The HBO movie adaptation of “Game Change” (8 p.m. Saturday), the 2010 best-seller about the 2008 presidential election, offers a three-dimensional and often sympathetic look at Sarah Palin. Julianne Moore’s portrayal elevates the former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate beyond the realm of Tina Fey punch line to show how exciting, attractive and breathtakingly original Palin seemed when she first emerged in the public limelight.

The folks who “discovered” Palin soon became weary and concerned, and then genuinely frightened, by her arrogant absence of curiosity and eagerness to resort to a brand of demagoguery that repelled her running mate, Sen. John McCain (Ed Harris).

Look for Woody Harrelson as Steve Schmidt, a hard-boiled strategist for McCain. Eager to shake up a campaign all but eclipsed by Barack Obama’s momentum, Schmidt encourages a bold move, a course that leads to Palin’s selection after a very brief vetting process.

Moore’s performance as Palin during the early days of her campaign is electric. She reminds us how Palin connected to many voters, most notably mothers of children with special needs.

Sarah Paulson (“American Horror Story”) stars as senior adviser Nicolle Wallace, who grows increasingly exasperated by Palin’s inability to focus and her jaw-dropping lack of knowledge or interest in basic history, law and policy.

”Game Change” will remind many of the 1957 Elia Kazan movie “A Face in the Crowd,” a film that is dominated by an outsized personality (Andy Griffith), but is really about a more thoughtful background character (Patricia Neal) traveling a cynical road on the way to discovering the limits of compromise and idealism. “A Face in the Crowd” remains a masterpiece and a touchstone. “Game Change” comes close.

Tonight’s other highlights

• “Must Love Cats” (7 p.m., Animal Planet) enters a new season.

• The musical gang from “Big Time Rush” saves the world in 2012’s “Big Time Movie” (7 p.m., Nickelodeon).

• A woman makes a home for her mentally disturbed sister in the 2012 drama “Of Two Minds” (7 p.m., Lifetime).

• Jonah Hill hosts “Saturday Night Live” (10:30 p.m., NBC).