ANIMAL STORIES both ennobling and depressing dominate Saturdays programming. Richard Attenborough narrates Wild India (8 p.m.), debuting on BBC America. With its billion-plus population of human beings, India still has vast territories filled with exotic creatures, unique landscapes and a large percentage of the worlds tiger and elephant populations.

Much of the excitement on Wild takes place in the Karnataka region, where arid winds have carved forbidding sculptures out of some of the planets oldest rock formations. As always, its a colorful eyeful animated by critters both fearsome and cuddly, sometimes both at the same time.

If Wild India inspires with the absence of human contact, Surviving Joe Exotic (10 p.m. Saturday, Animal Planet, TV-14) concentrates on such human traits as selfishness, pride and avarice. Surviving lives up to its name, profiling some of the former employees of the colorful character at the center of Netflixs Tiger King documentary, as well as following the stories of the big cats and other wild animals who found safer forever homes after being taken from Exotics down-market empire after his arrest.

TNT devotes the weekend to marathon helpings of movies from the Star Wars franchise, including the broadcast debut of the 2018 adventure Solo: A Star Wars Story (6 p.m. Sunday, TV-14). In this saga, we meet Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) early in his career, working on the seedy side of the galaxy amid space criminals and smugglers. We also learn how he hooked up with his tall and hirsute Wookiee sidekick, Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo).

Despite the usual bells, whistles, soaring score and the presence of Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke, Solo was as close as a Star Wars movie ever got to being a box office failure. Earning a mere $393 million worldwide, it was described as a money-loser for its Disney overlords. Despite such modest earnings, it was generally well received by critics. Aggregator Rotten Tomatoes summed things up with the phrase Flawed yet fun.

If Solo represents the backstory of a mega franchise, the 2020 feature Red Dwarf: The Promised Land updates a space comedy from the 1980s and 90s. Streaming on BritBox, Dwarf always put the emphasis on the unglamorous aspects of space travel, focusing on the drudgery and nuts-and-bolts aspects of technology and bureaucracy, the surreal nature of interplanetary and interspecies interaction as well as the mind-bending potential of human isolation.

Todd McFarlane: Like Hell I Wont (11 p.m. Saturday, Syfy) profiles an artist associated with the Spider-Man comic franchise and the creator of Spawn, and follows his iconoclastic nature as he rebelled against the conventions of the comic book and toy industries. Speaking of conventions, this documentary is part of Syfys Fan Fest, filling a void created by the cancellation of this summers usual Comic-Con gatherings. It can also be streamed on Syfy.com and Syfys YouTube page.

You cant accuse the folks at Epix of not having a favorite time and place. Scant months after their two-part docuseries on the Laurel Canyon music scene of the 1960s and 70s, Epix presents Helter Skelter: An American Myth (10 p.m. Sunday).

The six-part docuseries revisits the Manson Family, a sordid fringe cult that has fascinated many since their participation in the bloody Tate/LaBianca murders of 1969. Helter promises never-before-seen interview footage with former Manson Family members as well as law enforcement officials on the scene at the time. While this series takes its name from Vincent Bugliosis 1974 best-selling account of the murder and trial, it promises to upend some long-held assumptions established by that very book.

The Nationals and Yankees meet as MLB baseball (7 p.m., Fox) enters its shortened season.

Players anticipate renewed competition on NBA Countdown (8 p.m., ABC).

A new romance unravels when a woman is Stalked by My Husbands Ex (8 p.m., Lifetime, TV-14).

Its now or never when a fetching former tour guide meets a single dad in the 2019 romance Christmas at Graceland: Home for the Holidays (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).

Shaun makes a big assumption on The Good Doctor (10 p.m., ABC, r, TV-14).

Repeat reports scheduled on 60 Minutes (7 p.m., CBS): gene therapy; child refugees get the Sesame Street treatment; a sightless piano prodigy wowing audiences.

The New York Mets host the Atlanta Braves in MLB baseball (7 p.m., ESPN).

On two helpings of The Alienist: Angel of Darkness (TNT, TV-MA): a nurse holds evidence (9 p.m.), a press baron throws a party (10 p.m.).

Beth shares a secret on Yellowstone (9 p.m., Paramount, TV-MA).

Perrys courtroom debut does not go smoothly on Perry Mason (9 p.m., HBO, TV-MA).

Kevin balks at his birthday on The Chi (9 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA).

Maggie risks all on NOS4A2 (10 p.m., AMC, BBC America, TV-14).

Greg awaits his appeal on Outcry (10 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA).

DNA evidence links elements in the killers family tree on Ill Be Gone in the Dark (10 p.m., HBO, TV-MA).

French director Jacques Demy (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) relocated to Los Angeles to direct Model Shop (10:45 p.m. Saturday, TCM, TV-14), about a floundering architects (Gary Lockwood) love affair with a French woman (Anouk Aimee, A Man and a Woman). Made a year after Lockwoods appearance in 2001: A Space Odyssey (8 p.m.).

Nobody mourns a corporate bully on Magnum P.I. (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) ... Two hours of Dateline (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) ... Evidence takes Pride to New York on NCIS: New Orleans (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) ... 48 Hours (10 p.m., CBS) ... A vintage helping of Saturday Night Live (10 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).

The Titan Games (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) ... Dispensations on The Simpsons (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG) ... Celebrity Family Feud (8 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) ... Henry Jr.s big decision on DCs Stargirl (8 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG) ... Jennys new job on Bless the Harts (8:30 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14).

Trafficking on NCIS: Los Angeles (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) ... Americas Got Talent (9 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) ... Louise stands up for Gene on Bobs Burgers (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG) ... Press Your Luck (9 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) ... Illusionists audition on Penn & Teller: Fool Us (9 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG) ... What a fool believes on Family Guy (9:30 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14) ... A female assassin stalks Europe on NCIS: New Orleans (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) ... Match Game (10 p.m., ABC, r, TV-14).

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Critters 'Wild' and 'Exotic'; 'Red Dwarf' returns - The Union Leader