1) Rose Parade, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET today, NBC, ABC, Peacock and RFD-TV. The New Year’s Day party begins — a day late. With Jan. 1 on a Sunday, the parade (shown here in a previous year) was nudged back; now it booms down 5.5 miles of Pasadena. Six of the 21 bands are from California, but others are from Italy, Japan, Mexico, Panama and Taiwan. The 40 floats include two states and four colleges. The theme is “Turning the Corner”; occasionally, floats get stuck turning corners.
2) Bowl games, today. Scurrying to avoid a Sunday, several bowls – including the semi-finals for the national championship – were on Dec. 31. Still, ESPN has two big ones today: At 1 pa.m. WT, the Cotton Bowl has Southern California (ranked No. 10) and Tulane (No. 16); at 5, the Rose Bowl has Utah (No. 8) and Penn State (No. 11). Also, at noon, it’s Illinois and Mississippi State on ESPN2; at 1 p.m. on ABC, the Citrus Bowl has Purdue and Louisiana State.
3) “All Creatures Great and Small” season-opener, 9 p.m. Sunday, PBS. For two seasons, two sweet-natured people kept converging. James is a veterinarian, working with the stern Siegfried and his brother Tristan; Helen is a diligent farmer, working with her widowed dad. She almost married a rich guy, then backed out; now she and James are ready to marry … if they overcome late obstacles. The result has humor, warmth and flowing green landscapes.
4) “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test” debuty, 8-10 p.m. Wednesday, Fox. Reality shows overlap, offering toughness in different forms. CBS’ “Tough as Nails” starts a new season (9-11 p.m.), with 12 people – a firefighter, pipeline worker, etc. — facing blue-collar tasks. Fox pushes celebrities through military training. We’ll see if Anthony Scaramucci, who lasted 11 days in the White House, can stay longer here. He’s joined by Kate Gosselin and more.
5) “Will Trent” debut, 10 p.m. Tuesday, ABC. Trent (Ramon Rodriguez) isn’t easy to like. He’s short on people skills, long on intense observation. As a Georgia Bureau of Investigation detective, he put crooked cops in jail. With some exceptions – including a tough undercover cop (Erika Christensen) – the Atlanta police hate him. Now a murder and kidnapping have him confronting his troubled past. This first story takes two weeks, but it’s worth catching.
6) “New Amsterdam” return, 10 p.m Tuesday, NBC. Two weeks before the series-finale, Max’s world is in turmoil. Helen, who walked away from their passionate romance, is back in town; he suddenly takes his hospital staff on an outdoor “retreat” – where new crises appear. One is physical and horrendous, painful to watch; another plays out in the mind of the psychiatrist. It’s a powerful hour … one that makes us sorry this show is leaving
7) “America’s Got Talent: All Stars” opener (NBC) and more. In two-hour bursts, “AGT” brings in acts from the 70-plus “Got Talent” editions worldwide. That debuts at 8 p.m. today (when Fox has the OK season-opener of “Fantasy Island”), then continues at 8 p.m. Tuesday, a crowded time: ABC moves “The Rookie” and “The Rookie: Feds” there, colliding with CBS’ “FBI” shows. Also, Fox has a terrific “The Resident” episode at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
8) “The Parent Test” opener, 9 p.m. Thursday, ABC. “Grey’s Anatomy” and others won’t return until Feb. 23, so non-fiction shows fill the gap. “Celebrity Jeopardy” is at 8 p.m., this time with actors Michael Cera, Zoe Chao and Brianne Howey; “The Chase” is at 10. They sandwich this show, which had a sneak preview last month. Various parenting styles — from intensive to new-age – collide, during a fine-dining challenge and a home-alone challenge.
9) “Blue Bloods,” 10 p.m. Friday, CBS. After filling four Fridays with reruns and Christmas specials, CBS finally has new episodes of all three dramas. “SWAT” (8 p.m.) has a random shooter; “Fire Country” (9) has an investigation, after a life is lost during a difficult rescue. Then “Blue Bloods” finds Joe Hill (Frank’s grandson) furious: Someone has insulted the memory of his father, a policeman who was killed during undercover work.
10) “Miss Scarlet and the Duke” and “Vienna Blood” season-openers, 8 and 10 p.m. Sunday, PBS. These might seem like a match, solving crimes in old Europe. In truth, they’re opposites. In 1880s London, a female private-eye and a Scotland Yard detective, both very telegenic, keep clashing. In 1900’s Vienna, a Freudian psychiatrist helps solve crimes. “Miss Scarlet” opens with a fun story about a missing magician; “Blood” opes with a dreary two-parter.