1) “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” season-opener, 9 p.m., NBC. The 27th season begins for “SVU,” which was already the longest-running primetime drama in U.S. TV history. Now Benson (Mariska Hargitay, shown here) and others try to protect a key witness in a rape case.
2) “Law & Order,” season-opener, 8 p.,m., NBC. Here’s the original “L&O,” now in its 25th season (with a few years off in the middle); a probe points to an assistant district attorney. And at 10, “Law & Order: Organized Crime” sees Stabler go undercover among smugglers..
3) “The Amazing Race,” 9:30 to 11 p.m., CBS, In a fresh twist, this has 13 former “Big Brother” people, each with a loved one. Seven are with a sibling; others are with a father, a daughter, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a fiance and a newlywed wife. After tonight, “Race” moves to Wednesdays.
4) More reality. “Project Runway” has its season-finale, from 9:30-11 p.m. on Freeform. Fox has two openers: At 8 p.m. is “Hell’s Kitchen”; at 9, “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test” ranges from football and basketball giants to Shawn Johnson East, the 4-foot-11 Olympic gold-medal gymnast. There are reality-TV people and actor/singer Jussie Smollett.
5) “English Teacher” season-opener, 9, 9:30 and 10 p.m., FX; rerunning 10:30 to midnight. At times, this crackles with brisk humor; that’s true in the opener (the students insist on creating a Covid musical) and second episode (an AI trash system). At other times? Evan’s habit of getting over-involved can reach extremes, making the third episode a monotone.