1) “Cupertino,” 8-11 p.m., CBS. If you haven’t been watching this terrific show (10 p.m. Thursdays), here’s the perfect way to start. At 9 and 10 p.m. are reruns of the first two episodes, showing a mismatched duo launching a tiny law firm. At 8 is a great new episode — a serious, life-and-death tale, encased in the fun of all sides stuck in a traffic jam (shown here) grasping for a sort of street justice. Read more…
1) “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” 9 p.m. Thursday, NBC. Last week, “Chicago Fire” had its 300th episode; now “SVU” (same producer and network) doubles that. This is the 600th, trailing only “The Simpsons” (815) and “Gunsmoke” (635). Mariska Hargitay (shown here) has been there the entire time; for this episode, Christopher Meloni — who did the first 12 seasons, left for a decade and now appears occasionally — returns as Stabler. Read more…
1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. Once confined to the internet, Druski (shown here) has expanded. The one-named comedian hosted the BET Awards in June and now has his first time hosting “SNL”; it’s the fifth for the Strokes as music guest. Druski, 32, started with YouTube comedy, then was in music videos and started a record label with online auditions. Read more…
1) “Sheriff Country” and “Fire Country,” 8 and 9 p.m., CBS. Here’s a high-stakes, crossover event that has both shows’ stars — including Matt Lauria and Max Thieriot, shown here — in each hour. A prison break escalates into a hostage crisis; the sheriff must make a quick, personal decision. The second hour has a manhunt, amid efforts to protect loved ones. Read more…
1) “Elsbeth,” 9 p.m., CBS. After resting last week (to make room for a “Ghosts” special), this takes Elsbeth to a golf course. There’s been a prize-winning hole-in-one and the death of the country club president. Already a good show, this improved by adding Christine Ebersole (shown here) as Elsbeth’s mom; now they meet the future mother-in-law of Elsbeth’s son. Read more…
1) “Chicago Fire,” 9 p.m., NBC. A subtly perfect performance by Joe Minoso (shown here) sparks the show’s 300th episode. He plays Cruz, struggling to recover from injuries and get back to work. There are quietly moving scenes with Severide (Taylor Kinney) and Herrmann (David Eigenberg, who also gets some comic moments when it’s time for new photos). Read more…
By the end of the first “Gilded Age” season, Cynthia Nixon was neatly settled into her role.
She was Ada Brook (shown here, left), forever the younger and meeker one. She was living with her older sister, Agnes Brook van Rhijn (right), a widow with much money and many opinions. Ada’s just sort of went along.
Then one day, Nixon recalls, she was chatting with a director. “He started talking to me about who they were going to cast as my husband next season …. I could have fallen out of my chair.”
She was learning that “Gilded Age” isn’t one of those shows where things stay the same. That’s even more obvious, now that the fourth season (9 p.m. Sundays on HBO and HBO Max) has just begun. Read more…
1) Election coverage. It will be blanket coverage from the news channels and most broadcast networks. Plans call for NBC to start at 6:30 p.m. ET, CBS at 7, ABC and PBS at 8. Most will pause for local news at 11 and ABC has Jimmy Kimmel at 11:35, but coverage may continue afterward. Kimmel and Jon Stewart (11, Comedy Central) will be taped earlier that night. And yest, there are alternatives, including “Best Medicine” (shown here). Read more…
1) “St. Denis Medical” season-opener, 8 p.m., NBC. It was 36 years ago that David Alan Grier and Damon Wayans linked in the Emmy-winning “In Living Color.” Now they’ve re-united for this episode, a funny one: Ron (Grier, 70) is recovering from heart surgery; his temporary replacement (Wayans, 66, shown here) spews slogans and pep talks. Read more…
In some ways, TV’s holiday season will feel different this year:
There will be two mega-concerts by the Tabernacle Choir (shown here), instead of one. And there might be no Kennedy Center Honors … at least none as a big-network show.
Those are two things gleaned from the arrival of CBS’ annual list of November and December specials. Read more…
Best-bets for Nov. 8: triple helping of a great show 
Best-bets for Nov. 7: “SNL,” Beatles and football 
Best-bets for Nov. 6: Crisis spans two shows 
