1) “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Law & Order: Organized Crime” season-openers, 8 and 10 p.m, NBC. A slick congressman says he’ll be in the White House; Benson (Mariska Hargatay) says he’ll be in prison for making mothers trade sex for housing. It’s a tough case – that gets tougher at the end of the first hour. One character (Chief McGrath) is written and played way too broadly, but others are – in the “L&O” fashion – solid enough. Then “OC” finds Stabler (Christopher Meloni, shown in a previous episode with Hargitay working undercover .
2) “Kenny Rogers: All in for the Gambler,” 9 p.m., CBS. In his long career, Rogers went from jazz to rock to a constant string of country hits. He died last year at 81, after a four-year struggle with cancer, but this special was taped earlier. Top stars – Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, Lionel Richie, Chris Stapleton, Idina Menzel, Lady A and Little Big Town – perform “Lucille,” “The Gambler,” “Lady,” “She Believes in Me,” “Through the Years,” “We’ve Got Tonight” and more.
3) “What We Do in the Shadows” 10 p.m. FX, rerunning at 10:33 and 11:06. In this first week of the new season, let’s not overlook a few shows carrying over from summer. “Shadows” is a darkly funny tale of semi-competent vampires. Through a quirk (Guillermo, their assistant, killed their superiors), they’re now in charge. As they prepare their judgments, their instinct is toward death and destruction.
4) “Coroner,” 8 p.m. CW. Here’s another started-in-summer show that’s worth noticing. It’s a competent Canadian drama about a widowed medical examiner. She’s solving murders at work and pondering life at home. Tonight, her worlds entwine when her teen son is one of the people being questioned in a murder investigation.
5) “The Masked Singer” and “Alter Ego,” 8 and 9 p.m., Fox. It’s the second half of the season-opener for “Singer” and the series debut for “Ego.” The latter keeps the singers offstage, while their high-tech avatars perform. The singers and tech-work are great; the feel-good back stories get repetitious.