Ellen Gray's weekend TV picks
This week she features "The Nerdist," "Call the Midwife," "North America" and "Life Below Zero."
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* THE NERDIST. 10 p.m. Saturday, BBC America
Philadelphia's Paul F. Tompkins is among this week's guests on the pop culture-obsessed series. Which means the storytelling comedian probably got to hang out with fellow guest Morena Baccarin (beloved of geeks everywhere not just for "Homeland" and "V," but for "Firefly") as well as Joe Manganiello ("True Blood").
* CALL THE MIDWIFE. 8 p.m. Sunday, WHYY 12
The Season 2 finale of the series about nurse-midwives in the East End of London in the 1950s finds Nonnatus House threatened by plans for urban renewal.
* NORTH AMERICA. 9 p.m. Sunday, Discovery
As spectacular as the scenery can be in HBO's "Game of Thrones," it can't quite match the HD-worthy settings of this new Discovery Channel nature series, three years in the filming. "Thrones" also doesn't have Tom Selleck, who narrates the seven-part series about the continent's wilderness.
* LIFE BELOW ZERO. 10 p.m. Sunday, NatGeo
The Alaska shows just keep on coming, but if you're one of those people who dream of life on America's last frontier, this new "reality" series might deliver a dose of harsh reality. Still, "I love this place," says one subject. "I'm going to have my bones picked clean by the birds here someday." Not this season, we hope.