i reckon sky have chosen newcastle v villa because you can get a nice "doom and gloom" montage in the build-up.
some archive footage from the successful 90s, interspersed with clips of fans with their head in their hands, ashley and lerner, dark clouds circling over st james's and villa park, all set to a mogwai soundtrack.
I guess it also ticks boxes. Sky need to put each team on a certain amount of times and something usually happens in this fixture. Add, as you say, the morbid fascination this season and its an obvious pick.