Best-bets for Nov. 8: elections, plus a few alternatives

1) Election coverage. The stakes are huge today — 36 governors, 34 senators and all 435 congressmen, plus control of the House and Senate. So the networks are going all-out: ABC, CBS (shown here with Norah O’Donnell), NBC and PBS start coverage at 8 p.m. ET, when many polls close. Pausing briefly (including 11 p.m.) for local coverage, they’ll be ready to go all night. So will the news networks. Read more…

1) Election coverage. The stakes are huge today — 36 governors, 34 senators and all 435 congressmen, plus control of the House and Senate. So the networks are going all-out: ABC, CBS (shown here with Norah O’Donnell), NBC and PBS start coverage at 8 p.m. ET, when many polls close. Pausing briefly (including 11 p.m.) for local coverage, they’ll be ready to go all night. So will the news networks.

2) “The Resident,” 8 p.m., Fox. After one of its best episodes on Oct. 25, this had a baseball break last week. Now it’s back, with the newlyweds (Voss and Bell) meeting with the governor to push for more health financing. Also, Conrad and Austin are called in to examine a death-row prisoner, when the prison doctor feels he’s lying about his symptoms.

3) “Monarch,” 9 p.m., Fox. A be-true-to-yourself theme is addressed tonight – often. In separate scenes, three different character offer public surprises; that comes close to being too much of a good thing. Still, this hour does trim back on what “Monarch” does worst (soapy excess) and includes what it does best (well-done country music). It also has some warmly sexual moments.

4) “The Winchesters” and “Professionals,” 8 and 9 p.m., CW. Both shows pause to rerun their second episodes, which aired Oct. 18. In its excellent opener, “Winchesters” had John (a Vietnam vet) meet Mary (a demon-hunter); he wants to join her, but his mom isn’t happy about it. In its lame opener, “Professionals” had a billionaire (Brendan Fraser) hired an adventurer (Tom Welling) to find who sabotaged his rocket launch. Now the guy’s daughter is missing.

5) ALSO: With most broadcast networks focusing on the election, cable can grab more viewers. Leading the way is HBO, with Ryan Reynolds’ fun “Free Guy(2001) at 7:05 p.m. and a new baseball documentary, “Say Hey, Willie Mays,” at 9. AMC has “Jaws” (1975) at 7 p.m. and “Jaws 2” (1978) at 10. At 8, Epix has Jennifer Hudson’s brilliant work as Aretha Franklin in “Respect” (2021).

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