The Tom Hanks Civil War drama “News of the World” (HBO, 8 p.m.) with Helena Zengel, Elizabeth Marvel and Mare Winningham, makes its premium cable premiere. IT’s from Paul Greengrass, whose previous films include “United 93,” “Captain Phillips” and a few Jason Bourne flicks.
Also making its bow on premium cable is Kevin McDonald’s “The Mauritanian” (Showtime, 9 p.m.), about a man from northwestern Africa detained at Guantanamo Bay for 14 years due to supposed connections to Al Qaeda. Tahar Rahim, Jodie Foster, Benedict Cumberbatch and Shailene Woodley star.
The big thing today is the first full blown college football Saturday, with prime time filled with Georgia vs. Clemson (ABC, 7:30 p.j.) and LSU at UCLA (Fox, 8:30 p.m.) in prime time. Other games are listed below.
Also making its return to prime time broadcast TV is a compendium of highlights from the Tokyo Paralympics (NBC, 8 p.m.) in advance of Sunday’s closing ceremony.
“8:46 Films” (CBS, 8 p.m.) is a replay of the special that premiered on BET Aug. 30 featuring the work of four Black filmmakers, Zoey Martinson, Camrus Johnson, Gibrey Allen and Marshall Tyler. The length of each film — 8 minutes and 46 seconds — corresponds to the time it took Minneapolis police officer Derek Cuauvin to kneel on the neck of George Floyd in 2020, murdering him.
A special episode of “Eden: Untamed Planet” (BBC America, 8 p.m.) explains how the series was made.