1) Emmy awards, 8 p.m. ET today, NBC. Mariska Hargitay hosts, after winning two Emmys in advance, for her documentary about her mother, Jayne Mansfield. She’s had eight acting nominations (and one win), but none in the past 15 years. Instead, the Emmys are now a streaming stronghold: NBC has 29 nominations; HBO Max has 122. At least, NBC can root for the Peacock version of “Traitors” (shown here) to win, three days before the network vrsion (see No. 3) debuts.
2) “Best Medicine” season-opener, 8 p.m. ET Sunday, Fox. Here’s the perfect way to re-introduce this gently offbeat show. A mermaid (well, maybe not a real one) has been rescued. To help her, townsfolk must acknowledge their own quirks and flaws, which are ample. This episode rruns two days later, when the show takes its regular Tuesday spot.
3) “The Traitors: New Blood” debut, 8 and 9 p.m. Thursday, NBC. The Peacock version has already won six Emmys this year (including Alan Cumming’s third as best host) and is up for its third straight best-reality-show win. Now this spin-off has regular folks (doctor, nurse, two lawyers, rodeo guy, ironworker, etc.), not celebrities, in the castle.
4) “Dancing With the Stars” opener, 8-10 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, ABC and Disney+. Two contestants (Jenna Dewan and Julia Stiles) have played dance champions in movies; one (Tatyana Ali) played the sister of host Alfonso Ribeiro on TV. Guys include Paralympic champion Ezra Frech and Savannah Banana baseball player Jackson Olson.
5) “R.J. Decker” season-opener, 10 p.m. Tuesday, ABC, rerunning at 8 p.m. Friday. Here’s the first scripted show of the broadcast-network season. “Decker” began at mid-season, with Scott Speedman as R.J., a photographer who was framed and sent to prison. Now he’s a private detective; in this hour, former prison colleagues lure him into a series of heists.
6) “America’s Got Talent” semi-finals, 8-10 p.m. Tuesday, NBC. Already advanced to the Sept. 22 finals are two singers (ages 14 and 16) plus a magic act and dancing-robots. Now 12 more compete for the final six spots, to be revealed Wednesday. There are three singers and three magic acts, two dance acts and two dog acts, a comedian and an aerialist.
7) “MasterChef” and “Nation’s Dumbest” finales, 8 and 9 p.m. Wednesday, Fox. First, the final three home chefs — Jake Kelley, 24; Peter Egede, 29; Heidi Muster, 51 — rush to finish their entrees and make the dessert. Then “Dumbest” (a delight in its first season) has two likable souls, Chase Hudson and Hilaria Baldwin, trying to avoid the “dumbest” tag.
8) “Mobland,” Friday, Paramount+. Guy Ritchie keeps making tough-guy dramas. Earlier this month, Netflix had the second season of his “The Gentlemen”; now comes the second of this show, with Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan running a crime family. And streaming Wednesday: Prime’s “Neagley” (a “Reacher” spin-off) and Apple’s “Slow Horses.”
9) “Greatest @Home Videos,” 8 p.m. Friday, CBS. During the pandemic, this was an amiable series, showing at-home creativity. Now, alas, it just has scattered specials. In this one, the first in 16 months, Cedric the Entertainer has his “annual” awards. On another CBS special (9-10 p.m. Sunday), Vanessa Lachey presents past Video Music Awards highlights.
10) “Marble Hall Murders,” 9 p.m. Sunday, PBS. So far, there’s only been one murder (plus another in a related novel). But at the end of this hour, potent events raise the stakes. That’s the half-way mark in a terrific six-parter. At 10 p.m. is the start of “Trespasses,” a stern Irish drama that has Gillian Anderson memorably inhabiting a very different sort of role.