ALASKA - "Pilot" - ÒAlaskaÓ stars Hilary Swank as Eileen Fitzgerald, a recently disgraced reporter who leaves her high-profile New York life behind to join a daily metro newspaper in Anchorage on a journey to find both personal and professional redemption. ÒAlaskaÓ stars Hilary Swank as Eileen Fitzgerald, Jeff Perry as Stanley Cornik, Matt Malloy as Bob Young, Meredith Holzman as Claire Muncy, Pablo Castelblanco as Gabriel Martin, Grace Dove as Rosalind ÔRozÕ Friendly, Ami Park as Jieun Park and Craig Frank as Austin Greene. Tom McCarthy is creator and executive producer. Hilary Swank, Melissa Wells, Bert Salke, Kyle Hopkins (Anchorage Daily News) and Ryan Binkley (Anchorage Daily News) are executive producers on the series. The pilot episode is written and directed by Tom McCarthy. (ABC/Darko Sikman) HILARY SWANK

Best-bets for March 2: Swank returns, baby arrives

1) “Alaska Daily” return, 10 p.m., ABC. This well-acted drama stepped aside mid-crisis, for a 15-week break. Now it’s back, with Eileen (Hilary Swank, shown here, a two-time Oscar-winner) at gunpoint. Once a star reporter, she’s rebuilding her career at an Anchorage paper. She exposed officials’ corruption and their indifference to the disappearance of native women; she’s also made an enemy, who now holds a gun. Read more…

1) “Alaska Daily” return, 10 p.m., ABC. This well-acted drama stepped aside mid-crisis, for a 15-week break. Now it’s back, with Eileen (Hilary Swank, shown here, a two-time Oscar-winner) at gunpoint. Once a star reporter, she’s rebuilding her career at an Anchorage paper. She exposed officials’ corruption and their indifference to the disappearance of native women; she’s also made an enemy, who now holds a gun.

2) “Young Sheldon,” 8 p.m. Thursday, CBS. An excellent show got much better when it came up with this storyline: Mandy (the terrific Emily Osment) was dating Sheldon’s brother, a sweet-spirited guy. She became pregnant, then broke up with him because he lied about his age. (He was 17, she was 28.) Still, she’s been living with his family, avoiding her disapproving mother. But now she goes into labor; his family is gone and only hers can help.

3) “Poker Face,” Peacock. A week from its season-finale, this gem has one of its best episodes. Charlie (Natasha Lyonne), on the lam, is in a snowbound motel with a rich sociopath (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), his former friend and a scammer (Stephanie Hsu, an Oscar-nominee in “Everything Everywhere All at Once”) who calls herself Mortimer, because that’s the name on a credit card she stole. The result is both funny and involving.

4) “Animal Control,” 9 p.m., Fox. A battle of pranks gets so serious that even Frank (Joel McHale) might be outsmarted. Also, Amit (Ravi Patel) has an unfortunate encounter with a kangaroo and Emily (Vella Lovell) obsesses on an anatomical rumor. “Animal Control” continues to be a fun blend of verbal humor and broad sight gags.

5) More, 9 p.m. On CW, “Walker: Independence” ends its season with Abby and friends pushing hard to end Tom’s reign over this Texas town. On ABC, “Grey’s Anatomy” starts its post-Meredith era. Maggie and Winston aren’t speaking; Link needs Jo’s support while preparing surgery for a top athlete.

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