While I’m not a fan of the true-crime craze, I can understand its morbid appeal. Most of the many docuseries have a beginning, middle and an end, and some contain details that are stranger and more lurid than fiction.
The new two-part series “The Girl on the Milk Carton” (7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday, Oxygen, TV-14) ticks off all the boxes. Part one focuses on shock and disbelief, and the second covers long-delayed “closure” that arrives in the strangest fashion.
Just 12 years old, Jonelle Matthews vanished from the streets of Greeley, Colorado. She was last seen five days before Christmas in 1984. When local police exhausted all possibilities and resources, they turned to the FBI for help. The involvement of a federal agency caught the attention of the Reagan White House, which began an initiative to put the faces of missing children on milk cartons to raise public awareness and assure families that their loved ones were not forgotten.
While her case inspired the initiative, Matthews was not the first kidnapping victim to appear on a milk carton. In May 1979, 6-year-old Etan Patz was kidnapped while waiting for a school bus in New York’s Soho neighborhood. His case, and his face on a milk carton, earned the attention of New York’s media years before Matthews’ disappearance.
Despite national attention, Matthews’ case remained cold for decades. Meanwhile, in a twist straight out of a mystery novel, a woman named Angela Hicks began to harbor dark suspicions about her ex-husband, Stephen Pankey. They had lived together in Greeley at the time of Matthews’ disappearance. Despite their subsequent move to Idaho, where Pankey ran unsuccessfully for governor, he remained unnaturally obsessed with the case and seemed to know more than he should.
After Matthews’ buried remains were finally discovered in 2019, Hicks came forward and spoke to authorities, who already had Pankey on their radar. Despite protestations of innocence and a trial where his lawyers successfully argued that his obsession with the case was due more to his Asperger’s syndrome than any involvement, he was finally convicted in 2022 after a second trial.
— On a similar note, “Married to Evil” (10 p.m. Sunday, ID, TV-14) arrives for a second season with a tale of a wife betrayed by a man whose desire to keep his mistress and avoid a messy and expensive divorce leads to a murder scheme. Not to be confused with “Evil Lives Here” (9 p.m., ID, TV-14), entering its 15th season with a segment about a mother’s concern for her disturbed son and an enabling relationship that ended with her murder at his hands.
— “Ol’ Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys” (9 p.m., A&E, TV-14) profiles the founding member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan. Produced and directed by father-son team Sam Pollard (“MLK/FBI”) and Jason Pollard (“Get Me Roger Stone”).
— Planned as a series of four epic Westerns, “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter One” (8 p.m. Saturday, HBO) arrives on cable and streaming (Max). Directed, co-written and co-produced by Kevin Costner, the project was conceived and partially executed while he was appearing in “Yellowstone,” one of the more popular cable and streaming series of recent years.
While some assumed the “Yellowstone” connection would help “Horizon” become a hit, the film failed at the box office, presumably because viewers assumed that this multi-part epic might work better on the small screen.
SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— Minnesota United FC hosts the Seattle Sounders FC in MLS soccer (6:30 p.m., Fox).
— NASCAR racers meet at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 (7 p.m., NBC).
— Norfolk State hosts Florida A&M in college football (7:30 p.m., ABC).
— After returning to his hometown, a veteran tries to woo a fetching policewoman but first must run the gauntlet (and gimlet eyes) of her three teenage daughters in the 2024 romantic comedy “Forever: A Terry McMillan Presentation” (8 p.m., Lifetime, TV-14).
— The gift of enchanted candy gives a woman three wishes to explore what might have been in the 2024 romance “The Magic of Lemon Drops” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (7:30 p.m., CBS): Spain’s efforts to extradite a former Marine; a profile of Novak Djokovic.
— The Washington Commanders host the New England Patriots in NFL preseason action (8 p.m., NBC). The NFL regular season begins on Sept. 5.
— Lucian puts Constance on the spot on “Hotel Portofino” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings).
— Nima gathers more samples on “Snowpiercer” (9 p.m., AMC, TV-MA).
— A scheme for ethical investing attracts sabotage on “Industry” (9 p.m., HBO, TV-MA).
— Sibling deception casts a shadow on “Emperor of Ocean Park” (9 p.m., MGM+, TV-MA).
— Charlie’s kidnapping leaves Lucy in the lurch on the season finale of “Orphan Black: Echoes” (10 p.m., AMC, TV-MA).
— Tonka’s disappearance attracts static from PETA on “Chimp Crazy” (10 p.m., HBO, TV-MA).
— The 1990s brought a new generation of Black directors and film genres on “Hollywood Black” (10 p.m., MGM+).
CULT CHOICE
Fearing displacement by Irish Catholic immigrants, gangs of mid-19th century Protestant hooligans engage in violent reprisals in director Martin Scorsese’s 2002 historical epic “Gangs of New York” (8 p.m. Sunday, Cinemax), starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz.
SATURDAY SERIES
“The Quiz With Balls” (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG).
SUNDAY SERIES
Marge tangles with Milhouse’s mom on “The Simpsons” (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14) … “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (8 p.m., ABC, r) … Making evidence disappear on “Tulsa King” (8:30 p.m., CBS, TV-14) … Documentary coverage of Louise’s archery skills is preempted by a zombie apocalypse on “Bob’s Burgers “(8:30 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14).
Meg discovers a secret ingredient for her cookies on “Family Guy” (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14) … Stuck inside on “Big Brother” (9:30 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … A solar eclipse rattles the citizens of “Krapopolis” (9:30 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14) … An MMA fighter finds himself in an ultimate jam on “Tracker” (10:30 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
