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TV picks: Questlove on 'Finding Your Roots,' 'Outlander' ends season, 'Encore!' and more

Questlove learns about his African ancestors, Kristen Bell reunites the cast of a high school musical in ABC's "Encore!," and Starz's "Outlander" and Showtime's "White Famous" end their seasons.

Kristen Bell produces and appears in “Encore!,” an ABC special that reunites the cast of a high school musical to re-enact a show with the help of Broadway pros
Kristen Bell produces and appears in “Encore!,” an ABC special that reunites the cast of a high school musical to re-enact a show with the help of Broadway prosRead moreMatt Pettit/ABC
    by Ellen Gray
    Published 

Encore! Kristen Bell produces and appears in this one-hour special in which the former cast of a high school musical reunites to perform Stephen Sondheim and James LaPine's Into the Woods with the help of Broadway pros. Reminder: We're waiting for the March 13 premiere of NBC's Rise, a new show inspired by Drama High, Michael Sokolove's book about the famed theater program at Levittown's Truman High School. 10 p.m. Sunday, ABC.

Outlander. The third season of the time-traveling saga of Claire Fraser (Caitriona Balfe) and her dashing redheaded Scotsman Jamie (Sam Heughan) comes to an end, and with any luck (and Claire's help) Jamie will escape the executioner yet again. 8 p.m. Sunday, Starz.

White Famous. Executive producer Jamie Foxx returns as an over-the-top version of himself in the first-season finale of the Jay Pharoah comedy. 10:30 p.m. Sunday, Showtime.

A Gray State. Erik Nelson's documentary, produced by Werner Herzog, looks at the deaths of Iraq and Afghanistan veteran David Crowley, his wife, and their daughter, and at those who disbelieve the finding of murder-suicide, suggesting that Crowley, an aspiring filmmaker working on a project about America's becoming a police state, had been silenced by those he sought to expose. 10 p.m. Monday, A&E.

Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr. Philadelphia's Questlove of the Roots dives into his ancestry, along with Dr. Phil McGraw and Charlayne Hunter-Gault in "Southern Roots," the latest installment of the PBS genealogy series. 8 p.m. Tuesday, WHYY12.

Taraji's White Hot Holidays. Empire star Taraji P. Henson hosts another holiday season special, this one featuring  performances by Philadelphia's Leslie Odom Jr. (Smash, Hamilton) and others, including Chaka Khan, Ciara, Faith Evans, Fergie, Henson's Empire "son" Jussie Smollett,  Salt-N-Pepa, and the Ying Yang Twins. 8 p.m. Thursday, Fox.

Showtime at the Apollo: Christmas. Also representing amid the Fox celebrations of the season: Philadelphia's Boyz II Men in a special hosted by Steve Harvey and featuring contestants from the Apollo's talent competition, along with the stars. 9 p.m. Thursday, Fox.

Jean-Claude Van Johnson. "My name is Jean-Claude Van Damme. I used to be super-famous," says the action star in the introduction of  this new comedy from Dave Callaham (The Expendables)  in which Van Damme becomes the latest celebrity to play a Bizarro World version of himself. Here, he's making a career comeback, but only so he can resume the sideline his fans never knew about — as "Johnson," a black-ops operative. His first cover job takes him to Bulgaria, where he's playing Tom Sawyer in a martial-arts version of Huckleberry Finn. Phylicia Rashad plays his agent, who reps him for both jobs, and Kat Foster is the much younger ex (and handler/hairdresser) he's trying to win back. The results?  Frequently absurd, intermittently hilarious, and unexpectedly sweet.  Dec. 15, Amazon.