1) “Man With a Plan” series finale, 8:30 p.m. Thursday, CBS. When Matt LeBlanc’s “Friends” ended its 10-year run, it was a big deal. When his “Plan” ends a four-year run … well, it’s worth noting. This is a consistently adequate comedy, with LeBlanc in the cliched TV role of a semi-bumbling husband and dad. In the finale, he and his wife (played by Liza Snyder; they’re shown here) near their 20th anniversary. That’s in a week that mostly has debuts, season-openers and a mid-season return. We’ll look at those shows next.
2) “Grantchester” season-opener, 9 p.m. Sunday, PBS. New episodes of scripted shows (outside of cable) a1) “Man With a Plan” series finale, 8:30 p.m. Thursday, CBS. When Matt LeBlanc’s “Friends” ended itre scarce this summer … except for Sundays on PBS. At 10 p.m., there’s the start of “Beecham House,” lushly set in 18th-century India, And at 9 is this richly crafted series, set in 1957, at the edge of Cambridge, where he vicar keeps helping a cop solve crimes. In the opener (involving secretive college beauties), the answers and confession come too easily. It’s still interesting … and gets better next week.
3) “Don’t” debut, 9 p.m. Thursday, ABC. Each summer, ABC thrives with new episodes of game shows. Now it has three on Sundays – “Celebrity Family Feud,” “Press Your Luck” and “Match Game” – and three on Thursdays. Sandwiched between “Holey Moley” (yes, miniature golf) and “To Tell the Truth” is this new game. The opener starts with a Brooklyn family of four; host Adam Scott assigns odd tasks and restrictions: Don’t blink or drink; don’t get tired or get clocked or use foul language.
4) “The Bold Type” return, 10 p.m. Thursday, Freeform. These three young women soared quickly in Manhattan. Now Sutton is a trendy magazine’s fashion stylist, married to a rich guy. Jane is starting her own online unit at the magazine — where Kat ran social-media. Life is vibrant … except Jane has just had a preventive double-mastectomy … and Kat has been fired. “Bold Type” has its flaws – Jane conducts two absurd job interviews – but offers likable (and, yes, bold) characters in vibrant settings.
5) “The Bachelor: Greatest Seasons – Ever!” debut, 8 p.m. today, ABC. We’ll forgive the overstatement and exclamation mark. It’s a tough (!!) time for ABC; “The Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise” – neither with much social-distancing – are on hold. So it concocted this stopgap, with, Chris Harrison condensing each “Bachelor” season into three hours. That starts with 2013: Sean Lowe – a Texan and a former Kansas State football player – met 26 women … one arriving in (prematurely) a wedding dress.
6) “Bulletproof” season-opener, 9 p.m. Wednesday, CW. With movie theaters closed, we crave action. Here it is, instantly: The opening segment – a drug-bust gone sideways – is filled with running, driving and sensational motorcycle stunt men. Then this British show settles into its plot, as two cops try to infiltrate a fierce crime family. There’s a lot of bickering between cops, much of it clever … if we can penetrate the accents. If not? Don’t worry, another big action scene is coming at the end of this hour.
7) Swimsuit films, Turner Classic Movies. For three Wednesdays, TCM celebrates folks who look nice in beachwear. The first night starts and ends with Esther Williams – the true “Million Dollar Mermaid” (1952) at 8 p.m. ET and “Dangerous When Wet” (1953) at 5 a.m. Gidget” (1959), a fun film with Sandra Dee and James Darren, is 10 p.m. ET, the forgettable “Surf Party” (1964) at 11:45 and the memorable “10” at 1 a.m. “One Million Years B.C.” (1966), with Raquel Welch in sorta-swimwear, is 3:15 a.m. RT.
8) “What We Do in the Shadows” season-finale, 10 p.m. Wednesday, FX, rerunning at 11. This wonderfully weird show has given us four lazy vampires in Staten Island, plus their long-suffering assistant (called a “familiar”) Guillermo, played by the terrific Harvey Guillen. Last week’s sharply funny episode (rerunning at 10:30) saw him save them from witches … and, as usual, get no credit. Tonight, he’s not available as they prepare for the most important event of the vampire social calendar.
9) “The Last Dance,:” ESPN2 and/or ABC. There are two ways to catch reruns of ESPN’s acclaimed, 10-hour film about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. ESPN2 has it tonight through Friday night, at midnight and 1 a.m. ET. It also has hours four through six, from 5-8 p.m. ET Saturday. Then ABC has seven and eight, at 8 and 9 p.m. Saturday, a week before the finale. Weary after the murder of his father, Jordan tries minor-league baseball for a year-and-a-half, then makes a sudden, mid-season return to the Bulls.
10) “Prince Albert: A Victorian Hero Revealed,” 8 p.m., Sunday, PBS. The British palace was eternally inefficient, a historian says in this fascinating film. One person washed the inside of windows, another the outside; windows were always dirty. Then came Albert, with German efficiency, He cut expenses … used the savings for a massive exposition … then used its profits for more. Mixing beauty and utility, he planned a dairy room, a school (for children of palace workers) and a model apartment building.