1) “College Bowl” debut, 10 p.m., NBC. This notion goes back to 1953 on radio and ‘59 on TV. Now it has droll, dry work from Peyton Manning (shown here) as the host and his brother Cooper as sidekick. The opener has Auburn-Alabama and Michigan-Minnesota, with eight more schools arriving on the next two Tuesdays. A few of the categories (including spelling) make so-so viewing and the “speed round” makes the first round fairly insignificant. Overall, however, it’s a modestly interesting hour.
2) “Motherland: Fort Salem” season-opener, 10 p.m., Freeform. Not all young adults are piling up College Bowl info. These three want to get into the witches’ War College. Last season, Abigail was admitted; Tally and Raell weren’t. Then they went to battle: Tally saved her leader by sacrificing decades of her own youth; Abigail and Raell somehow triggered a mega-explosion. All of that is addressed in an hour that starts with a great special-effects scene and later has a creepy dream scene.
3) “America’s Got Talent,” 8-10 p.m., NBC. Last week, this was pushed back two hours and trimmed in half, to make room for Olympic trials. Now it’s back to full-strength, leaving the two ratings giants – “NCIS” (8 p.m., CBS) and “AGT” – to collide.
4) “Mysteries of Mental Illness,” 9 and 10 p.m., PBS. Mental illness is pervasive – affecting one-fourth of people at some point in their lives – this series says, but often goes untreated because of stigma. Now – with some problems expanded by the shutdown – here’s a two-night four-hour report.
5) “Mr. Inbetween,” 10 p.m., FX; repeats at about 10:30 and 11. Day-to-day life gets complicated for a skilled hitman. We see that here, when his friend takes him to a class reunion and when his daughter takes a drug. As always, things are oddly, wonderfully understated.