1) Vice-presidential debate, 9 p.m. ET, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS and news channels. There’s a fine chance this debate will be better than the presidential one last week. Mike Pence and Kamala Harris have worked within the rules of order in courtrooms and in Congress; neither one, we expect, will interrupt 100-plus times. And yes, there are plenty of alternatives, including a key CW night that includes “Devils” (shown here); see No. 3.
2) ALSO: The debate is preceded at 8 p.m. ET by non-fiction – “Masked Singer” on Fox (Busta Rhymes and Mickey Rourke have been unmasked), “Big Brother” on CBS, a “Weakest Link” rerun on NBC and a news preview on ABC. For an alternative, try FXX (“Get Out,” 2017, at 7:30 p.m. and a new “Archer” at 10); FX (“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” at 7 and 10 p.m.); or the shows listed next.
3) “Devils” debut, 8 p.m., CW. Here’s an international patchwork – a French-Italian co-production, filmed in London and Rome, with an Italian star and American co-star. Allesandro Borghi (shown here) plays a cool-eyed stock trader, feeding on others’ misfortune; Patrick Dempsey plays his American boss. The good news is that this has a slick, cinematic look; the bad is that it gives us no one to root for.
4) “Coroner” season-opener, 9 p.m., CW. This show has been around for two seasons in Canada, so the CW jumps directly from last week’s season-fimale to this one. The case (an apartment fire) is dealt with quickly, providing more time for the well-acted aftermath of tragedy – for Jenny, a young widow … her boyfriend, a war veteran … and her teen son, now fatherless and drifting.
5) “Doctor Who: The Faceless Ones,” 8-9:30 p.m ET., BBC America. It was a clever idea, anyway: A 1967 “Who” story – told in six half-hour episodes – has mostly vanished, but the audio recording remains. The solution: Tell the story via animation, using the original voices. It’s a splendid notion … but the start of this two-night special has flat, dull animation, for a story that needs all the help it can get.