Holiday TV: What to watch over Easter

Too Funny To Fail, with Steve Carell.

Jesus Christ Superstar Live (Prime, 7.15pm Sunday)
What better, more holiday-appropriate way to mark Easter Sunday than with the classic rock opera retelling of the final week of Jesus' life. This razzle-dazzle made-for-TV version, with John Legend as Jesus, Sara Bareilles as Mary Magdalene and Alice Cooper as King Herod, aired live in the US this time last year to rave reviews. It forms the first part of an Easter Sunday musical triple-header on Prime, followed by the free-to-air premiere of Flight of the Conchords: Live in London reunion show before rounding out the evening with oldie-but-goody Crowded House Live From the Sydney Opera House.

Too Funny To Fail, with Steve Carell.

Too Funny to Fail: The Life and Death of The Dana Carvey Show (Sky Arts, 10pm Saturday)
In 1996 Dana Carvey was one of the biggest comedians in the world, the star of Wayne's World and a long-running fan favourite cast member on Saturday Night Live. So they gave him his own show in prime time on a major network – and it tanked. Catastrophically. Too Funny to Fail is a hilarious documentary told by the writers and comedians who were there. At the time they were a scrappy bunch of nobodies, but today they're among the biggest names in comedy, including Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert. So where did they go wrong?

Bear Grylls, sticking his oar in again, on You Vs. Wild.

You vs Wild (Netflix)
There are hours of family fun to be had these holidays trying to kill off Bear Grylls in his new choose your own adventure interactive Netflix series You vs Wild. Like Black Mirror: Bandersnatch before it, you call the shots for Bear as he tries to rescue a humanitarian aid worker stranded deep in the jungle. The obvious thing to do is try and feed him straight to the crocodiles, but – spoiler alert – no matter how sinister your choices are it's impossible to make him actually die. Still, quite a lot of fun to be had trying and seeing all the ways he cheerfully avoids certain death. Who knows, there may even be a survival skill or two to be gleaned as well.

The Perfect Date, starring heartthrob Noah Centineo.

The Perfect Date (Netflix)
Sorry, but what are public holidays for if not setting all your standards aside for a moment and surrendering yourself to the uplifting power of romcom. The latest Netflix offering stars teen heartthrob Noah Centineo (To All The Boys I've Loved Before, Sierra Burgess is a Loser) as a handsome lad who invents an app through which he sells his services as a sort of R13 male escort to pay his way through college. Sounds like another perfect Netflix romcom to me, but if you're not convinced you could try Someone Great, which has Gina Rodriguez from Jane the Virgin in it.

The Act, starring Patricia Arquette and Joey King.

The Act (Lightbox)
If you have a true crime loving bone in your body then new Lightbox series The Act is the most essential show on TV right now – if you're not all over it already then this is the long weekend to catch up. The anthology series is six episodes (out of eight) into the story of how Dee Dee Blanchard (Patricia Arquette) made the world think her daughter Gypsy Rose (Joey King) was sick, and the extreme measures Gypsy Rose went to to escape their toxic relationship. It's fair to say things are getting wilder and wilder by the week.

The Chase Blooper Show (TVNZ 1, 4.20pm Sunday)
Please don't pretend like you have anything better to do, that you are somehow above spending an hour of your Easter Sunday afternoon watching bloopers and out-takes from The Chase. This is a dream come true, an Easter miracle, something you didn't realise you needed in your life until you found out it existed and now can't live another day without. It's a real emotional rollercoaster on TVNZ 1 this Easter Sunday – spend the afternoon laughing uncontrollably at Bradley's bloopers, then an hour after the news crying uncontrollably at the heartwarming Ten Years of Good Sorts retrospective.

Helen Pollock with Victory Medal at Le Quesnoy - Between the Memory and the Silence.

POW: Prisoners of War (Prime, 8.30pm Thursday)
Lest we forget, there are some quietly beautiful and poignant documentaries to mark Anzac Day on Thursday. Prime's POW: Prisoners of War features interviews with four surviving New Zealand servicemen who experienced first-hand the horrors of life in a World War II prisoner of war camp. Sky Arts, meanwhile, has a couple of short, reflective documentaries. Between the Memory and the Silence (8.30pm) is about artist Helen Pollock and the unveiling of her sculpture Victory Medal at the New Zealand War Memorial Museum in Le Quesnoy in France last year. That's followed by The Pity of War (9.00pm), which focuses on wartime poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen.