1) Football, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN2. Five weeks ago, two powerhouse teams collided; Alabama beat Georgia, 41-24, for the SEC championship. Now they do it again, for the national title, with no clear-cut favoite. Outside of that game, Georgia is 13-0, with an average score of 48-7; Alabama (shown here) is 12-1, with a 41-18 average. Tonight, one will become champion.
2) “9-1-1: Lone Star,” 8 p.m. Fox. Last week’s opener saw a blizzard hit Texas. Owen (Rob Lowe), bearded and bitter, was alone (except for an attractive neighbor) in a cabin. Now he’s rescuing a stabbed man, while others try to save a boy who fell into a frozen pond. One part of this hour – waiting for a second ambulance — is absurd; beyond that, it’s a terrific story that continues next week.
3) “The Cleaning Lady,” 9:01 p.m., Fox. Thony’s life keeps getting more tangled. A Cambodian native, she was a doctor in the Philippines, then came to the U.S., hoping to get her son a transplant. A mobster helped her … but now the FBI is probing both of them. Tonight, she tries to break away – until a new crisis arises. “Cleaning Lady” alternates between brash soap opera and solid, complex drama.
4) “Ordinary Joe,” 10 p.m., NBC. All three versions of Joe are troubled now. The rock star has been fuming since his wife Amy admitted she’d had sex with her late boss, a congressman. The nurse and his wife Jenny are overwhelmed by their jobs, hoping counseling can save their marriage. The cop, dating Amy, worries about his widowed mother and his own prospects for parenting. These are somber stories, sometimes brightened by young Christopher, a sunny boy who has a form of muscular dystrophy.
5) “Queens of Mystery,” any time, www.acorn.tv. After a brief stumble – a loudly empty “Agatha Raisin” Christmas movie – Acorn is back on track. On three straight Mondays, it has “Queens” movies that have smart stories, bright visuals and interesting people. Each focuses on the immensely likable Matilda, a village cop who has an iffy romantic life and three aunts (all mystery writers) who keep nudging into her cases. This first one is centered at a wellness retreat.