Daily Best Bets

1) Music, 9 p.m., PBS and CMT. PBS launches “Next at the Kennedy Center,” with classy concerts. Next (Nov. 18) is “A Joni Mitchell Songbook.” First, is a tribute to jazz great Charles Mingus; the Mingus Big Band soars, complete with a six-saxophone piece. Also, CMT has its “artists of the year” – Kane Brown, Luke Combs, Carly Pearce, Walker Hayes, Cody Johnson – plus a career award for Alan Jackson (shown here) and a breakthrough one for Lainey Wilson. Read more…

1) “Alaska Daily,” 10 p.m., ABC. In last week’s opener, “Daily” established itself as a good series; now we see it could be a great one. The central character (Hilary Swank, shown here) was a bit one-note at first, but now she’s showing depth. Moving to Anchorage to salvage her tarnished newspaper career, she probed the disappearance of Native women; she also told a young reporter to tell the full story of a corrupt official. Those stories build now, while a new one unfolds. Read more…

1) “Archer” season-finale, 10 p.m., FXX, repeating at 11:03. It’s been a rough year for Archer. His mom died and the evil Fabian bought the spy firm. Now Slater (voiced, appropriately, by Christian Slater), a CIA guys, is giving orders. Archer hates him, but likes the goal of killing Fabian. It’s a typical “Archer” (shown here in a previous season) – bright and brash, mixing scattered humor and action animation. Read more…

1) “The Winchesters” debut, 8 p.m., CW. On “Supernatural,” Sam and Dean followed the family tradition of smiting demons. But how did their parents start this? We go to 1972, when John meets Mary (shown here0. He’s tall, handsome and a Vietnam vet; she’s short, attractive and kicking creatures. He’s instantly impressed. This opener is smartly written, filmed and acted – far better than than debut of “Professionals,” at 9 p.m. Read more…

1) “Kevin Can F Himself” series finale, 9 p.m., AMC. This keeps cleverly juggling opposite formats. At times, it’s a deliberately bad sitcom, with bombastic husband Kevin, wise wife Allison (Annie Murphy, shown heree) and audience laughter; at other times, it’s a dark drama about Allison’s agony. Eventually, she faked her death and disappeared. Now we see the impact on those who know she’s alive and those who don’t. There are surprises, deep emotions and a fiery finish. Read more…

1) “NCIS: Los Angeles” season-opener, 10 p.m., CBS. The 14th season begins with another crisis for Sam and Callen (shown here in a previous episode): Someone has bombed a building where combat drones were assembled. The team must find out who did it … while also dealing with troubling news about a body found in Syria. Read more…

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. Maybe we worried too much about which stars had left; we should have fretted about writers leaving. Except for “Weekend Update,” last week’s season-opener was short on wit. This material couldn’t have been saved by Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant … or even by Belushi or Murray or Wiig and such. Let’s hope it improves now, with Brendan Gleeson as host and Willow (shown here), formerly Willow Smith, as music guest. Read more…

1) “Fire Country” debut (shown here), 9 p.m., CBS. In a year when wildfires have ripped through California, that provides a backdrop for this solid series. Bode (Max Thieriot of “SEAL Team”) is a prisoner who joins the firefighters to shorten his sentence – then is sent to the town where his troubles began. This opener requires a mountain of coincidences, but mixes strong drama with blazing action. Read more…

1) “Alaska Daily” debut, 10 p.m., ABC. This could become the next great broadcast-network drama. The opener is pretty good; next week’s hour – extending these stories and adding a new one –is superb. Tom McCarthy won an Oscar for his “Spotlight” script, based on a real newspaper investigation; now another real newspapers probe is the root here. Hilary Swank (shown here, right), a double Oscar-winner, plays a star reporter, taking her tarnished career to Anchorage. Read more…

1) “The Real Love Boat” debut, 9 p.m., CBS. For 10 seasons, “Love Boat” had fictional romances and more. Now the title is revived for a dating show. It starts with a dozen singles, including a nurse, a teacher, a firefighter and a shoe-designer. They cruise to Barcelona, Rome and more, adding and subtracting people along the way. Jerry O’Connell and Rebecca Romijn, married for 15 years, host and the real-life captain, social director and barttender (shown here) are regulars. Read more…