The NFL Playoffs begin, paving the road to the Super Bowl with the first of 11 games bringing pro football to Saturday. It starts with Arizona at Carolina (ESPN, 4:35 p.m.) in the NFC Wild Card Game and then Baltimore at Pittsburgh (NBC, 8:15 p.m.) in the AFC.
The holidays are gone but the plot lines remain pretty much the same on Hallmark movies, where in the new “Surprised by Love” (Hallmark, 9 p.m.), Hilarie Burton plays another workaholic businesswoman who tries to get her parents to like her similarly hard-charging boyfriend by showing them what it would have been like if she were with her less motivated high school boyfriend.
In the other new TV movie tonight, a high school teacher starts an inappropriate relationship with a student in “Damaged” (Lifetime, 8 p.m.), with Chris Klein and Merritt Patterson.
Primetime is mostly reruns except for the 2007 musical version of “Hairspray” (ABC, 8 p.m.) with Nikki Blonsky and John Travolta.
The animated sequel “Rio 2” (HBO, 8 p.m.) makes its premium cable premiere, as does the thriller “Devil’s Due” (Cinemax, 10 p.m.).
Other movies tonight include “The Twilight Saga” New Moon” (ABC Family, 8 p.m.), “Dazed and Confused” (IFC, 8 p.m.), “Superbad” (Comedy Central, 8:30 p.m.), “Stand By Me” (CMT, 8 p.m.), “The Big Lebowski” (IFC, 10:15 p.m.),
“The Missing” (Starz, 9 p.m.) reaches its second to last episode of the season, with another twist: a second boy seems to have gone missing.
Frank is enlisted by the FBI to get a chemical weapon from a Chinese crime lord in Chicago on “Transporter” (TNT, 10 p.m.).
Liam Neeson, Eddie Redmayne, Anna Kendrick, Bradley Wiggins and Conchita are guests on a New Year’s Eve edition of “The Graham Norton Show” (BBC America, 10 p.m.).
The terrible fiction of “Revelation: End of Days” (History, 8 p.m.) replays its four hours of badly-made nonsense.
Not about the recent New Year’s Eve host: “Pitbulls and Parolees” (Animal Planet, 8 p.m.).
Because it happens at all hours now: “Late Night Chef Fight” (FYI, 10 p.m.).
If you’ve never seen the documentary about billionaires struggling, “The Queen of Versailles” (CNBC, 7 and 10 p.m.) is on twice.
Lots of matrimonial warnings on Investigation Discovery with “Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry” (ID, 8 p.m.) followed by “Fatal Vows” (ID, 9 p.m.), Grads of the Actors Studio are fettered on Turner Classic Movies, with “Bus Stop” (8 p.m.), “Rebel Without a Cause” (10 p.m.) and “Requiem for a Heavyweight” (midnight).
Lots of men’s college basketball today, including SMU at Cincinnati (ESPN2, 11 a.m.), Villanova at Seton Hall (Fox Sports 1, noon), Kansas State at Oklahoma State (ESPNU, noon), Mount Olive at King (CBS Sports, noon), Duquesne at Dayton (NBC Sports, 1 p.m.), Connecticut at Florida (CBS, 2 p.m.), Xavier at DePaul (Fox Sports 1, 2 p.m.), Texas at Texas Tech (ESPNU, 2 p.m.), George Washington at St. Joseph’s (CBS Sports Network, 2 p.m.), Rhode Island at Saint Louis (NBC Sports, 3 p.m.), Illinois at Ohio State (ESPN2, 3:30 p.m.), Baylor at Oklahoma (ESPNU, 4 p.m.), Butler at St. John’s (CBS Sports, 4 p.m.), Creighton at Georgetown (Fox Sports 1, 4:30 p.m.), Richmond at Davidson (NBC Sports, 5 p.m.), Virginia at Miami (ESPN2, 5:30 p.m.), Tulane at Memphis (ESPNU, 6 p.m.), Penn State at Rutgers (ESPN2, 7:30 p.m.), Oregon State at Oregon (ESPNU, 8 p.m.), Colorado State at New Mexico (CBS Sports, 8 p.m.), North Carolina at Clemson (ESPN, 8:15 p.m.), Gonzaga at Portland (ESPN2, 9:30 p.m.) and San Diego State at Fresno State (ESPNU, 10 p.m.).
Women’s games include Maryland at Nebraska (CBS, 4 p.m.).
There’s one college football bowl game today: East Carolina vs. Florida (ESPN, noon).
It’s Toronto at Winnipeg (NHL, 7 p.m.) in hockey.
The Avett Brothers and Nickel Creek play a new “Austin City Limits” (PBS, 8 p.m., check local listings).
“Saturday Night Live” (NBC, midnight), bumped at least a half hour because of football is a rerun of the Woody Harrelson show with Kendrick Lamar.