1) World Series opener, 8 p.m. ET Friday, Fox; pre-game at 7. Baseball gets a chance to swipe attention from football. It has games Friday and Saturday … skips Sunday, when pro football rules … then has games Oct. 27, 28 and (if needed) Oct. 29 and 31 and Nov. 1. The Mariners (shown here) or Bluejays face Dodgers or Brewers; check Sports for details. Read more…
1) “DMV” debut, 8:30 p.m. today, CBS. The CBS season finally begins, with lots of season-openers and a few new shows — starting with this comedy. In the “Superstore” style, it finds fun with the Department of Motor Vehicles patrons — an entitled jerk, a scary driver, a clueless oldster — and the likable staff, shown here with sweet Colette (Harriet Dyer) eyeing the newcomer (Alex Tarrant). Read more…
1) “Elsbeth” season-opener, 9 p.m. Sunday, CBS. Here’s some logical casting: Stephen Colbert plays a talk-show host, which he is …. Andy Richter plays a sidekick, which he was …. Amy Sedaris plays his wife (isn’t), a comedy writer (is). We quickly see a murder, then watch Elsbeth (shown here with Sedaris and Richter) at work. It’s s fairly good episode; the next one (on Oct. 16) is brilliant. Read more…
1) “Saturday Night Live” season-opener, 11:29 p.m. Saturday, NBC. The 50th season was big, including nine Emmys for the “SNL50” special. Now the show is back, adding five people and losing one veteran (Heidi Gardner) and three newer people (Michael Longfellow, Emil Wakim and Devon Walker). Bad Bunny hosts the opener, with Doja Cat (shown here) as music guest. Read more…
1) “America’s Got Talent” finale, 9-11 p.m. Tuesday and 8-11 p.m. Wednesday, NBC. The final 10 acts get one more shot. There are seven music acts (including an improv rapper and, shown here, a high school choir), plus dancers, acrobats and a spectacular projection act. Their performances Tuesday will be recapped at 8 Wednesday, setting up a two-hour finale. Read more…
1) “A Grammy Salute to Earth, Wind & Fire: The 21at Night of September,” 8-10 p.m. ET Sunday, CBS. In 1978, an EWF song began “Do you remember the 21st night of September?” It hit No. 8 on the charts, one of the band’s seven singles (and seven albums) in the top-10. Now Sept. 21 is the night for a concert tribute to a rousing sound, with horns (shown here) guitars and more, bursting loose. Read more…
1) Emmy Awards, 8-11 p.m. ET Sunday, CBS, rerunning at 8. Nate Burgatze hosts on CBS … which has few nominations, except for reality shows and Stephen Colbert. Apple TV+ has two best-comedy nominees (“Shrinking,” shown here, and “The Studio”) and two for drama (“Severance,” “Slow Horses”). HBO has “White Lotus” and “The Last of Us,” plus two more on Max. Read more…
1) Football, 8:15 p.m. ET Thursday, NBC; pre-game at 7. The pro season . starts … and is likely to dominate viewership. The Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles (shown here), 14-3 in the regular season, host the Dallas Cowboys, 7-10. There’s a game Friday (Chiefs-Chargers, 8 p.m., YouTube) and a deluge Sunday, concluding with Ravens-Bills, 8:15 p.m. on NBC. Read more…
1) “America’s Got Talent,” 8-10 p.m. Tuesday, NBC. The quarter-finals will sprawl over four Tuesdays, with 11 acts each time. This opener has five music acts (including Tom Sandoval, of “Vanderpump Rules” and Jessica Sanchez, shown here) and three dance acts — B Unique, LightWire and Loco Pop Familia — plus magic, a trapeze duo and comedian Shuler King. Read more…
1) “Alien Earth” debut, 8 p.m Tuesday, FX. Here’s an ideal sci-fi mix: epic monsters-and-machines space scenes (shown here), plus a deeply human story. On one note, a ship with captured creatures has crashed on Earth. On the other, a dying tween girl’s mind and memories are injected into a synthetic body. With other synths, she tries to rescue the brother of her human self. Read more…
