1) “NCIS: Sidney” season-finale, 8 p.m., CBS. This Aussie/American blend (shown here) has done a fairly solid job of wielding cop-show cliches. Now it amps up the odds, with mixed results. It starts with one of the strangest kidnapping in TV history and ends cleverly. In between, it requires people to behave out-of-character, in the way TV fiction prefers. Read more…
1) “The Bachelor” opener, 8-10 p.m., ABC. After being runner-up on “Bachelorette.” Joey Graziadei is now in charge. He’s 28 and teaches tennis; he’ll meet four women in their early 30s and 28 in their twenties. There are three nurses, a mental-health therapist and a mental-health counselor. There’s also an actress, an artist, an “esthetician,” a nanny (Evalin, shown here) and a pro-football cheerleader. Read more…
1) “Encanto” (2021), 8 p.m., Disney Channel, or “Soul” (2020), 9 p.m., ABC. These films have much in common. Each streamed at Christmas, rippling with music and ethnic flavor; each won the Oscar for best animated picture. But “Soul” (with a jazzy sound) hit the pandemic and skipped theaters in the U.S.; “Encanto” (shown here), with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Latino sound, had better luck a year later. Read more…
1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29, NBC. One quick route to being an “SNL” host seems to be portraying Elvis Last season had Austin Butler, the “Elvis” star; tonight is Jacob Elordi, the “Priscilla” (shown heee) co-star. (He also did “Euphoria” and the “Kissing Booth” movies.) “SNL” had eight new episodes in 10 weeks, before airing four straight reruns. Now it’s back; Renee Rapp is the music guest. Read more…
1) “Benjamin Franklin,” 9-11 p.m., PBS. Franklin (depicted here) rippled with contrasts. He was a left-brain guy who invented the lightning rod, bifocals and Franklin stove, a right-brainer whose wrote cleverly. He was warm and lovable, but fought with his family, owned slaves and ran slavery ads in his newspaper. Ken Burn created this rich profile, which reruns over two Fridays. Read more…
1) “Law & Order” season-opener, 8- p.m., NBC. Dick Wolf’s dramas seem to go on forever … and are bouncing back quickly from the strikes. This one starts its 23rd season, with Reid Scott (shown here, left) replacing Jeffrey Donovan as one of thre cops. Tonight, an on-campus murder sparks a debate about hate speech. Read more…
1) “Chicago Fire” season-opener, 8-11 p.m., NBC. Producer Dick Wolf gets the prize for quickly getting dramas back, post-strike. He has three “Law & Order” ones Thursday, three FBI ones next month and three Chicago ones now. This is a fairly ordinary hour, with an arson probe, a fire (shown heere) and staff changes. One person is gone, one is back, one is leaviing … and life goes on. Read more…
1) “Fargo” finale, 10 p.m., FX; repeats at 11:07, 12:13, 1:19. A great show hits all of its odd extremes. The opening minutes are slow and brutal; the cruel Sheriff Tillman (Jon Hamm) prepares for battle as his blinded son wanders and his nasty dad taunts. And the final minutes are pure “Fargo,” with an ending that matches the original movie. In between, Dot (Juno Temple, shown here in the opening episode) tries to flee from Tillman. Read more…
1) Emmy night. After the drab Golden Globes, we’ll see if there can be fun at award time. The E channel starts its preview at 5 p.m. ET and goes to the red carpet with Laverne Cox at 6; Fox has the awards at 8, with Anthony Anderson hosting. One quirk: This is for an eligibility period that ended seven months ago. “The Bear” (shown here) had two seasons of Globe wins, before now getting its first Emmy night. Read more…
1) “Monsieur Spade” opener, 9 p.m., AMC. In “Maltese Falcon,” Sam Spade became the classic private eye, tough, terse and unblinking. Now he’s played by Clive Owen and (shown here) and written by Tom Fontana, the brilliant “Homicide” and “Oz” writer. Surprisingly, he’s living quietly in France; unsurprisingly, trouble finds him. The six-week story is oddly convoluted, but it ripples with quick, sharp dialog. Read more…
