Best-bets for Jan. 24: “Promised,” “‘Piercer,” Playboy

1) “Promised Land” (shown here) debut, 10 p.m., ABC. Amid the sprawling beauty of Sonoma Valley, the haves and have-nots scheme. The Sandovals have a vineyard and a winery; Carlos Rincon has just entered the country with his sisters. John Ortiz stars as the patriarch; better known are Bellamy Young as his antagonist and Christina Ochoa as Veronica. Ochoa starred in “Blood Drive” and “Valor,” then was Renn in “Animal Kingdom” and the secretive secretary in “A Million Little Things.” Read more…

1) “Promised Land” (shown here) debut, 10 p.m., ABC. Amid the sprawling beauty of Sonoma Valley, the haves and have-nots scheme. The Sandovals have a vineyard and a winery; Carlos Rincon has just entered the country with his sisters. John Ortiz stars as the patriarch; better known are Bellamy Young as his antagonist and Christina Ochoa as Veronica. Ochoa starred in “Blood Drive” and “Valor,” then was Renn in “Animal Kingdom” and the secretive secretary in “A Million Little Things.”
2) “Snowpiercer” season-opener, 9 p.m., TNT, rerunning at 10:01. The evil Wilford controls the train, zooming survivors through a frozen world. But rebels lurk; a few (led by Layton) already split off a 10-car portion and tried to save Melanie. She had died, but left behind information about possible places to settle. Now another rescue mission is needed. The result is cold and harsh, but well-crafted.
3) “9-1-1: Lone Star,” 8 p.m., Fox. The season’s first two episodes saw a blizzard blanket Texas. Owen (Rob Lowe) rescued a stranger; then found this may be the guy who has terrorized a group of migrants. After a one-week pause, that story continues – plus one that stretches credibility: T.K. fell into the frozen water while rescuing a boy; when an ambulance came, it only took the boy and left T.K. to wait for the next one. Now, shaking and shivering, he’s near death.
4) “That’s My Jam,” 9 p.m., NBC. For Nikki Glaser, this is “the best day of my life.” She sings a rock song, shakes, flips her hair and gets hearty applause; you don’t get that in comedy clubs. We also learn that Jay Pharoah is great at guessing-games that involve music, terrible at ones that involve housework. They face Terry Crews and Dan Finnerty in a fun game with one familiar flaw: The points system in this show, as in many others, makes the early rounds meaningless.
5) ALSO: At 9 p.m., A&E has the first two hours of a 10-part, weekly documentary series, “Secrets of Playboy.” At 10, CBS’ “NCIS: Hawaii” wraps a two-parter that began after football on Sunday; a Navy engineer is dead, Jane’s mentor is missing and a New Zealand intelligence agent is investigating. And any time, catch the last of three “Queens of Mystery” movies on www.acorn.tv. It’s another good one, with Matilda probing a murder that seems similar to her mother’s long-ago disappearance.

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