What's On Tonight (Saturday): Thriller night

Thriller 40

And as sure as my name is Boris Karloff, this is going to be a thriller! Here's what's on television for tonight, Saturday, December 2!

Our Top Pick tonight is Thriller 40 (Paramount+, 3 a.m. / Showtime, 8 p.m.). The documentary takes a look back to "40" years ago on the making of Michael Jackson's groundbreaking album Thriller. FWIW: This is 2023, and Thriller is now 41-years-old. Though it has been 40 years since the title track was released as a single. The doc will also feature never-before-seen footage and interviews with people involved plus a look at its current impact on culture.

Elsewhere, '80s Divas reunite, Emma Stone is Live from New York for #5, the Doctor and Donna must save the universe, One Piece rides a bull, Planet Earth III goes to the forests, and Pets & Pickers ends its season.

(All times are Eastern. All listings are new unless otherwise stated. For more listings, visit The Futon Critic or Zap2it.)

ON THIS SITE

This Weekend in Pop Culture (9:30 p.m.): What pop culture have you consumed lately? This is our weekly thread for you talk about it.

EARLY STREAMING & EVENING

Doctor Who (Disney+, 1:30 p.m.): SPECIAL 2. "The Tardis takes the Doctor and Donna to the furthest edge of adventure. To escape, they must face the most desperate fight of their lives, with the fate of the universe at stake."

🎥 Thriller 40 (Paramount+, 3 a.m. / Showtime, 8 p.m.): Director Nelson George takes fans back in time to the making of a pop masterpiece, featuring never-before-seen footage and candid interviews, allowing viewers to fully experience the creation of a cultural phenomenon that continues to influence the worlds of music, television, dance, fashion and more to this day.✔️

WHAT ELSE IS ON

🇰🇷 Castaway Diva (Netflix, 10 a.m.)

🇰🇷 My Demon (Netflix, 8 a.m.)

🇰🇷 Welcome to Samdal-Ri (Netflix, 3 a.m.): Series premiere

🕗 8 P.M. EASTERN / 🕖 7 P.M. CENTRAL

🎥🎄 Ladies of the '80s: A Divas Christmas (Lifetime): Old rivalries resurface when five glamorous stars from the 1980s (Loni Anderson, Morgan Fairchild, Linda Gray, Donna Mills, Nicollette Sheridan) reunite to shoot the final Christmas episode of their long-running soap opera. When feelings reignite between the producer and director, the women conspire to bring the couple together. But will there be catfights? You know, for nostalgic sake.

🎥🎄 A Not So Royal Christmas (Hallmark Channel / Peacock, Sunday): The first Christmas season after the monarchy was abolished found a small handful of those running things thinking that maybe they could restore it. Of course, House Noel was out of the running after its scandal that ruined the family. Therefore, several legacy families rise to the occasion, mostly those that vied to be the rulers when Christmasia was formed. Even the House of Myrrh is making a play. But it is the House of Mittens that wins over the coup leaders. With an unpopular government, the few lawmakers involved intend to introduce a vote of no confidence on the prime minister in hopes that he goes the unpopular route of calling for new elections and dissolving parliament. In the ensuing counter measures, as popularity of parliament continues to plummet, a vote to restore the monarchy will be introduced to help streamline elections and future feuding between government branches. House Mittens has a strong arm in mining and energy, so it already has some lawmakers in its pocket. What they didn't count on was young lawmaker Craig Klaus pulling out all the stops to prevent a new government being called.

Planet Earth III (BBC America & AMC+): Sir David Attenborough journeys into the forests, where dogs communicate with whistles, treehoppers fight assassin bugs, "spirit bears" fish, and hornbills imprison themselves in trees.

WHAT ELSE IS ON

All Elite Wrestling: Collision (TNT)

Love & Marriage: Huntsville (OWN)

📺🎄 Reindeer in Here (CBS)

🎥 Svengoolie (MeTV): Mystery of the Wax Museum✔️

Mystery of the Wax Museum (via Pre-Code.com)

🕘 9 P.M. EASTERN / 🕗 8 P.M. CENTRAL

📺 Petticoat Junction (Catchy Comedy / Amazon Prime Video & Crackle, now): Spend the weekend with the family staff of The Shady Rest Hotel in the pretty solid sample of '60s sitcom-ery. And there's also the people of Hooterville, too. In this two-part episode, "A young crop-dusting pilot makes a crash landing near the Shady Rest Hotel and an equally hard impact on Kate Bradley's daughters."✔️

🎥🎄 A Christmas Serenade (OWN): Musician Jeremiah returns home to play a gig with his band and gets recruited to take over as the Minister of Music for the annual Christmas Jubilee at his home church, reigniting the feud and romance with the pastor's daughter, Willow.

WHAT ELSE IS ON

Fatal Family Feud (Oxygen): Series premiere

Heartland Docs, DVM (National Geographic Wild)

Legends of the Fork (A&E)

Pets & Pickers (Animal Planet): Season finale

📺🎄 Robbie the Reindeer (CBS)

🕙 10 P.M. EASTERN / 🕘 9 P.M. CENTRAL

48 Hours (CBS / Paramount+, Sunday): In "Death at the Front Door: Who Shot Heidi Firkus?" the show investigates who shot Minnesotan Heidi Firkus.

WHAT ELSE IS ON

Buddy Valastro's Cake Dynasty (A&E)

Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet (National Geographic Wild)

📺 SNL Vintage (NBC): Keke Palmer, SZA (3 Dec 2022)

Petticoat Junction (via Giphy)

💤😴 LATE NIGHT 😴💤

Dr. Stone: New World (Adult Swim, 12:30 a.m. / CrunchyRoll, now): Moz and the Kingdom of Science form a temporary alliance against Ibara.

📺 IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix (Adult Swim, 2:30 a.m.): "Under the Name of the Emperor"

Naruto: Shippuden (Adult Swim, 2 a.m.): Everyone anxiously awaits Hagoromo's decision, expecting Indra to receive the blessing to be his successor, but must wait until Ashura returns for the official pronouncement.

One Piece (Adult Swim, 1 & 1:30 a.m.): Lucy enjoys a knockout bull ride at the competition until he encounters a giant called Hajrudin. Consumed with rage, he attacks the latter with his strongest blow.

📺 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (MeTV, 2 a.m.): Admiral Nelson must get a 12-year-old prince back to his country to assume the throne before the reds take over. Because, better dead than red, obvs.

WHAT ELSE IS ON

📡 Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Adult Swim, midnight / Netflix, now)

Saturday Night Live (NBC & Peacock, 11:30 p.m.): Emma Stone, Noah Kahan✔️

Saturday Night Live (via Giphy)

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Key Sources: The Futon Critic; IMDb; TV Passport; Zap2it
⭐: Top Pick
💲: Game show
📡: Linear broadcast

🇰🇷: Korean Drama
🎥: Movie
📺: Throwback

🎄: Holiday program

✔️: Video/gif/photo included

Happy watching, everyone!

Reminder: SNL is tomorrow, so the Sunday WOT will be posted a few minutes early!