Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds TV Specials to Air This Week
The world was barely coming to terms with the death of beloved actress-author Carrie Fisher on Tuesday when news of her Hollywood icon mother Debbie Reynolds’ suspected stroke and death followed the next day. As Variety reports, in the wake of their tremendous loss, one of the mediums that helped support their careers – television – is dedicating specials and programming in their honor.
On Friday at 10 p.m. ET, ABC’s 20/20 will air a special entitled “Debbie and Carrie: Heartbreak in Hollywood.” Anchored by Elizabeth Vargas, the hour-long show will trace their careers and their complicated relationship. It will feature tributes from family and friends.
Logo honors the pair with a string of marathons to run through the weekend. It kicks off on Friday from 5 p.m. to midnight ET with a seven-hour Will & Grace marathon, which will feature Reynolds playing Grace’s (portrayed by Debra Messing) mother. Reynolds earned an Emmy nomination for her role.
Following Will & Grace, RuPaul’s Drag Race will air at midnight ET on December 31st. The episode features Reynolds as a guest judge and is entitled “Golden Girls.”
At 1 a.m. ET on New Year’s Eve, a touching episode of Roseanne will air. “Arsenic and Old Mom” was written by Fisher and featured Reynolds as a guest star. It served as Fisher’s sole credit as a sitcom writer. The marathon culminates with two episodes of Golden Girls, which begins at 1:30 a.m. Reynolds guest stars in the second episode, which is called “There Goes the Bride: Part II.”
HBO will re-broadcast Wishful Drinking, Fisher’s revealing documentary based on her autobiographical play on January 1st at 9 p.m. ET. Originally broadcast in 2010, the doc received two Emmy nominations.
Beyond this week’s tributes, HBO will broadcast a documentary called Bright Lights that was completed prior to the stars’ deaths. It’s slated to air this spring. Rolling Stone‘s Peter Travers described it as “Fisher and her famous mom – they lived next door to each other – reveal[ing] both a closeness and a not-always-amiable rivalry.” A rep for the film tells Rolling Stone that as of now there are no plans to make changes to the film to account for the two stars’ deaths.