1) “Jimmy Webb — American Songwriter,” 9 p.m., PBS. After a so-so start — Webb singing lead on “Up, Up and Away” — this soon soars. It adds great singers, some relatively unknown (Ashley Campbell, shown here, and Ryan Shaw) and some stars. Vince Gill and Lyle Lovett lead a terrific stretch of songs that Webb wrote for Glen Campbell, Ashley’s dad.
2) “Happy’s Place,” 8 p.m., NBC. Two days before the Mexican holiday of Day of the Dead, Isabella tries to explain it to her half-sister. There are some funny moments there … and some hilarious sight gags later. The rest, alas, is mostly much ado about nothing more than a bottle of cologne.
3) “Newlyweds,” 8:30 p.m., NBC. Now for a much (MUCH) better comedy. James and Jeanie (Tim Daly and Tea Leoni) married so abruptly that no one knows — not her kids or his friend or his ex-wife (Jamie Lee Curtis), who thinks Jeanie is the maid. It’s a funny scene — spiced by the hilarious Arvid (Bill O’Neill), who was James’ assistant in Norway.
4) “Boston Blue,” 10 p.m., CBS. This is one way to discover a possible murder victim: The remains are found inside a shark. That follows “Sheriff Country” and “Fire Country,” which will have crossover episodes next week.
5) Movies, 8 p.m.. On Halloween eve, there are scary things in the water. It’s a shark in Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws, on TBS, and a giant crocodile in “Lake Placid,” on Sundance. The latter, with a tongue-in-cheek approach, was written by David E. Kelley and came out while he was producing “Chicago Hope,” “The Practice” and “Ally McBeal.”
— Mike Hughes, TV America