HBO debuts Winning Time and Starz’s Outlander is finally back

Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Sunday, March 6. All times are Eastern.

Top picks

Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty (HBO, 9 p.m., series premiere): Created by Max Borenstein and Jim Hecht, with Adam McKay as an EP and director, this sports drama charts the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers on and off the court. The cast includes Adrien Brody, Quincy Isaiah, Solomon Hughes, John C. Reilly, Tracy Letts, and Jason Segel. Noel Murray astutely writes in his last review for The A.V. Club:

This is a portrait of an NBA on the precipice of a major transformation, thanks to new stars and new corporate partners (including Nike, whose failed shoe pitch to Magic is a plot line in one episode). It’s a show about how creating something great and lasting is hard work, and how not everyone involved emerges unbruised. Winning Time is about one of sport’s golden ages, yes, but it’s also about the nebulousness of that very concept. By including a lot of different perspectives, the Winning Time team makes clear that in hindsight, everyone has a different idea about what a golden age was really like—and about when and why it ended.

Outlander (Starz, 9 p.m., season-six premiere): The “droughtlander”—as dubbed by Outlander’s fandom when the show is on hiatus—is almost over. The historical sci-fi drama returns for eight new episodes with a supersized 90-minute premiere, titled “Echoes.” In season six, Claire (Caitriona Balfe), Jamie (Sam Heughan), and their family face new foes at Fraser’s Ridge, all while the Revolutionary War looms on the horizon. Outlander has already been renewed for season seven (and even a prequel is in the works). Keep an eye out for The A.V. Club’s interview with Balfe on the site tomorrow.

Regular coverage

Killing Eve (BBC America, 8 p.m.)
The Walking Dead (AMC, 9 p.m.)

Wild cards

Shining Vale (Starz, 10 p.m., series premiere): Courteney Cox, Greg Kinnear, and Mira Sorvino star in this horror-comedy from Jeff Astrof and Catastrophe’s Sharon Horgan. Here’s an excerpt from Cristina Escobar’s review of the show:

The best scary stories find their frights in real-life fears, and the genre is rich with ones that explore the feminine grotesque—Black Swan and Rosemary’s Baby come to mind. Shining Vale brings humor to that equation, both laughing at and dramatizing the scary aspects of gender norms. The result is a show that’s smart enough to keep viewers guessing as it pokes fun at modern society, its characters, and even its audience.

Film Independent Spirit Awards (IFC and AMC+, 5 p.m.): Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally host the 2022 Spirit Awards, which will take place at the Santa Monica Pier. The confirmed presenters include Kristen Stewart, Andrew Garfield, Sydney Sweeney, Rhea Seehorn, Bob Odenkirk, Michelle Yeoh, Taika Waititi, among others. Some of the top nominees are The Lost Daughter, Zola, and C’mon C’mon.