Just yesterday, they were buried. Today we get a glimpse into their beguiling relationship — mother and daughter Hollywood stars, forever pegged to their pictures: Debbie Reynolds, catapulted in “Singing in the Rain” and Carrie Fisher, whose career took the same trajectory in “Star Wars.”
Like any such bond they drove each other crazy at times, but there was an indelible love such that they both lived on the same fanciful property in separate houses.
From the fascinating and touching documentary “Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds” (HBO, 8 p.m.), premiering tonight instead of March because of their back-to-back deaths last month, it seemed Reynolds was more driven to keep working than Fisher; she makes appearances before casino audiences that her fans love anyway, while Fisher’s big appearances seem to be at “Star Wars” conventions (though she is also seen in London preparing for the seventh such film).
It’s clear from Fisher Stevens and Alexis Bloom’s sensitive film that Fisher might have been a vocalist of note, but rebelled against her parents’ career choices and fell into acting instead (that she’s seen at 15 on stage at one of her mother’s concerts singing “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is a harbinger of her first marriage to Paul Simon a decade later).
The film shows them struggling through some late career achievements, including an American Film Institute lifetime achievement for Reynolds. No award beat their own bond together, and the film comes just in time to deepen our understanding of them as we pay our respects.
Wild card weekend begins with Oakland at Houston (ESPN, 4:30 p.m.) in the AFC and Detroit at Seattle (NBC, 8:15 p.m.) in the NFC.
In the new series “The Guardians” (Animal Planet, 10 p.m.), follows a group of Animal rights crusaders.
The Bradly Cooper culinary drama “Burnt” (Showtime, 10 p.m.) gets a premiere on premium cable. Also on tonight: “Life, Animated” (A&E, 8 p.m.), the documentary about a young autistic man whose life is saved by Disney movies, and “Demolition” (HBO, 10 p.m.) with Jake Gyllenhaal and Naomi Watts.
The third season of “Please Like Me” (Hulu, streaming), the Australian comedy starring and created by Josh Thomas, appears online today. It first appeared stateside on the cable network Pivot.
The former 24-hour cable news network is rerunning its kid gloves documentary on the band Chicago, “CNN Films: Now More Than Ever: The History of Chicago” (CNN, 8 p.m., a film produced by Chicago.
There’s one new episode of “Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-man: Web Warriors“ (Disney XD, 8 p.m.) and two of “Star Wars Rebels” (Disney XD, 8:30 and 9 p.m.).
“First Time Flippers” (DIY, 9 p.m.) flips some more houses to start its fourth season.
The so-called “Deflategate” is investigated on the new “MythBusters: The Search” (Science, 9 p.m.).
A bone marrow match for a baseball player is under “Ransom” (CBS, 8 p.m.) in a new episode.
We move from Christmas to winter romances with the made-for-TV “Love on Ice” (Hallmark, 9 p.m.), Julie Berman of “Chicago Med” stars as a former Olympic skating star who wants to regain her skills but falls in love with her coach, Andrew W. Walker. Gail O’Grady also stars.
Also new tonight is the based-on-a-true-story “Under the Bed” (Lifetime, 8 p.m.), about a newly single woman who is befriended on social media by a stalker. Hannah New of “Black Sails” stars alongside Pat healy and Beverly D’Angelo. It’s directed by “Blair Witch Project” director Dan Myrick from his own script.
Miss Robbie hopes to sing on “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” (OWN, 9 p.m.).
“Ghost Adventures” (Travel, 9 p.m.) visits a cemetery in El Paso.
It’s Youngstown State vs. James Madison (ESPN2, noon) in a college football subdivision final.
In men’s college hoops, it’s DePaul at Seton Hall (CBS Sports, noon), Butler at Georgetown (Fox, noon), Michigan State vs. Penn State (ESPN, 1 p.m.), TCU at West Virginia (ESPNU, 1 p.m.), Massachusetts at Virginia Commonwealth (NBC Sports, 1 p.m.), Texas A&M at South Carolina (CBS, 1:30 p.m.), Creighton at Providence (CBS Sports, 2 p.m.), St. John’s at Xavier (Fox Sports1, 2:30 p.m.), Clemson at Notre Dame (ESPNU, 3 p.m.), Oklahoma at Kansas State (ESPNews, 3 p.m.), St. Joseph’s at Fordham (NBC Sports, 3 p.m.), Maryland at Michigan (ESPN2, 3:15 p.m.), Southern Illinois at Missouri State (CBS Sports, 4 p.m.), Illinois at Indiana (ESPNU, 5 p.m.), South Florida at SMU (ESPNU, 5 p.m.), George Mason at St. Bonaventure (NBC Sports, 5 p.m.), Tennessee at Florida (ESPN2, 5:15 p.m.), UNLV at Utah State (CBS Sports, 6 p.m.), Vanderbilt at Alabama (ESPNU, 7 p.m.), Oklahoma State at Baylor (ESPNews, 7 p.m.), Texas Tech at Kansas (ESPN2, 7:15 p.m.), Marquette at Villanova (Fox Sports 1, 7:30 p.m.), North Carolina State at North Carolina (ESPN, 8 p.m.), Cincinnati at Houston (ESPNU, 9 p.m.), Texas at Iowa State (ESPN2, 9:15 p.m.), San Diego State at Boise State (ESPN, 11 p.m.) and Nevada at New Mexico (ESPN2, 11:15 p.m.).
Hockey has Tampa Bay at Philadelphia (NHL, 1 p.m.), Minnesota at Los Angeles (NHL, 4 p.m.) and Montreal at Toronto (NHL, 7 p.m.).
Men’s college hockey has Michigan Tech at Notre Dame (NBC Sports, 7 p.m.),
Lauryn Hill plays “Austin City Limits” (PBS, 11 p.m., check local listings) in a replay from last year.
“Saturday Night Live” (NBC, midnight) is a rerun of last year’s Halloween show with Tom Hanks and Lady Gaga.