Week’s top-10 for Oct. 2: Leap into new dramas and more

1) “Quantum Leap” season-opener, 8 p.m. Wednesday, NBC. After a good first season, “Leap” started filming this second one before the strikes. It also changed tone: Now Ben (shown here in first season) is stranded, without his fiancee’s hologram to help him. And now there’s humor; he has just crash-landed with a chaotic crew. It’s a sharp hour with excellent guest stars, including the stars of “Manifest” (Melissa Roxburgh) and “Midnight, Texas” (Francois Arnaud). Read more…

1) “Quantum Leap” season-opener, 8 p.m. Wednesday, NBC. After a good first season, “Leap” started filming this second one before the strikes. It also changed tone: Now Ben (shown here in first season) is stranded, without his fiancee’s hologram to help him. And now there’s humor; he has just crash-landed with a chaotic crew. It’s a sharp hour with excellent guest stars, including the stars of “Manifest” (Melissa Roxburgh) and “Midnight, Texas” (Francois Arnaud).

2) “Magnum P.I.” season-opener, 9 p.m. Wednesday, NBC. This show filmed two, 10-episode seasons in one burst, before the strikes. Now the second 10 hours begin. As usual, there’s flash, fun and blue-sky settings; there’s also a closing shoot-out. Alongside that, however, is another dead-serious story, with T.C. partially paralyzed after an earlier gunfight. Christopher Thornton, a paraplegic actor, does great work as Shammy, nudging him along.

3) “Professor T” season-finale, 8 p.m. Sunday, PBS. This is usually a straight-ahead, crime-of-the-week tale. Now, however, it brings together secrets it has assembled all season: Lisa had her secret romance with Dan; their boss has a secret one with an undercover cop. Dan raged about Lisa’s secret chance for a promotion … while he secretly was moonlighting with thugs. It explodes now, followed by strong finales for “Unforgotten” and “Von der Valk.”

4) “Loteria Loca” debut, 9 p.m. today, CBS. Loteria is like bingo, but with bright pictures. It’s been in Mexico for 250 years; Jaime Camil (the “Jane the Virgin” co-star) says every family has a set. Now he produces and hosts this show, which starts with the cards and then goes to interactive challenges. For the first two weeks, that’s preceded at 8p.m. by “The Price is Right at Night.” This week has Jeff Probst and an audience full of “Survivor” fans.

5) “Only Murders in the Building” finale, Tuesday, Hulu. A terrific season wraps as Oliver (Martin Short) tries to stop Loretta (Meryl Streep) from confessing. She’s trying to protect the son she gave up at birth, but Oliver is convinced that neither is the killer. Also, he loves her AND needs her to co-star in his musical. It’s a big week for Hulu, which has “The Boogeyman” on Thursday and is live from the “Austin City Limits” festival all weekend.

6) “Found” debut, 10 p.m. Tuesday, NBC; repeats at 9 p.m. Thursday. Like NBC’s “Irrational” (10 p.m. Mondays), this started filming before the strikes. Unlike it, it’s deeply flawed. Still, the concept is solid: The media focuses on a few missing-person stories and ignores the others; Gabi, a survivor, looks for the overlooked. It’s a good idea, done to loud excess, with a wretched closing twist. That’s meant to be a surprise, but appears in the show’s ads.

7) “The Spencer Sisters” debut, 9 p.m. Wednesday, CW. In one hectic day, a cop loses her job, her home and her romance. She reluctantly returns to her self-obsessed mom and they form a detective duo. That sounds contrived, but it has a sharp script, a bright look and excellent stars, Stacey Farber and Lea Thompson. It follows a show (“Sullivan’s Crossing”) that has a similar going-home theme, but is more serious and is moderately interesting.

.8) “American Masters,” 9 p.m. Friday, PBS. This documentary was 35 years in the making. In the ‘80s, one man filmed jazz great Max Roach; another began verbal recordings of Roach’s memories. They later merged, adding old clips and new interviews. It’s a vivid life, spanning genres; Roach ranged from bebop masters (Monk, Miles, Dizzy) to a rapper. Alongside great music, we see friendship (Clifford Brown), romance (Abby Lincoln) and pain.

9) “Cruella,” 8-11 p.m. Sunday, ABC. The “101 Dalmatians” villain is transformed into a sort of hero, a vibrant soul overcoming a tough start. This is early-1970s London, still glowing with the look and sound of the Beatles era. Young Cruella (Emma Stone), inexplicably a master of martial arts and disguise, battles a baroness (Emma Thompson). There are plot holes, but Craig Gillespie (“I, Tonya” and the current “Dumb Money”) directed beautifully.

10) ALSO: Four talk shows – Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers – plan to return tonight, now that their writers are back. In the late-night world, that leaves “The Daily Show” (Oct. 16) and “Saturday Night Live” (indefinite). Also this week: “FBI True,” 9 p.m. Tuesday, CBS …. The “Great Chocolate Showdown” finale, 8 p.m. Saturday, CW … And the start of baseball play-offs, Tuesday on the ESPN channels.

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