1) “Kennedy Center Honors,” 8-10 p.m. Wednesday, CBS. Here are passionate tributes, ranging from serious (Sean Penn on U2) to mocking (Matt Damon on George Clooney; they’re shown here). That’s joined by key music: Eddie Vedder for U2; Dianne Reeves for Clooney; the Highwomen supergroup and gospel greats for Amy Grant; instrumentalists for composer Tanis Leon; and Garth Brooks, Patti LaBelle, Mickey Guyton and Ariana DeBose for Gladys Knight.
2) “Abbott Elementary,” 9 and 9:30 p.m., ABC. In the first rerun, Janine introduces a new beverage to the cafeteria, with unsettling results. In the second, she’s invited to a Halloween party, causing her to reconsider her stagnant personal life. The latter also brings some big moments, after someone steals the Halloween candy and distributes it around the school.
3) “Encanto at the Hollywood Bowl,” Disney+. During a tough time for movies, “Encanto” (2021) scored big at the box office and for Disney+. It won the Oscar for best animated feature and its album reached No. 1. Still, the singers never got together, composer Lin-Manuel Miranda says here; with Covid rules, they recorded separately. Now most are assembled, for a special that’s brief (46 minutes), but filled with flash, color and spectacle.
4) “Top Gun” (1986) and “Top Gun: Maverick” (2022), 6:10 and 8 p.m., Epix. Yes, movie theaters do still have some box office hits. On the same day as the “Encanto” concert, we can re-see the No. 1 films from this year … and for 36 years ago. Both have Tom Cruise, crisp dialog and soaring planes; they’re also streaming on Paramount+.
5) Bowl games. Most of the bowls wait their turns on ESPN, but tonight two of them overlap: It’s the Holiday Bowl (Oregon-North Carolina) at 8 p.m. ET on Fox and the Texas Bowl (Mississippi-Texas Tech) at 9 on ESPN. Earlier, ESPN has the Military Bowl (Duke-Central Florida) at 2 p.m. and the Liberty Bowl (Kansas-Arkansas) at 5:30.