Best-bets for Oct. 5: Rita conquers time; “La Brea” doesn’t

1) “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It,” 9 p.m., PBS. At 5, Moreno moved with her mother from Puerto Rico to Long Island. She took dance lessons, was on Broadway at 13, signed a movie deal as a teen … and endured stereotype roles. The exception was “West Side Story”; she won an Oscar, vowed to wait for good roles … and didn’t do another movie for seven years. She survived that (and a toxic romance with Marlon Brando) and is still working at 89 (shown here). It’s a great story. Read more…

1) “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It,” 9 p.m., PBS. At 5, Moreno moved with her mother from Puerto Rico to Long Island. She took dance lessons, was on Broadway at 13, signed a movie deal as a teen … and endured stereotype roles. The exception was “West Side Story”; she won an Oscar, vowed to wait for good roles … and didn’t do another movie for seven years. She survived that (and a toxic romance with Marlon Brando) and is still working at 89 (shown here). It’s a great story.

2) “La Brea,” 9 p.m., NBC. Gravity can be perplexing sometimes. When these people plunged down a giant sinkhole, they seem to have plunged … well, back in time. Now saber-toothed tigers and others lurk; some creatures really need to remain extinct. Eve (Natalie Zea) tries to get medicine to her injured son; topside, her husband has strange visions that may explain – or just confound – the issue. This second episode adds more tangles, which will be interesting IF they ever get straightened out.

3) Baseball, 8:08 p.m. ET, ESPN. The play-offs begin with a classic combination – the New York Yankees at the Boston Red Sox. Both were topped by the Tampa Bay Rays this season, but they held on to the two wild-card spots; tonight, one of them will advance to face the Rays.

4) “Only Murders in the Building,” any time, Hulu. Last week’s episode was an interesting experiment that basically failed. Telling the story through the deaf son of Teddy (Nathan Lane), it was a mostly silent episode that mostly fell flat. Now “Murders” rights itself with a clever episode that catches a crook – then has some last-minute jolts, leading to a strong finish in the next two weeks.

5) MUCH MORE: At 8 p.m., NBC’s “The Voice” wraps up its auditions, with each judge having 12 singers. At 9, BET has its “Hip Hop Awards”; career awards go to Nelly, LL Cool J and Tyler the Creator and there are performances by Bia, Gunna, Young Thug and more. And at 10, a strong hour of FX’s “Impeachment” has Linda Tripp telling the FBI about her “friend,” Monica Lewinsky.

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