By Kevin McDonough| Times Herald-Record

Animal stories both ennobling and depressing dominate Saturday's 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 world's 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 planet's oldest rock formations. As always, it's 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 Netflix's "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 Exotic's down-market "empire" after his arrest.

-- 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 Won't" (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 Syfy's "Fan Fest," filling a void created by the cancellation of this summer's usual Comic-Con gatherings. It can also be streamed on Syfy.com and Syfy's YouTube page.

Speaking of cult favorites that offer twisted takes on comics and toys, "Robot Chicken" (12:15 a.m. Sunday, Cartoon Network, TV-14) celebrates its 200th episode.

SATURDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

-- 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 Husband's Ex" (8 p.m., Lifetime, TV-14).

-- It's 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).

SATURDAY SERIES

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).

kevin.tvguy@gmail.com

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Critter's 'Wild' and 'Exotic'; 'Red Dwarf' returns - Times Herald-Record