What to Watch Sunday, August 30: ‘The Librarians’ OGs Return, ‘Lanterns,’ ‘Lioness’ & More

Sunday television is closing out the weekend with superheroes, walkers, Librarians and a whole lot of Dolly Parton.

Lioness gets things started on Paramount+, while Sunday night brings a very crowded 9 p.m. hour with Lanterns, The Walking Dead: Dead City, Big Brother and The Librarians: The Next Chapter all airing new episodes. And if you were a fan of the original Librarians, TNT may have already won the night: Lindy Booth and Christian Kane are back as Cassandra Cillian and Jacob Stone. Yep, the OGs have entered the chat.

Elsewhere, CBS and ABC are honoring Dolly Parton, the 41st Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards airs on BET, the Little League World Series crowns a champion and Adult Swim celebrates its 25th anniversary with a special Robot Chicken crossover.

Here’s what’s on TV for Sunday, August 30, 2026.

Sunday, August 30 TV Schedule

Time (ET)	Show	Network/Streaming
Streaming	Lioness	Paramount+
Streaming	The Walking Dead: Dead City	AMC+
Streaming	Love Is Blind: UK	Netflix
12:00 PM	MLB Sunday Leadoff: Marlins at Nationals	Peacock
12:00 PM	U.S. Open Tennis	ABC
1:00 PM	Incredible Dog Challenge	NBC
1:30 PM	TOUR Championship	CBS
3:00 PM	Little League World Series Championship Game	ABC
3:00 PM	Astros at Mets	NBC
7:00 PM	Reds at Cubs	NBC
7:00 PM	U.S. Open Tennis	ESPN
7:30 PM	9 to 5	ABC
8:00 PM	Remembering Dolly: A Rhinestone Life	CBS
8:00 PM	41st Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards	BET
8:00 PM	90 Day Fiancé	TLC
8:00 PM	Naked and Afraid: Shipwrecked	Discovery
9:00 PM	Lanterns	HBO
9:00 PM	The Librarians: The Next Chapter	TNT
9:00 PM	Big Brother	CBS
9:00 PM	The Walking Dead: Dead City	AMC
9:00 PM	The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Roaring 20th	Bravo
9:00 PM	The Great Food Truck Race	Food Network
9:00 PM	Decades in Sports	CNN
9:00 PM	Hazardous History With Henry Winkler	History
10:00 PM	Dolly Parton: An American Original — Special Edition of 20/20	ABC
10:00 PM	The Mega-Brands That Built America	History
10:00 PM	In the Eye of the Storm	Discovery
11:30 PM	President Curtis	Adult Swim
11:59 PM	Robot Chicken Adult Swim Special	Adult Swim

The OG Librarians Are Back

TNT is giving longtime Librarians fans a pretty good reason to make tonight’s episode appointment viewing. Lindy Booth and Christian Kane reprise their roles as Cassandra Cillian and Jacob Stone in The Librarians: The Next Chapter, bringing two favorites from the original series into the new chapter.

Their return comes during an appropriately weird episode. With most of the team away on a Library retreat, Charlie receives a call through a mysterious toy phone from a child trapped inside a haunted house. Because apparently nobody in the Librarians universe is allowed to simply answer a normal phone call.

The episode airs at 9 p.m. on TNT.

‘Lanterns’ Keeps Its Mystery Going

Over on HBO, Lanterns reaches Episode 3 with John Stewart and Hal Jordan continuing the investigation at the center of the new DC series. And remember that whole shooting-an-apple-off-someone’s-head moment from the premiere? Apparently, we should not have filed that under “weird stuff Hal Jordan does” and moved on.

The series is still early enough in its run that every new clue could completely change how we look at the larger mystery, making Lanterns another one of tonight’s biggest watches.

‘Big Brother’ Moves to a Special Time

CBS is shifting Big Brother to 9 p.m. tonight, and the timing change comes as the game prepares to unleash what the network is calling the season’s biggest twist yet.

Whatever happens could end one houseguest’s game, which means this probably isn’t the episode to casually leave playing in the background while scrolling on your phone. Then again, Big Brother fans know better than to trust anything that sounds simple anyway.

Sunday Belongs to Dolly, Too

Two broadcast networks are spending part of Sunday celebrating Dolly Parton and her enormous impact on entertainment.

ABC airs the 1980 comedy 9 to 5 at 7:30 p.m., followed later in the evening by Dolly Parton: An American Original — Special Edition of 20/20. CBS joins the celebration at 8 p.m. with Remembering Dolly: A Rhinestone Life, hosted by Entertainment Tonight’s Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner and featuring tributes from friends and fellow entertainers.

So yes, you can spend part of Sunday night with superheroes and zombies, but there is also absolutely nothing wrong with making it a Dolly night.

What Are You Watching Tonight?

The 9 p.m. hour is once again doing entirely too much. Lanterns, The Librarians: The Next Chapter, Big Brother and The Walking Dead: Dead City are all competing for attention, while Bravo, CNN and Food Network have their own options waiting.

For us, the return of Cassandra and Jacob gives The Librarians: The Next Chapter a little extra edge tonight, but Lanterns is right there with it as its central mystery continues to unfold. Either way, Sunday is making that remote work for its keep.