Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Oct. 31: one last surge of Halloween

1) Halloween finale, everywhere. After a month of overkill, there’s one more day. “Dancing With the Stars” (8 p.m., Disney+) has a Halloween theme, with teams dancing to “Heads Will Roll” and “The Witches are Back.” Then “Quantum Leap” (10 p.m., NBC) has Ben (shown here) jump into a priest’s body on Halloween. In daytime, Kelly Clarkson sings “Monster Mash” on her syndicated show and Ray Parker Jr. does “Ghostbusters” on CBS’ “The Talk.” Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 30: debut, finales … and “Horrors”

1) “The Simpsons,” 8 p.m., Fox. Last week, “Simpsons” took a slight detour, with a half-hour take-off on “It.” Now it’s back for the 33rd – yes, 33rd – annual “Treehouse of Horror,” with three wonderfully weird stories. There are take-offs on two films — “The Babadook” and (in a charming anime style, shown here) “Death Note,” plus a “Westworld” that actually has a heroic Homer. The results are too gory for some viewers, but a delight for others. Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 29: after a mini-rest, “SNL” is back

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. After pausing for a rerun, “SNL” has its fourth new episode in five weeks. The opener was disappointing, but the next two have been fairly good. Here’s the second straight new one to have the host double as music guest. On Oct. 15, it was Megan Thee Stallion; now Jack Harlow (shown here), 24, has his first turn as host and second as music guest. Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 28: joyous ‘Dead’ or baseball’s best

1) “Dia de los Muertos,” 9 p.m., PBS. Here’s a fine way to celebrate Day of the Dead (four days early) – or any day. Three great bands – Los Lobos, Ozomatli and the female mariachi quartet Flor de Tolache (shown here) – perform in an underground Tennessee club, before a costumed crowd. You’ll hear spectacular vocals (mostly in Spanish), soaring brass, driving percussion and gifted guitarists, The two-group finale will wake the dead and delight the living. Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 27: Halloween is here, a bit early

1) “Welcome to Flatch,” 9:02 p.m., Fox. For the second straight night, Halloween episodes fill the line-up. In this one, a trip to the psychic brings opposite reactions: Cheryl feels cursed; Barb (Jamie Pressly, shown here) suddenly has fresh lust – in a surprising direction. It’s a so-so episode, but has a big finish … leading into “Call Me Kat,” complete with a costume party. This will be one of the final five episodes to include Leslie Jordan, who died Monday (see separate story) at 67 Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 26: funny Halloween, serious history

1) “The Conners” and more, 8-10 p.m., ABC. Ever since its began (as “Roseanne”) 34 years ago, this has had great Halloween episodes.  (shown here). This time, Dan wants the house decorated, but everyone is busy; Becky tries to take over. That’s followed at 8:30 by horror-film spoofs on “The Goldbergs.” At 9, someone steals the Halloween candy from “Abbott Elementarty”; at 9:30, Tom may have a Halloween-time stalker on “Home Economics.” Read more…

Best bets for Oct. 25: a wedding, a killing and more

1) “The Resident,” 8 p.m., Fox. Dr. Bell (Bruce Greenwood) has covered all the extremes. He was the show’s villain, botching surgeries and hiding the evidence … then its hero, an unflinching force for good … and then an afterthought, getting out-of-state medical treatments. Now he’s back and marrying Kit (Jane Leeves, shown here), who has his old job as the hospital’s CEO. It’s the 100th episode of this above-average show and yes, there’s a wedding crisis. Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 24: crises — real, fictional and TikTok

1) “Independent Lens,” 10 p.m., PBS (check local listings). Meet stars of TikTok – Spencer X. a beat-boxer with a million-dollar mouth … Deja Foxx, once a homeless teen and now a Columbia honors student who supports herself and her mom with videos ranging from sexy to socio-political … Feroza Aziz (shown here), who slid genocide protests into an eyelash tutorial. We also hear about chilling TikTok sins, from censorship to shaping youths with subtle biases. Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 23: killer clown, deadly dragon

1) “The Simpsons,” 8 p.m., Fox. Even now, in its 34th season, the show manages to change. Previous years had “Treehouse of Horror,” with three offbeat tales; that will be here next week, but first is a fresh twist — “Treehouse presents” a take-off on Stephen King’s “It.” Homer and other teens fight a killer clown (shown here) … then return 27 years later, to try again. The Homer/Marge romance is flipped, in a tale that’s too gory for some viewers, but great fun for many. Read more…

Best-bets for Oct. 22: Athletes bat, skate and smash

1) Sports surge. Baseball and college football collide. The former has two best-of-seven series, sending winners to the World Series. Today, Aaron Judge (shown here) and the Yankees host the Astros at 5:07 p.m. ET on TBS; the Padres-Phillies game is, 7:45 on Fox. That faces lots of football, including Mississippi State (ranked No. 24) at Alabama (No. 6) at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN, Minnesota at Penn State (No. 16) at 7:30 on ABC and Kansas State (No. 17) at Texas Christian (No. 8) at 8 on Fox Sports1. Read more…