1) “Alaska Daily” debut, 10 p.m., ABC. This could become the next great broadcast-network drama. The opener is pretty good; next week’s hour – extending these stories and adding a new one –is superb. Tom McCarthy won an Oscar for his “Spotlight” script, based on a real newspaper investigation; now another real newspaper probe is the root here. Hilary Swank (shown here, right), a double Oscar-winner, plays a star reporter, taking her tarnished career to Anchorage.
2) “Station 19” and “Grey’s Anatomy” season-openers, 8 and 9 p.m., ABC. A tornado rips through Seattle, putting fierce demands on first-responders … and on the doctors starting their residency at the hospital. The latter gets awkward when Link realizes he’s met one of the interns before … the same thing that happened in the series debut (17 years ago) with Meredith (now the interim chief) and Derek.
3) “Walker” season-opener, 8 p.m., CW. Last season’s finales were rough on action heroes. Robyn (in “Equalizer”) and Walker were both kidnapped. She was freed in a high-octane opener Sunday; his crisis, however, will run at least two weeks, with lots of pensive moments. In a cell, Walker (Jared Padalecki) imagines talking to his late wife (Genevieve Padalecki, the star’s wife). Despite flaws – including the use of torture – it’s a beautifully crafted hour.
4) “Walker Independence” debut, 9 p.m., CW. Now we go way back, to see how the family got its name and its grit. Katherine McNamara (Clary in “Shadowhunters,” Mia in “Arrow”) plays an educated Bostonian, alone in the old West. Matt Barr plays an ancestor of Hoyt, his “Walker” character – another a good guy who does bad things. It’s a messy and (dusty) hour, but shows promise.
5) “So Help Me Todd,” 9 p.m., CBS. After a terrific start last week, “Todd” slips a tad. That opener found the perfect balance of light humor and a serious court case; this one sometimes slides toward goofiness, as Todd keeps ducking his dull case to help with his mother’s high-profile one. It’s still fun, though … and it follows two shows (“Young Sheldon” and “Ghosts”) that proved last week that they’re at the top of their game.