Al Pacino and Barry Levinson’s HBO tour of disgraced 20th century newsmakers arrives at Paterno

Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Friday, April 6 and Saturday, April 7. All times are Eastern.

Top pick

Paterno (Saturday, HBO, 8 p.m.): On the big screen, Al Pacino has played a mob boss, a drug kingpin, and a rapping Dunkin’ Donuts spokesman. These days, the Oscar-, Emmy-, and Tony-winning actor saves his portrayals of the tortured and despised for the types of projects seemingly engineered to add to that Emmy count—like Paterno. Reuniting Pacino with You Don’t Know Jack director Barry Levinson, Paterno depicts a rollercoaster period late in the eponymous college-football coach’s career, during which the Nittany Lions skipper notched an NCAA record for most wins and became implicated in the cover-up of sexual abuse committed by assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. Riley Keough, Kathy Baker, and Greg Grunberg co-star, and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky has the review. (Update: A previous version of this post referred to Levinson as the director of Phil Spector, which was directed by David Mamet—but can you blame us for conflating all of these HBO biopics about scandalmakers headlined by the stars of The Godfather: Part II?)

Regular coverage

Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC, 9 p.m.)
Jane The Virgin (The CW, 9 p.m.)
Saturday Night Live (NBC, 11:30 p.m.)

Wild card

Trading Spaces (TLC, 8 p.m.): A whole new generation of home owners trust the insides of their houses to their neighbors and their questionable tastes, in a revival senior editor Marah Eakin says “still lives and dies on its well-meaning absurdity.”