1) “Ordinary Joe” debut, 10 p.m., NBC, rerunning at 8 p.m. Friday. In a year when the networks try safe, simple concepts, here’s the exception: On graduation day (shown here), Joe faces three paths (literally); then we flash ahead to three variations of his life. He’s a cop, a nurse, a rock star; he marries Amy or Jenny or neither. In each case, he finds warmth, joy and agony. Written and played with subtle skill, this has great work from James Wolk and strong support from Elizabeth Lail and Natalie Martinez.
2) “NCIS: Hawaii” debut, 10 p.m., CBS. This one is on the safe-and-simple side – a spin-off in a sunny setting. But it starts with a good story – a mysterious plane crash leads to dangerous confrontations – and a strong cast. Vanessa Lachey is excellent as a soccer mom who’s also the bureau chief; Alex Tarrant, a New Zealander with Maori roots, is instantly likable as the team’s only native Hawaiian.
3) “The Big Leap” debut, 9 p.m., Fox. We’ll have to forgive the concept, which makes little sense: This pretends a national dance show uses only Detroiters – and will have them perform the “Swan Lake” ballet. Once we get past that, it’s a story of people grasping for a second chances in life. The producer (Scott Foley) needs one; so do the contestants, including a laid-off autoworker, a banished football star, a midde-aged mom and a single mom (Simone Recasner) whom we quickly root for.
4) “Dancing With the Stars” opener, 8-10 p.m., ABC. And here’s a real second-chance story. Olivia Jade had a sunny life, as a teen influencer with millions of followers and with product deals. Then her parents, Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Ginnulli, were convicted of lying on her college application. At 21, Jade tries a comeback; other contestants include Olympic champ Suni Li, wrestler Mike Mizanin, Matt James of “The Bachelor” and singers JoJo Siwa, Mel C (Spice Girls) and country’s Jimmie Allen.
5) MUCH MORE: Mondays have become TV’s best night. Here are the season-openers of two ratings giants, “The Voice” (8-10 p.m., NBC) and “NCIS” (9 p.m., CBS). Other openers are “9-1-1” (8 p.m., Fox) and “The Neighborhood” and “Bob (Hearts) Abishola” (8 and 8:30, CBS). At 8 p.m. (rerunning at 10), PBS has the second piece of Ken Burns’ Muhammad Ali profile, a four-night gem. And at 10:01, ABC has “Time100,” with Time Magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people.