Prime choices

SUNDAY

Every season, it seems there’s at least one contestant who generates as much admiration as aggravation; this time around, it’s the burly, bearded Russell, above, who is still very much in contention to win it all on the season finale of “Survivor: Samoa.”

(8 and 10 p.m. CBS)

MONDAY

He’s the scion of folk music royalty, he’s channeled Judy Garland and covered Leonard Cohen, and now the new documentary “Rufus Wainwright: Prima Donna” spotlights this eclectic and eccentric singer-songwriter as he prepares to mount his very first opera. (Sundance,

9 p.m.)

TUESDAY

Airing on consecutive Tuesdays, the three-part special “Chelsea Lately Bloopers” assembles goofs and gaffes committed by host Chelsea Handler, below, and guests on her always snarky and frequently anarchic late-night gabfest.

(E!, 10:30 p.m.)

WEDNESDAY

On a new edition of “Great Performances,” Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon and Russian soprano Anna Netrebko portray ill-fated lovers Rodolfo and Mimi in a lavish Metropolitan Opera production of Puccini’s timeless classic “La Bohème.” (KCET,

9 p.m.)

THURSDAY

Ralphie (Peter Billingsley, above with Santa) sets his sights on obtaining a Red Ryder BB gun as TBS kicks off its annual 24-hour marathon of the nostalgic 1983 fable “A Christmas Story,” narrated by and based on the stories of Jean Shepherd. (TBS,

8 p.m. through 8 p.m.

Friday)

FRIDAY

Turner Classic Movies counter-programs Friday’s release of a new “Sherlock Holmes” film with its own marathon of thrillers featuring the famed sleuth, beginning with Basil Rathbone in 1939’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” Take that, Robert Downey Jr.! (TCM, 5 p.m.)

SATURDAY

“Titanic” lovers Leonardo DiCaprio (above) and Kate Winslet reunited for “Revolutionary Road,” director Sam Mendes’ moody 2008 tale of not-so-quiet desperation set in 1950s suburbia. Spoiler alert: This one ends even more tragically than that one about the boat. (HBO, 9 p.m.)