1) “The Masked Singer” preview, 9 p.m., Fox. After an awful summer, Fox hopes to start a big fall comeback next week, fueled by football, wrestling, cartoons, transplanted dramas and – especially – “The Masked Singer,” which was big last season (shown here). This is the second time it airs this preview of next Wednesday’s season-opener, offering a peek at clues, costumes and behind-the-scenes activity. Read more…
1) Academy of Country Music awards, 8-11 p.m., CBS. During a five-month delay, this ound ways to do lots of live, social-distanced music. That will be scattered into the Grand Ole Opry’s past and current homes and a nightclub. Keith Urban hosts, Taylor Swift (shown here) ends a seven-year absence and sings “Betty,” Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani do “Happy Anywhere” and Carrie Underwood does a medley of women’s hits. Also: Luke Bryan, Kane Brown, Miranda Lambert, Tim McGraw, Trisha Yearwood, many more. Read more…
1) “America’s Got Talent,” 8-10 p.m., NBC. Five spots remain in the 10-person finals; now 11 acts compete for them. There are lots of singers – Celina Graves (shown here), Cristina Rae, Kenadi Dodds, Daneliya Tuleshova, Voices of Our City – and two dance acts, BAD Salsa and W.A.F.F.L.E. Crew. Also, a magician (Max Major), a daredevil (Jonathan Goodwin), a sword-swallower (Brett Loudermilk) and acrobats (Bello Sisters). Tonight, viewers vote; on Wednesday, we’ll learn who survives. Read more…
1) “Dancing With the Stars” opener, 8-10 p.m., ABC. There’s a new host (Tyra Banks) and ew judge (Derek Hough, shown here with Bindi Irwin, one of his six championships). There’s also a new approach, with dancers being distanced from everyone except their partners. The line-up includes Carole Baskin, the animal activist from “Tiger King”; Kaitlyn Bristowe, a former “Bachelorette”; and skater Johnny Weir. Also, athletes (Charles Oakley, Vernon Davis), musicians (Nelly, A.J. McLean), actors (Jesse Metcalfe, Anne Heche, Skai Jackson, Justina Machado) and more. Read more…
1) “Masterpiece: Van der Valk” debut, 9 p.m., PBS. The season’s first scripted show is a winner – a smart and well-crafted mystery with fresh settings. All the key people are British, including the novelist who created the characters and the actors who play them, led by Marc Warren (shown here). Still, this is set in Amsterdam, providing a fresh look … and a lot of bicycles. The opener starts with a wild bike chase, then shows the main crime. It pauses for humor (as Van der Valk meets his new aide), then eyes art, politics and romance. Read more…
1) “Coastal Elites,” 8-9:30 p.m., HBO, rerunning at 11:20. In the right hands, a pandemic can seem fun. Paul Rudnick (“Sister Act,” “Addams Family Values”) wrote monologues about social-distanced live; five gifted actors then did them in a social-distance way. Kaitlyn Dever plays an idealistic youmg nurse from Wyoming; Bette Midler plays an angry old New Yorker. Dan Levy plays a neurotic actor, Issa Raye plays a rich kid and Sarah Paulson (shown here) plays the star of the internet’s “Mindful Meditations.” Read more…
1) 9/11 documentaries, all day, History. On the 19th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks (shown her, here’s a 21-hour marathon. That includes two new hours, looking at the final two planes – one hitting the Pentagon, the other crashing in a Pennsylvania field. The rest are reruns, starting with efforts to rebuild on the site (7 a.m.) and to find the flag that was hoisted there (8). Especially moving are “Escape From the Tower” and “102 Minutes that Changed America,” at 4 and 6 p.m Read more…
1) Football season-opener, 8:20 p.m ET., NBC. This is just what we need now – the full-scale fun and fury of pro football. It starts with Patrick Mahomes (shown here) and the champion Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Houston Texans, which almost stopped them en route to last year’s Super Bowl. All of the other teams play Sunday (including the Rams and Cowboys at night on NBC) or in an ESPN doubleheader Monday. And on Saturday, we have the first full – well, semi-full – day of college football. Read more…
1) “Nova” season-opener, 8-10 p.m., PBS. Here is PBS at its best – taking an impenetrable subject and making it easy to understand – and even compelling, almost in a science-fiction way. The subject, gene-editing, is explained by animation and more. We meet Jennifer Douda, the Berkeley biochemist who linkeed with Emmanuelle Charpentier (they’re shown here, right to left) to find ways genes can be altered … and David Sanchez, 17, stricken by sickle-cell disorder. Could this be prevented? What are the ethical traps? These are compelling questions, beautifully posed. Read more…
1) “Transplant,” 10 p.m., NBC. In a terrific opener last week, we slowly learned the basics: Bashir was a doctor who treated rebels in Syria, then fled to Canada with his little sister. Rejected by hospitals, he was working in a restaurant when tragedy struck. He saved the hospital’s medical chief, who then hired him. In another strong episode tonight, Bashir (shown here) finds more problems: The makeshift methods he used in Aleppo are viewed harshly in this by-the-book workplace; also a friend is undocumented and homeless. Read more…
