And now this God forsaken year has taken Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher’s mother. In addition to being film royalty, Reynolds had a long TV career. In 1969, she had her own show, The Debbie Reynolds Show; she went on to make appearances on The Love Boat, Alice, Roseanne, and Wings among others; she also provided voices for many animated series from Kim Possible, and Rugrats to Family Guy; and she made multiple appearances as Grace’s mother on Will and Grace.
Of course, Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher’s relationship was famously difficult and fraught, which is why you need to watch them perform their first duet ever: a medley of “You Made Me Love You” and “Happy Days Are Here Again.” And brace yourself because you are going to cry.
The duet comes from an incredible Oprah interview from 2011 in the mother and daughter talk about everything including their troubles, Fisher’s mental health issues and drug problems, Reynolds’ financial struggles and the men in her life including the Eddie Fisher/Elizabeth Taylor scandal. They were so heartbreakingly funny and wise.
HBO has a documentary about the mother-daughter relationship, Bright Lights, that was already set to air next year. HBO insiders are now saying it will air in early 2017.
In the meantime, you can stream Postcards from the Edge, the Meryl Streep/Shirley MacLaine film based on Carrie Fisher’s novel based on her relationship with her mother, on Amazon Prime, Google Play, iTunes, and Vudu.
In non-heartbreaking news:
Robert Kirkman has basically said that The Walking Dead will last for AT LEAST 12 seasons. At least.
Syfy has announced their New Year’s Twilight Zone marathon line-up, and for the first time, viewers will be asked to vote for their favorite episodes.
JonBenét’s brother is suing CBS for all of the monies for suggesting that he killed his sister.
Scientology is calling A&E hypocrites for deciding to not air the KKK documentary while airing Leah Remini’s exposé on them. Sooooooo … did Scientology just compare themselves to the KKK?
Hey, Jimmy Kimmel is going to host a primetime post-Bachelor special next week. Silver linings, right?
WATCH THIS
Star Wars: The Force Awakens: In honor of Carrie. 8 p.m., Starz
Game of Thrones marathon: Season 4. Begins 11 a.m., HBO 2
The Parent Trap & Mean Girls: Remember when Lindsay Lohan was a thing? 5 p.m., MTV
2012: REMEMBER WHEN WE WERE WORRIED THE WORLD WAS GOING TO END IN 2012? AND NOW IT’S SO MUCH WORSE? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAKILLME. 7 p.m., FX
| THURS | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | The Great American Baking Show (repeat) |
American Housewife (repeat) |
Speechless (repeat) |
Modern Family (repeat) |
Fresh Off the Boat (repeat) |
| CBS | The Big Bang Theory (repeat) |
The Great Indoors (repeat) |
Mom (repeat) |
Life in Pieces (repeat) |
Scorpion (repeat) |
| CW | DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (repeat) |
Supernatural (repeat) |
News/Local |
| FOX | Hell’s Kitchen (repeat) |
News/Local |
| NBC | Superstore (repeat) |
The Good Place (repeat) |
America’s Got Talent Holiday Spectacular (new) |