Daily Best Bets

1) “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” 9 p.m., NBC, and more. In an era that lacks music variety shows, we’ll settle for scripted shows that ripple with songs. Here are three, with Skylar Astin in two of them. In “Playlist” — a fun show, with Zoey (Jane Levy) hearing people’s thoughts via song — Astin (shown here with Levy) is Zoey’s friend Jesse; tonight has a key moment with his bubbly girlfriend. In “Perfect Pitch” (2012, 5:50 p.m., Freeform), he’s Max, in a choral group. He’s not in “Yesterday” (2019, 6:55 p.m., HBO), but it’s a music gem. Read more…

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. We never suspected Daniel Craig could be a funny guy. In his James Bond role (shown here) and others – especially the dark “Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” – he seems tough and no-nonsense. But he did host “SNL” in 2012; he also had fun playing a Southern-fried detective in the terrific “Knives Out.” Now Craig – whose next Bond film opens April 10 – hosts. The music guest is The Weeknd, who has done it twice before, plus a couple of times backing others. Read more…

1) “Blue Bloods.,” 10 p.m., CBS. Two key figures in CBS history link tonight. Ed Asner (shown here) arrived a half-century ago in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”; Tom Selleck came 10 years later in “Magnum, P.I.” Combined, those shows spent five years in the Nielsen top-10, 11 years in the top-20. Selleck won an Emmy; Asner won seven, five of them in “MTM” and its “Lou Grant” spin-off. Now Asner, 90, plays the victim of a home invasion; Selleck, 75, plays his friend, the police commissioner. Read more…

1) “Better Things” season-opener, 10-11:14 p.m., FX. With subtlety and skill, this has the day-to-day lives of Sam (Pamela Adlon, shown here at right), her three daughters and her mother. Now the girls are back from visiting their dad, with fresh requests. One wants a pet; another wants a quinceanera … which you don’t expect in a Jewish family. Sam persists, while working through her own mid-life crisis and her mom’s late-life crises. As always, the result is an appealing mixture of humor, warmth and dismay. Read more…

1) “The Twenties” debut, 10 and 10:30 p.m, BET. When Lena Waithe hit her 30s, everything clicked. She got a role in “Master of None,” winning an Emmy for an episode she wrote; she wrote and produced Showtime’s “The Chi” and the movie “Queen & Slim.” Now, at 35, Waithe goes back to her early struggles, when she was an assistant to the “Girlfriends” producer. “Twenties” focuses on three friends (shown here), struggling in Hollywood. It’s sometimes a drama, occasionally a comedy, always loosely likable. Read more…

1) “Empire” return, 9 p.m., Fox. For six seasons, “Empire” has had an odd mix – great music and messy, over-the top soap opera. For this final season, it aired 10 episodes, then took an 11-week break; now it’s back for its last 10. Fox says only that there’s a “shocking revelation” tonight; there usually is. It implies that a death shakes the Lyon family; also, Andre (Trai Byers, shown here, center) makes an important decision. Read more…

1) “Breeders” debut, 10-11:14 p.m., FX, rerunning at 11:14. Paul and Ally (Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard, shown here) are your basic Britishers, with decent jobs, a nice home and two noisy children. And at times, they teeter close to madness. In the first of these two hilarious episodes, they can’t get the kids or themselves to sleep; in the second, they scheme to get the kids into the best school. They also confront his clueless parents, her careless dad (Michael McKean) and Paul’s failure to pursue his childhood dreams. Read more…

1) “Dispatches From Elsewhere” debut, 10 p.m., AMC. Peter leads an unchallenging (and unfulfilling) life, with no significant human contact. He visits a therapist weekly because it’s free and he should talk to someone; still, he has nothing to tell her. Then he’s lured into a bizarre adventure. This is an odd tale, compelling and confounding. Jason Segel (shown here), who skillfully directed and co-wrote the opener, stars alongside Oscar-winner Sally Field, rapper/actor Andre Benjamin and trans actress Eve Lindley. Read more…

1) “Seven Worlds, One Planet” finale, 9 p.m. ET, BBC America and IFC; 9 p.m., AMC and Sundance; also, 12:30 a.m. ET, BBC America. Most nature shows start in Africa; this gorgeous seven-parter ends there. We see chimps fashioning hammers to crack nuts … And a cheetah team (shown here) with a well-plotted attack … And tiny birds living on giraffes, to feast on fleas and ticks. There’s also grim news about poachers and about reduced habitat; David Attenborough, 93, meets the only two survivors from a rhino sub-species. Read more…

1) “Country Music: Live at Ryman.” 9-11 p.m., PBS (check local listings). Here’s a rerun of a superb concert. Last fall, it preceded Ken Burns’ “Country Music” series, offering great moments. There’s jet-paced instrumental work from Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart (shown here), Vince Gill and more, plus deep emotion – a Johnny Cash song by his daughter Roseanne … a Hank Williams one by his granddaughter Holly … “I Will Always Love You” by Gill … and “Crazy,” sung with stunning power by Rhiannon Giddens. Read more…