Weekend TV: College football in prime time, 'Houdini'

Florida State vs. Oklahoma State | ABC, Saturday, 8 ET/5 PT

Astronomers say fall starts Sept. 22. American tradition says it starts on Labor Day. But for college football fans, fall begins Saturday with ABC's first prime-time game, which also offers the first chance to see defending champs Florida State in action. So happy fall.

MDA Show of Strength Telethon | ABC, Sunday, 9 ET/PT

For all our talk of the sanctity of labor, TV doesn't do much around the Labor Day holiday to salute workers. The closest you get is Monday's TLC marathon of Undercover Boss — and that's not very close at all, as the show is really designed to sell a phony good-hearted image of CEOs, a group that generally goes undercover for fear of what their workers would do if they recognized them. But there is one holiday tradition television has maintained, in a drastically revised version: the MDA Telethon. It's no longer hosted by Jerry Lewis and it's no longer a daylong, all-stars-on-deck affair, but it's here.

Houdini/ The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story | History/Lifetime, Monday, 9 ET/PT

You can go in two new-movie directions Monday: Toward History's "prestige project," a two-part Harry Houdini biopic starring Oscar winner Adrien Brody, or toward Lifetime's last gasp of summer camp, a behind-the-scenes look at Saved by the Bell. My guess is more people will head to camp.