Mike Hughes on TV

1) “The America Buffalo,” 8-10 p.m., PBS; rerunning at 10 and concluding Tuesday. This is classic Ken Burns (almost). It has deep insights, great visuals, painful details. Missing (until near the end) is optimism Burns (shown here) usually offers. We see the buffalo (and, separately, native Americans) pushed to the edge of extinction. Late in Tuesday’s finale, decency emerges. We’re left with some hope for the buffalo, the natives and the human soul. Read more…

1) “Encanto,” 8 p.m,, ABC. On the eve of the Disney studio’s 100th birthday, a three-day celebration begins. Tonight, a short (“Once Upon a Studio”) has cartoon characters trying to assemble for a photo; that’s followed by “Encanto” (2021, shown here), with vibrant animation and splendid Lin-Manuel Miranda songs. On Monday, “Studio” reruns at 11:51 a.m. on FXX, 8 p.m. on Disney and 8:30 on Freeform. Also, Disney+ has the restored “Snow White” on Monday; the next day, “Dancing With the Stars” has Disney night. Read more…

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. May 6 was going to be big for “SNL” — Pete Davidson’s first time as host, starting a three-week string of new shows. Then came the writers’ strike. Now, 23 weeks later, the show is finally back, with Davidson (shown here) as host and Ice Spice as music guest. All of the regulars are expected, with Chloe Troast as the lone newcomer. This comes two days before the “Daily Show” opener on Comedy Central; we need the laughs. Read more…

1) “Raid the Cage” debut, 9 p.m., CBS. On Oct. 2, CBS debuted “Loteria Loca” (shown here). Now it debuts another full-throttle, high-octane show with international roots. Contestants pause (briefly) to answer trivia questions, but that’s to buy extra time to run into a room, grab prizes and get out before the door shuts. It’s sort of fun to watch (for a while) and we can see why it’s already in 18 countries. But the hosts (Damon Wayans Jr. and Jeannie Mai) and contestants seem confined to a perpetually cheerful tone that soon gets monotonous. Read more…

1) “Transplant” season-opener, 9 p.m., NBC. This is one of the Canadian shows that networks imported to fill summertime holes. Solid and well-crafted, it’s worthy of this promotion to the fall schedule. Dr. Bashir Hamed and his sister fled from Syria to Canada; after rescuing the emergency-department chief, he got a hospital job. But now there’s a new chief and changes for several peopole, including his potential girlfriend. (They’re show here). This is a crowded hour, but has some strong moments. Read more…

1) “Archer” series finale, 10 p.m., FXX, rerunning at 10:32 and 11:04. At its best, this show (a cartoon for grown-ups) has been big, brash and high-octane. Now the finale tries to top that, with killer drones, killer bikers, two beheadings and a behanding … plus Lana (shown here) trying to make her shaky operation work. We prefer shows where the body parts remain intact, but this is done with enough humor and zest to keep us watching. Read more…