.m.), “The Truth About Women” (10:45 p.m.), “The Member of the Wedding” (12:15 a.m.), “Requiem for a Heavyweight” (2 a.m.) and “The Haunting” (4 a.m.).
Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis star on “Due Date” (HBO, 8 p.m.), Leighton Meester in “The Roommate” (Starz, 9 p.m.) and Denzel Washington in “Unstoppable” (Cinemax, 10 p.m.).
Tale as old as time: “Beauty and the Beast” (ABC Family, 8 p.m.).
Compare and contrast: “The Wizard of Oz” (TBS, 8 p.m.) and “Scarface” (Encore, 8 p.m.).
Football includes LSU at Alabama (CBS, 8 p.m.), South Carolina at Arkansas (ESPN, 8 p.m.) and Notre Dame vs. Wake Forest (ESPN2, 8 p.m.).
In boxing, it’s Lucian Bute vs. Glen Johnson (Showtime, 9 p.m.) from Quebec City.
Charlie Day hosts the first new “Saturday Night Live” (NBC, 11:30 p.m.) in three weeks. They’ve got a lot of material to cover. Maroon 5 is musical guest.