1) “Masterpiece: Van der Valk” debut, 9 p.m., PBS. The season’s first scripted show is a winner – a smart and well-crafted mystery with fresh settings. All the key people are British, including the novelist who created the characters and the actors who play them, led by Marc Warren (shown here). Still, this is set in Amsterdam, providing a fresh look … and a lot of bicycles. The opener starts with a wild bike chase, then shows the main crime. It pauses for humor (as Van der Valk meets his new aide), then eyes art, politics and romance.
2) “Celebrity Family Feud,” 8 p.m., ABC. It’s changeover time for Steve Harvey’s ratings hit. Tonight is a rerun, with pro-football Hall of Famers (including Michael Irvin and Cris Carter) against rising stars. Next Sunday, a 7 p.m. hour (with Ray Romano and Brad Garrett) will lead into the Emmys. After that, the show moves to Thursdays with other Sunday games – “Press Your Luck” and “Match Game.”
3) Football, 8:20 p.m. ET, NBC. It’s the first football Sunday of the season, expected to draw big ratings against small competition. Both teams had middlin’ records last season (8-8 for the Dallas Cowboys, 9-7 for the Los Angeles Rams) … but the Cowboys and Rams are bursting with football tradition. There was one game Thursday, with a dozen more set for this afternoon, plus two Monday.
4) “Carmen Jones” (1954), 8 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. This is the film that propelled Dorothy Dandridge to stardom. Fresh from playing an idealistic teacher in “Bright Roads” (1943), which airs at 10 p.m., she took this opposite role – based on the “Carmen” opera — as a seductive factory worker. Dandridge was also an acclaimed nightclub singer, but opera star Marilyn Horne dubbed her singing; still, she became the Academy Awards’ first Black best-actress nominee.
5) “Modern Warriors: 9/11 Generation,” 10 p.m. ET, Fox News Channel. In the aftermath of this weekend’s documentaries on the Sept. 11 attacks, here’s a look at what has followed. At the 9/ll Memorial, Pete Hegseth, an Army veteran, talks with several post-9/ll soldiers, including Rob O’Neill, who has said he was the SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden.