For this weekend’s pause in pro football before next week’s Super Bowl, it’s time to recall one of the NFL’s biggest superstars. “Namath” (HBO, 9 p.m.) tells the story of Broadway Joe Willie, who rose from small town western Pennsylvania to the biggest media story in sport, as quarterback for Alabama and then the New York Jets.
With an accurate arm that would put most star quarterbacks today to shame, he also played most of his career hurt, with faulty knees. His celebrity and playboy lifestyle led to his own nightclub, a showdown with the NFL and a shaky personal life. But he survived it enough to tell his own story in an interview, and exude a lot of the charm that made him a household name.
A new Lifetime movie tells the true story of a high school student who decided to fake being pregnant to see how people would react. If “The Pregnancy Project” (Lifetime, 8 p.m.) is anything close the truth, it’s astounding what her ruse did to her boyfriend’s reputation, or what she put his parents through. Alexa Vega plays the young woman who may have just wanted to be cast on “Teen Mom.” It’s a story that could have been told in a half hour though.
Luke Perry has been turning out a successful run of westerns as Circuit Judge ohn Goodnight on Hallmark. His last film, “Goodnight for Justice,” was the channel’s highest rated movie ever.
So he’s back with a sequel, “Goodnight for Justice: The Measure of a Man” (Hallmark, 8 p.m.), riding into a new town at a time when a team of bank robbers also arrives. Cameron Bright, Stefanie von Pfetten and Teach Grant round out the cast.
Another original TV movie on tonight: “Swamp Volcano” (Syfy, 9 p.m.).
Here’s something unwelcome on network TV: The UFC (Fox, 8 p.m.), this one a bout between Rashad Evans and Phil Davis.
More likely winter time sport is Figure Skating (NBC, 9 p.m.), the U.S.. Championships from San Jose. In some wicked counter programming though, you can also switch over to the spoofy version of it with Will Ferrell and Jon Heder in “Blades of Glory” (ABC, 8 p.m.).
Rainn Wilson stars in “Super” (Showtime, 9:45 p.m.), the cable premiere of the film about an everyday superhero. With Liv Tyler, Kevin Bacon and Ellen Page.
Turner Classic Movies presents “The Misfits” (I p.m.), “Saratoga” (10:15 p.m.) “Soylent Green” (midnight), “Rebel without a Cause” (2 a.m.) and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” (4 a.m.).
Florence + the Machine play a new “Austin City Limits” (PBS, 9 p.m., check local listings).
The Jimmy Fallon-hosted “Saturday Night Live” (NBC, 11:30 p.m.) from earlier this season is rerun, with Michael Buble singing.