What to watch besides the Super Bowl on Sunday

For many, this coming Sunday is about football and Rihanna (not necessarily in that order). Kickoff for Super Bowl LVII will begin at 6:30 PM ET on February 12, with the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles competing for the title. Fox will air the event, which will feature Chris Stapleton performing the National Anthem and Rihanna returning to perform during the Halftime Show.

For the less athletic, it may be difficult to find other ways to pass the time on Super Bowl Sunday. Luckily, between endless streaming shows and cable shows, there’s no shortage of movies and TV shows to enjoy. Here’s a guide to all the counter programming available during the Super Bowl — whether you’re tuning in all the way, just watching the Halftime Show, or exiting at halftime when your favorite team starts to lose.

Dog shows

The most famous “Super Bowl” alternative is, of course, the Puppy Bowl, Animal Planet’s long-running special that pits chunky athletes against each other in a model stadium. This year’s 19th edition begins at 2:00 p.m. and airs on Animal Planet, TBS and Discovery Channel, as well as Discovery+ and HBO Max.

Connected

Connected

The Puppy Bowl isn’t the only dog-themed game in town on Super Bowl night. ESPN will rebroadcast the annual AKC National Championship Dog Show starting Thanksgiving Day at 8:00 PM ET. And at 5:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1 (or FS1) will replay the Westminster Kennel Club dog show last June.

“1923” (Paramount+)

Although much of the audience likely overlaps with Super Bowl viewers, “1923” is preparing for its sixth of eight episodes, “One Ocean Closer to Destiny,” premiering on Sunday. Fans of the Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford-led “Yellowstone” preview can watch the episode as soon as it goes live on Paramount+ at 3:00 ET or save it for later.

Sunday also marks the linear premiere of HBO’s The Last of Us episode 5. But while you’re free to save the episode for 9pm ET that night, HBO decided to get a little ahead of the game by streaming the episode two days early.

Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (CNN)

If the main reason you go to a Super Bowl party is the food, you might be tempted to tune in to CNN on Sunday. The cable channel is airing a marathon of the late, great Anthony Bourdain’s beloved travel food series, “Parts Unknown,” at 6 p.m. ET. The eight-episode marathon airs until 2 a.m. Monday and focuses on episodes of the Emmy-winning series in the U.S., including Detroit, Chicago, Montana and the Mississippi Delta.

“Back to the Future” (Syfy)

If you want to spend your Sunday watching a perfect movie (and its slightly less-than-perfect sequels), Syfy is running a marathon of a “Back to the Future” trilogy. The iconic first movie, in which Marty Mcfly (Michael J. Fox) travels back in time in a DeLorean car and meets his parents, starts at 7:30 p.m. Fans of Robert Zemeckis’ ’80s cultural touchstone can continue to follow the adventures of Marty and Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) in Back to the Future II. in part” (10:03 p.m. ET) and “III. in part” (12:33 p.m. ET) ).

Shirley Temple on TCM

For parents whose kids don’t play sports, Turner Classic Movies is devoting Sunday night to a trio of classic kids’ movies. At 5:30 p.m., the channel will air “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm,” a 1962 film by Henry Levin and George Pal that tells the life stories of the fairy-tale icons, alongside re-creations of their most classic stories. And at 8:00pm and 9:30pm ET, viewers can watch Shirley Temple’s two iconic child star films, “Curly Top” and John Ford’s “Wee Willie Winkie.”

New on the Streaming page

Two new romantic comedies are streaming this weekend: Ashton Kutcher and Reese Witherspoon’s house-swapping film Your Place or Mine on Netflix and Alison Brie’s My Best Friend’s Wedding riff Somebody That I Used to Know on Prime On video. .

Those looking for something a little less warm and fuzzy can spend Sunday night watching Penn Badgley’s indestructible star Joe solve a murder mystery in “You” Season 4 Episode 1, streaming on Netflix. Reality show fans who like to get messy can also tune into Season 3 of the “Love is Blind” spin-off “After the Altar” on Netflix to see Bartise and Cole’s plight. On HBO Max, “Harley Quinn” fans can tune in to the show’s new Valentine’s Day special, with comedian Marc Maron presenting a new special, “From Bleak to Dark,” on the Saturday before the Super Bowl.

For those looking to catch some old favorites or new releases from the comfort of their own home, this month has seen a slew of great movies added to various streaming services. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” debuted on Disney+ if you want to watch Angela Bassett’s Oscar-nominated performance. HBO Max also features Oscar-nominated documentary All That Breathes and Best Cinematography-nominated Empire of Light.

As for older titles, Netflix has added all three movies to the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy if you have time for a nine-hour marathon, while Peacock has all three “John Wick” movies ready for Chapter Four. the Keanu Reeves series next month. Other notable titles debuting on streaming this month include “If Beale Street Could Talk” (Hulu, Peacock, Paramount+), all three “Men in Black” movies (Peacock), “La La Land” (Netflix), “Mean Girls” (Paramount+), and two “Shrek” movies (Amazon Prime).

And if you want to spend Sunday night watching the Oscars, almost every Best Picture nominee — “Women Talking” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” notwithstanding — has made its way to streaming or VOD platforms. “All Quiet on the Western Front” is streaming on Netflix, “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Elvis” on HBO Max, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Top Gun: Maverick” on Paramount+ on and “The Library” on Paramount+. Peacock. “The Fabelmans” can be purchased on VOD platforms starting at $19.99, while “Triangle of Sadness” can be rented for $5.99.

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