Best-bets for Oct. 17: fresh focus for Frasier, buffalo and Disney tunes

1) “Frasier,” 9:30 and 10 p.m., CBS. It was almost 20 years ago that Kelsey Grammer tried to convince CBS to take “Frasier,” after NBC had canceled it. For one night, he gets his wish: This revival streams on Paramount+, but its first two episodes rerun tonight on CBS. We see Frasier Crane return to Boston, meet his son and the son’s roommate (shown here) … and soon feud over a souvenir. Eight more episodes – basically with only Grammer from the original cast – will stream on Thursdays. Read more…

1) “Frasier,” 9:30 and 10 p.m., CBS. It was almost 20 years ago that Kelsey Grammer tried to convince CBS to take “Frasier,” after NBC had canceled it. For one night, he gets his wish: This revival streams on Paramount+, but its first two episodes rerun tonight on CBS. We see Frasier Crane return to Boston, meet his son and the son’s roommate (shown here) … and soon feud over a souvenir. Eight more episodes – basically with only Grammer from the original cast – will stream on Thursdays.

2) “Dancing With the Stars.” 8-10 p.m., ABC and Disney+. On the day after the Disney studio’s 100th birthday, contestants dance to songs from its animated movie. There are films as old as “Fantasia” and “Dumbo” (1940 and ‘41) and as recent as “Coco” and “Frozen II” (2017 and ‘19). Eleven “stars” remain, after the ouster of actors Matt Walsh and Jamie Lynn Spears and model Tyler Beckford.

3) “The American Buffalo,.” 8-10 p.m., PBS, rerunning at 10. The second half of Ken Burns’ compelling film follows the horrific killing of the buffalo, but also focuses on efforts to eradicate native Americans. Some of that was direct, with military massacres; more was indirect – boarding schools that ripped children from their cultures. It’s a joltiing story, but also has bursts of hope, as tribes, parks and others lead the effort to restore the buffalo.

4) “The Swarm,” 9 p.m., CW. The first five episodes (of eight) have seen escalating ocean disasters – killer crabs, angry whales and, last week, a deadly tsunami. Now one researcher suspects there’s an unknown marine intelligence. He hopes Mifune, the billionaire, will finance a quick research mission.

5) “FBI True,” 10:28-11 p.m., CBS. During a 12-year stretch, authorities say, Joseph DeAngelo committed at least 120 burglaries, 51 rapes and 13 murders. They were done in different parts of California only later was there a unified search for the “Golden State Killer.” He was captured (via family DNA) in 2018 and confessed. This report includes the FBI’s lead profiler and an Orange County investigator who worked the case for 20 years.

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