What to Watch Sunday, September 20: ‘Lioness,’ ‘American Hostage’ & ‘Lanterns’

Sunday has a surprisingly busy lineup before broadcast television really kicks into fall-premiere mode next week. Lioness wraps its third season on Paramount+, Jon Hamm leads the premiere of American Hostage, and Lanterns continues its first season with only a few episodes remaining. Paramount+ confirms Lioness Season 3 was designed as an eight-episode run ending today, September 20.

There's plenty beyond scripted drama too. Kevin Hart brings Cold as Balls to Netflix, David Chang hits the road for a new CNN food series, Lifetime turns the spotlight on Kimora Lee Simmons, and NBC gets a big sports doubleheader with baseball followed by Colts-Chiefs on Sunday Night Football.

TV Cave Top Pick: Lioness Season 3 Finale

Lioness gets the Top Pick today as Season 3 reaches its finale on Paramount+. This season has pushed Joe deeper into a conflict where the threats have become increasingly personal, while Kaitlyn and the team have worked to expose the network operating around them. After Episode 7 sent Kaitlyn and Westfield into a massive search, today's eighth episode brings the season-long mission to its conclusion.

The finale also caps an eight-week run that began August 2 with Zoe Saldaña, Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman back in Taylor Sheridan's increasingly complicated world of covert operations. With hidden networks, foreign operatives and betrayals all colliding this season, Sunday feels like a particularly bad day to be anywhere near Joe's line of work.

Sunday, September 20 TV Schedule

Time (ET)	Show	Network/Streaming	Tonight
Streaming	Lioness	Paramount+	Season 3 finale
Streaming	Cold as Balls	Netflix	Seven-episode premiere; Kevin Hart sports interview series
1:30 PM	Cubs at Reds	Peacock	MLB Game of the Day
7:00 PM	Brewers at Orioles	Peacock	Sunday Night Baseball season finale
8:00 PM	Best Medicine	FOX	Season 2 special-night episode
8:00 PM	Kimora Lee: On Her Own	Lifetime	Documentary premiere
8:20 PM	Colts at Chiefs	NBC / Peacock	Sunday Night Football
9:00 PM	American Hostage	MGM+	Two-episode series premiere
9:00 PM	Lanterns	HBO / HBO Max	S1E6, “Bad Optics”
9:00 PM	Best of VMAs: Unforgettable Moments	CBS	Music special
9:00 PM	The Detour with David Chang	CNN	Two-episode series premiere
10:00 PM	Trespasses	PBS	Series premiere
10:00 PM	Youth	HBO / HBO Max	Two-episode series premiere

Jon Hamm Takes on American Hostage

American Hostage premieres tonight at 9 PM ET on MGM+ with its first two episodes. Hamm plays an Indianapolis radio reporter pulled into a hostage crisis when the man holding people captive demands to speak with him on the air. Giovanni Ribisi, Mireille Enos, Kristoffer Polaha and William Jackson Harper round out the cast.

The premise gives Hamm another chance to operate in morally complicated dramatic territory, but the radio angle adds something different: a crisis playing out publicly while one person becomes an unwilling intermediary. If Lioness doesn't provide enough Sunday-night tension, MGM+ apparently decided you needed another option.

Lanterns Reaches Episode 6

Lanterns continues tonight at 9 PM ET on HBO and HBO Max with Episode 6, “Bad Optics.” The series starring Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler is now entering the back stretch of its eight-episode first season, meaning the mysteries surrounding Hal Jordan, John Stewart and Rushville don't have much time left to stay mysteries.

After Episode 5 jumped the story forward by a decade, tonight's installment continues dealing with the fallout. With only two episodes remaining after this one, Lanterns has officially reached the point where all those clues we've been collecting had better start paying rent.

David Chang Takes a Detour

The Detour with David Chang premieres at 9 PM ET on CNN with two episodes. The six-part series sends Chang across the country looking for memorable food without relying on the usual rankings and algorithm-approved destinations, with different travel companions joining him along the way.

Tonight's launch begins a three-week run of double episodes, with stops this season including Las Vegas, South Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Sonoma. Considering how many food shows spend their time telling us exactly where we're supposed to eat, there's something appealing about one built around occasionally having absolutely no idea what you're going to find.

Between the Lioness finale, Jon Hamm's new thriller, Lanterns, David Chang, Trespasses and a full Sunday of sports, there isn't much of a quiet Sunday-night window left. And this is technically the calm before Monday brings The Voice and Line of Fire, so enjoy whatever remains of your remote control's weekend.