Filled with mixed-up teens and frightened parents sending confusing messages, the TV movie “The Pregnancy Pact” (8 p.m., today, Lifetime) does a nice job of mixing melodrama and controversy. Based on a true story — or at least the sensationalized coverage of a true story — “Pact” stars Thora Birch as a blogger for a teen site who returns to her old town when she discovers her small high school has reported a staggering 18 pregnancies in one year.

Camryn Manheim portrays the school nurse, overwhelmed by the situation and arguing for the distribution of contraceptives in school. Nancy Travis stars as the head of the local pro-family organization who argues that birth control is a private matter; abstinence is the best and only policy; and that teenage pregnancy is nobody’s business. Things change when her own daughter joins the ranks of expectant mothers two years shy of graduation.

With Travis and Manheim offering boilerplate arguments, Birch gets to portray the curious observer whose objectivity may be a bit skewed by events in her past. She also has the best lines in the movie, particularly when describing the naive attitudes of the pregnant teens. “They think becoming a mother is going to be like a Huggies commercial.” One can only wonder whether Lifetime has just lost a sponsor or whether Huggies managed to slip a product placement into the movie.

• Faced with football and ice skating, viewers of a certain sensibility (not to mention pride and prejudice) can take refuge in yet another adaptation of Jane Austen. Romola Garai (“Atonement”) stars in “Emma” on “Masterpiece Mystery” (8 p.m., Sunday, PBS, check local listings).

Many viewers will be vaguely familiar with the story from the 1995 comedy version “Clueless.” But while that Beverly Hills update starring Alicia Silverstone mined comedy from the heroine’s obtuse belief in her ability to match-make and meddle in other’s affairs, this sumptuous BBC period piece puts special emphasis on the near-tragic aspects of Emma’s character.

Emma differs from many of Austen’s heroines in the fact that she is rich and comfortably settled. She doesn’t need to beguile and bewitch rich and handsome suitors to keep her family from the poorhouse. Her headstrong independence, charm and obvious beauty mask an essential loneliness and a resolute lack of interest in anything outside of her own village. She condescends to the spinsters and gossips among her circle, completely unaware that she is separated from their ranks only by her vanishing youth.

The camera makes the most of Garai’s milky complexion and large, luminous eyes. As Emma she’s both enchanting and vaguely terrifying, like a stampeding animal oblivious to the wreckage in her wake. At times, her performance and demeanor appear too contemporary for the early 19th-century setting, leaving one to wonder whether she’s channeling Jane Austen or Drew Barrymore.

Like many of these films, the acting and story remain almost incidental to the gardens, architecture, interior decoration, weather and wardrobes of a certain corner of England that can only be called splendid. If this review seems at all sketchy, please blame my wife, who continually interrupted my contemplative consideration of the work with exclamations like “look at that wallpaper!” I hardly think she’s alone in her appreciation of this beautiful production.

Today’s highlights

• Fresh from the Golden Globes, bold-faced-names gather for the 16th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (7 p.m., TBS and TNT).

• A sub’s skipper (Luke Perry) battles underwater mutants in the 2009 shocker “Sea Snakes” (8 p.m., SyFy).

• Scheduled on “48 Hours Mystery” (9 p.m., CBS): What happens in Vegas is buried there.

• “The Graham Norton Show” (9 p.m., BBC America) glances back at the highlights of its sixth season.

Sunday’s highlights

• Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (6 p.m., CBS): a tribute to producer Don Hewitt.

• Mr. Bill goes to Washington on “Big Love” (8 p.m., HBO).

• A full moon fuels the competition on “Madhouse” (9 p.m., History).