Mike Hughes on TV

1) “Erin Brockovich” (2000), 8 p.m., Pop. This is clearly a night to watch Julia Roberts, with three strong choices, at 8 p.m. The best is “Brockovich,” the true story of an office assistant who used brains and people-skills to confront a giant power company; Roberts (shown here with Albert Finney) won an Oscar and there were four more nominations, including best picture. In TNT’s “Ocean’s Eleven” (2001), she’s the ex-wife of a heist master (George Clooney); in the Movie Channel’s “Eat Pray Love” (2010), she tries mid-life changes. Read more…

1) “Superstore,” 8:30 p.m., NBC. Racial justice, it seems, can come in unlikely areas. For the store, that includes the hair-care products: Only the Black-oriented ones are locked away. That leads to what “Superstore” does best – a mass meeting, where quirks escalate. Garrett (Colton Dunn, foreground, in a previous episode) is expected to speal for an entire race; it’s a witty episode, with subjects soon range from vending machines to “reparation pizzas.” Read more…

1) “Call Your Mother” debut, 9:30 p.m., ABC. Jean (Kyra Sedgwick, shown here) is an empty-nester with an empty life. “I haven’t had sex in four years,” she confides. “And it was four years before that. It should be an Olympic sport.” Now she tries to stir up her life: She’ll to California and insert herself into the worlds of her son and daughter. This is from writer-producer Kari Lizer, a decade after her “New Adventures of Old Christine” concluded. Sherri Shepherd plays Jean’s phone friend. Read more…

1) “This Is Us,” 9 p.m., NBC. TV’s best drama series is in top form when using flashbacks to tell a story. Now it has a big one: Randall (Sterling K. Brown, shown here) grew up without knowing his birth parents. He later found his dad (now deceased), who believed that the mom had died shortly after giving birth. Last week brought news that she lived a full life before dying in Louisiana; now he goes there. That’s surrounded by the amiable “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” at 8 p.m. and an OK episode of “Nurses” at 10. Read more…

1) College football championship, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN. This is the way all seasons should end, with two undefeated powerhouses colliding. There were some doubts about Ohio State, because it had only played six games in the regular season; then, in the Rose Bowl, it thumped second-ranked Clemson, 49-28; Alabama followed with its 12th win, beating Notre Dame, 31-14; its receiver and quarterback (DeVonta Smith, shown here, and Mac Jones) finished first and third in Heisman voting. This should be a fun game. Read more…

1) “All Creatures Great and Small” opener, 9 p.m., PBS. These amiable tales of an English veterinarian (shown here) have filled eight novels, a movie and 90 TV episodes. Now it’s time to re-tell them, using the lush craftsmanship of “Masterpiece.” This is fiction, but it’s based on the real life of a vet in Yorkshire, 80 years ago. Fresh from school, he works with a demanding vet, his undemanding brother and a diligent housekeeper. The result mixes warmth, gorgeous settings and moments of life-and-death drama. Read more…