1) Football. The college season has reached its semi-finals. Today, Miami (shown here) — ranked No. 10, before beating two higher-rated opponents — faces Mississippi (No. 6) in the Fiesta Bowl. On Friday, top-ranked Indiana faces Oregon (No. 5) in the Peach Bowl. The winners collide Jan. 19.
2) “Grey’s Anatomy” return, 10 p.m., ABC. After airing six episodes, this paused for a seven-week break. Now it’s back, following the return of “9-1-1” (Hen has trouble hiding her health problems) and “9-1-1: Nashville” (ransom demands are escalating).
3) “Law & Order” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” return, 8 and 9 p.m., NBC. Back from a six-week break, these have an overlapping story. It starts with Benson (Mariska Hargitay of “SVU”) trying to help an apparent rape victim. When this expands into murder, Brady (Maura Tierney of “L&O”) takes over. Soon, they have clashing priorities.
4) “The Hunting Party” season-opener, 10 p.m., NBC. The first villain in this second season is way to similar to the second one in the first season. He’s also way too creepy, albeit well-played by Eric McCormack. The result is a nasty hour that keeps stretching for the overwrought and the highly unlikely.
5) MORE: The Emmy-winning “The Pitt” starts its second season, on HBO Max. Also, from 6-10 p.m., the USA Network has the preliminaries of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships; the finals are Friday and Saturday on NBC. And three days before the Golden Globes, CBS has an 8 p.m. hour for the Globes’ lifetime awards to Helen Mirren and Sarah Jessica Parker.
— Mike Hughes, TV America