HBO Brings Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials to the Small Screen

It's been twelve years since Hollywood last took a shot at bringing Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy to the screen. After the theatrical release of the The Golden Compass — which received mixed reviews, and was faulted for leaving much of the book's material untapped — plans for two filmed sequels were scraped. Following the success of Game of Thrones, HBO has teamed with the BBC for an expanded big-budget television adaptation of the series in the hopes of doing it right this time. The fact that the second season has already been shot is a promising sign.

SERIES PREMIERE: The first installment of Philip Pullman's epic fantasy series His Dark Materials comes to HBO. The coming of age tale follows two children, Lyra (Dafne Keen) and Will (Amir Wilson) as they journey through multiple parallel universes. For those new to the world of the book trilogy, our Joe Reid has a pre-premiere cheat sheet. 9:00 PM ET on HBO

SPORTS: Tonight on Monday Night Football the Dallas Cowboys battle the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. 8:15 PM ET / 5:15 PM PT on ESPN

NEW EPISODE: It's day three of the Knockout Rounds on The Voice as the path to victory narrows. 8:00 PM ET on NBC

NEW EPISODE: Seven dance duos return to the floor on Dancing With the Stars. The competition has ostensibly begun narrowing the roster down to the best of the best, even if viewers suspect something is amiss with the voting. 8:00 PM ET on ABC

DOCUMENTARY SERIES: The new documentary series The Devil Next Door looks at the case of a grandfather living in Cleveland who was put on trial in 1988 based on suspicions that he was Ivan Marchenko, a Nazi prison guard nicknamed Ivan the Terrible. Watch the preview. Streaming on Netflix

ALSO TONIGHT

• The Holiday Baking Championship kicks off with the bakers preparing one bite holiday treats. 9:00 PM ET on Food
• The Christmas Cookie Challenge asks the contestants to make cookies that look like gifts. 11:00 PM ET on Food
• People Magazine Investigates the unsolved 1992 case of Suzie Streeter, Stacy McCall, and Suzie's missing mother. 10:00 PM ET on ID

Mike Attebery is Senior Editor at Primetimer and the author of seven mystery thrillers. Follow him on Twitter at @mikeattebery.