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) Vienna Philharmonic, 9 p.m., PBS. Filmed shortly after an Austrian school shooting, this starts with 12 solemn minutes. Then conductor Tugan Sokhiev packs a dozen vibrant pieces into the next 70 minutes, performed amid the beauty of a palace grounds (shown here). Four of them have Piotr Beczala singing powerfully of love for Carmen, for a Chinese princess, for life and (an audience favorite) for Vienna itself. Read more…
1) Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage,” 9 p.m., CBS. The second season is still seven weeks a way, so CBS does us a favor, rerunning the series-opener. It’s terrific, with Mandy so angry at her mom that she moves into a new place (shown here) — a deeply flawed one — with her husband and baby. Read more…
1) “Toby Keith: American Icon,” 9-11 p.m., NBC. Keith (shown here) was a powerful singer-songwriter with 20 No. 1 country singles. After his death last year (of cancer, at 62), friends created this concert. It includes Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Trace Adkins, Lainey Wilson, Darius Rucker, Eric Church, Jelly Roll, Ashley McBryde, Hardy and many more. Read more…
1) “American Experience,” 9 p.m., PBS. There was a time (really) when politicians from both parties linked to solve problems. This hour starts when Los Angeles — with a geography that traps gas (shown here) — was crippled by smog. Republicans (Reagan, Nixon) and Democrats combined. They created the Environmental Protection Agency and vastly cleaner lives. Read more…
For a moment in the 1950s, real life was like someone’s daydream.
A small-town teenager visited Broadway. A few hours later, she was at the core of the Rodgers-and-Hammerstein empire.
This comes to mind now, as Turner Classic Movies has a spurt of classic musicals. The films (also on HBO Max) include:
— Shirley Jones films Monday (Aug. 25). “Oklahoma” (shown here, 1955) and “Carousel” (1956), both with Gordon MacRae, are at 5:30 and 8 p.m. ET; “The Music Man” (1962), with Robert Preston, is at 10:15 p.m.
— Donald O’Connor films Thursday. That peaks at 8 p.m. ET with “Singin’ in the Rain” (1952), with Gene Kelly — who choreographed dazzling dance numbers and then performed then with O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds. Read more…
1) “American Ninja Warrior” finale, 8-10 p.m., NBC. Over the past three weeks, 32 people have survived head-to-head competition. Now (shown here) they compete, bracket-style, for the championship. Read more…
Each August, TV has a black hole. And each time, PBS helps fill it.
That’s happening now. There are three new Sunday dramas (“Marlow Murder Club” is shown here), some Friday specials and the best smog show you’ll ever see. All arrive just as the other networks are taking a late-summer snooze.
Broadcast networks keep airing promos for shows that are “coming soon” … or not-so-soon. CBS boasts of a “premiere week” in mid-October. Read more…
1) “Unforgotten” season-opener, 10 p.m., PBS. Each year, this has a deep and demanding story. Now solemn cops — one divorced, the other fuming at her cheating husband and sister — tackle a tough one. There’s a widow, her daughter and a right-wing commentator (shown here), plus Afghan refugees, an Albanian loan shark and more. The result is compelling. Read more…
1) College football season-openers. Most teams start next week, but there are exceptions, including five games today on national TV. The first has Kansas State (shown here last season) and Iowa State, ranked No. 17 and 22 in a pre-season poll, in Dublin (yes, that’s in Ireland) at noon ET on ESPN. Read more…
Best-bets for Dec. 7: near the end of “The Road” 
Best-bets for Dec. 6: big games and big laughs 
Best-bets for Dec. 5: Battles begin, Rudolph returns 
