The Super Bowl will consume much of the country’s attention on Sunday night, and a cursory glance at the TV schedule shows than many channels have already thrown in the towel and programmed reruns for the evening.
Not everything is on hiatus, though: Some of the best programs are running as normal, perhaps on the assumption that fans of, say, Downton Abbey or Girls aren’t that keen on football. (Just in case that assumption is wrong, though, Girls is available to stream early).
What’s on and what’s not? For your Super-Bowl-free Sunday planning convenience, here’s a quick rundown of what you can watch if football isn’t your thing.
Downton Abbey is new: Season 4, Episode 5, will air at the show’s regular time (9 p.m. EST on PBS) and, judging from the Wikipedia recap, will include a whole host of storylines. (For instance—spoiler alert?—“Cora has to persuade a nervous Mrs. Patmore to exchange their ice-box for a refrigerator.”)
Sherlock is new, and it’s the season finale. Season 3, Episode 3, “His Last Vow,” will air after Downton (10 p.m. EST on PBS), and it promises to be a kicker. “Evil mastermind” Charles Augustus Magnusson faces off with the erratic detective to put, says PBS, “everything in Sherlock’s world in question.”
Girls is new: Season 3, Episode 5, “Only Child,” is playing three times (10 p.m., 11 p.m., and 12 a.m. EST on HBO), alternating with Looking. This week—like most weeks—Hannah makes a social misstep, and Marnie asks Ray for an honest assessment of her personality. You can catch it early on HBO GO.
Looking is also new: Episode 3, “Looking at Your Browser History,” is playing three times (10:30 p.m., 11:30 p.m., and 12:30 a.m. EST on HBO), and, among other things, follows Andrew to a party on an aircraft carrier, where he meets his handsome new boss. HBO is releasing this one early on HBO GO, too.
True Detective is off for the week; new episodes return Feb. 9 on HBO.
The Walking Dead is also off this Sunday, and it also returns Feb. 9. In the meantime, AMC is running a “Zombie Bowl Marathon” of past episodes if you’d rather watch zombies clobber one another than football players.
