1) “The Lowdown,” 9-10:05 p.m., FX. Three brilliant actors combine here. Ethan Hawke is Lee, a “citizen journalist” who is often battered and always passionate. Tommy Lee Jones is his estranged dad, who’s up to something. And Betty Gilpin (shown here) is superb as a public defender, in love with a missing prisoner. Tonight, things get messy in a corrupt county.
2) “Abbott Elementary,” 8:30 p.m., ABC. “Abbott” savors its Halloween-week episodes. Now Ava hosts an exclusive party; also, Janine and Jacob are suspicious of Gregory. That’s preceded by “Scrubs,” with the holiday filled with grown-ups’ concerns — Turk with his four kids, Elliot with her clinic plans and J.D. helping a former colleague.
3) “Chicago Fire,” 9 p.m., NBC. Severide is the captain now, but his old arson-investigation skills are still needed. The FBI asks for help, probing a fire that was in a scheme to kidnap a judge’s daughter. That follows “Chicago Med,” with a dispute when Charles diagnoses a colleague’s family member.
4) “Nova,” 9 p.m., PBS. Some documentaries settle for a day-in-the-life approach; this hour spans 4.2 billion years. The mid-point of the beautifully crafted, five-week “Evolution,” it follows the path from a single-cell organism to an 11-ton elephant. Evolution has no grand plan, it tells us; most detours fail, but some succeed spectacularly.
5) Championships, 8 p.m. ET: This is the night for two best-of-seven series to have Game 5. For the WNBA, Atlanta and Golden State, tied at two games apiece, are on USA, CNBC and Peacock; For baseball’s World Series (barring a four-game sweep), Milwaukee and Tampa Bay are on Fox.