1) “Coven Academy” debut, 8-10 p.m., Freeform. Ready or not, “31 Nights of Halloween” is starting. There are movies — “Edward Scissorhands” at 11:30 a.m., “Addams Family” films at 1:55 and 3:55, “Hocus Pocus” at 5:55. Then “Coven” begins, with teen witches (shown here). You can catch it over three Thursdays, or all 10 episodes Friday on Disney+ and Hulu.
2) “Big Brother,” 8-9:30 p.m., CBS. After 87 days, we finally learn who is the $750,000 winner. Also, viewers will choose a favorite, who gets $50,000. That’s followed by the second half of the “Amazing Race” opener.
3) “East of Eden,” Netflix. In 1955, part of John Steinbeck’s novel was adapted into a film that drew Oscar nominations for director Elia Kazan , the script, James Dean and Jo Van Fleet, who won. Now Zoe Kazan (Elia’s granddaughter) has written a seven-parter, using more of the book. It focuses on Van Fleet’s character, Catherine, played by Florence Pugh.
4) “War” debut, 9 p.m., HBO; rerunning at 10 and 11:51; also on HBO Max. Each year, this will depict two London law firms — one old, one new — in a high-stakes battle. This opener is a divorce case involving a tech titan (Dominic West) and a film star (Sienna Miller).
5) ALSO: While Freeform has Halloween-lite, others stuff the month with harder horror. There’s FX (“American Horror Story,” 9-10:30 p.m.), Syfy (“Five Nights at Freddy’s at 6), IFC (a “Friday the 13th” marathon”) and AMC (the mini-budget gem “Halloween” at 7). Or for a great film in general, James Cameron’s “Aliens” is 8 p.m. on BBC America.