1) College football, 4 and 8 p.m. ET, ESPN. Sure, we’ve had some funny little bowl games – ones with funny names and little stadiums. But now comes the battle for the national championship. First, the Peach Bowl has top-ranked LSU (with quarterback Joe Burrow, shown here) and fourth-ranked Oklahoma; then the Fiesta Bowl has Ohio State (No. 2) and Clemson (No. 3). The winners collide Jan. 13, in the Superdome.
2) “NCIS: Los Angeles,” 8 p.m., CBS. In a rerun, Anna Kolcheck – the Russian-born ex-cop played by Israeli-American model Bar Paly — has escaped from prison with her cellmate. Callen leads the search.
3) “The Resident,” 9 p.m., Fox. This third season has been a surprisingly good one so far, despite bursts of overstatement. Here’s the season-opener that set things in motion: A corporation – yes, a greedy one – has taken over the hospital. It has promptly hired a hotshot neurosurgeon whose immense talent is exceeded only by his ego. All of that is amid mourning for Nic’s sister, who died at the hospital.
4) More bowl games, noon ET. Hey, TV needs to get all our attention so we don’t eat up all the chips before the championship games. ESPN has the Cotton Bowl, which has been around since 1937; it has Memphis (No. 19) and Penn State (No. 10). ABC has the Camping World Bowl, which has been around (under that name) since 2017. It has Notre Dame (No. 15) and Iowa State.
5) “The Incredible Dr. Pol,” 9 p.m. ET, NatGeo Wild. Today gets us halfway through the “Twelve Days of Pol” marathon, with endless hours of “Dr. Pol” reruns. This one, retitled “7 Dogs a Barking,” finds the usual canine chaos at the clinic, at the same time that a Father’s Day camping trip is planned.