Best-bets for Oct. 20: great bees, troubled humans

1) “Nature” season-opener (shown here), 8 p.m., PBS. Martin Dohrn had been traveling the world, filming lions and leopards and even mass migrations. Then the pandemic confined him to his home and yard in Bristol, England. He fashioned special cameras and found more than 60 species of bees. Some carefully crafted homes, scooting across town to find the right sticks; others just stole homes. He even named some and followed one’s adventures. It’s a charming start to this show’s 40th season. Read more…

1) “Nature” season-opener (shown here), 8 p.m., PBS. Martin Dohrn had been traveling the world, filming lions and leopards and even mass migrations. Then the pandemic confined him to his home and yard in Bristol, England. He fashioned special cameras and found more than 60 species of bees. Some carefully crafted homes, scooting across town to find the right sticks; others just stole homes. He even named some and followed one’s adventures. It’s a charming start to this show’s 40th season.

2) “Superstar,” 10 p.m., ABC. In a late change, “A Million Little Things” is being shelved for a week, replaced by this profile of Robin Williams. It combines new comments from colleagues and past ABC interviews with him. Williams first soared on the network’s “Mork & Mindy,” triumphed in movies, but was addicted to cocaine and then alcohol. After struggling with DLP (dementia with Lewy bodies), he committed suicide in 2014, at 63.

3) Halloween extremes. For sheer fun, go with Freeform. It has the first “Men in Black” movies (1997, 2002) at 4 and 6 p.m., then “The Simpsoms” with “Treehouse of Horror” tales from 8-11 p.m. and midnight to 2 a.m. For scares, FX continues “American Horror Story” at 10 a.m., repeating it hourly through 2 a.m. For both, FX has “Zombieland: Double Tap” (2019) from 8-10 p.m.

4) “Secrets of the Dead” season-opener, 10 p.m., PBS. Schoolkids are sometimes told that Ferdinand Magellan was the first person to sail around the world. The real story, 500 years old, is far more interesting: The voyage left Spain in 1519 with five ships and 270 men; it returned three years later with one ship, 18 men and a bounty of spices. The captain had died in battle, after establishing what became the Strait of Magellan. The more-obscure Juan Elcano then completed the global adventure.

5) “Dopesick,” any time, Hulu. Last week, this powerful series opened with three episodes, tracing the growth of the opioid epidemic. If you haven’t seen them yet, catch them now. Then watch this hour: Sales of OxyContin soar as Purdue Pharma insists it’s not addictive. In mining country, an earnest doctor (Michael Keaton) has his doubts, as a young miner (Kaitlyn Dever) struggles.

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