1) “The Masked Singer” opener, 8 p.m. Wednesday, Fox. Fresh from the Super Bowl, Fox has its best shot at ratings success. At 8 p.m. Thursday is Gordon Ramsay’s “Next Level Chef,” which had its season-opener after the game. And on Wednesday is this show, which has unmasked great singers (Jewel, Jennifer Holliday) and others, from Dog the Bounty Hunter to Larry the Cable Guy. The opener (shown here) will introduce three singers and unmask two.
2) “Animal Control,” 9 p.m. Thursday, Fox. Acerbic dialog and big sight gags combine for some solid laughs. You can do that when your show includes frisky ostriches, a nasty weasel and Joel McHale. He plays an ex-cop, now working animal-control, reluctantly partnered with a cheerful ex-snowboarder. Others range from a sexy single to a reluctant homebody (Ravi Patel), plus a charmingly clumsy clerk (Vella Lovell of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” and “Mr. Mayor.”
3) “The Equalizer” return, 8 p.m. Sunday, CBS. After just seven new episodes, drawing strong ratings, this took a three-month break. In the interim, big events filled Sundays: The show’s star (Queen Latifah) had a key spot in the Grammys’ rap tribute; its co-star (Liza Lapira) had the best Christmas movie. Now Lapira gets the focus. She plays Mel, an ex-sniper, linking with her disapproving sister in an effort to save their brother, who was abducted.
4) “Magnum, P.I.,” 9 and 10 p.m. Sunday, NBC. here’s the show CBS dropped after four successful seasons. It’s an expensive, Hawaii-based show that CBS didn’t need, but NBC does. It’s ordering two 10-episode seasons on post-football Sundays. At the fifth season begins, Magnum and Higgins are private-eye partners, but she’s still cautious about their romance. Sunday is all-Magnum — reruns at 7 and 8 (including the season-finale), then new hours.
5) “The Bachelor” and more, 8 p.m. today, ABC. Romance abounds on Valentine’s Day eve. Zach Shallcross is on the Bahamas beaches with 14 women, including four nurses and a rodeo racer. Also at 8: Fox’s “Fantasy Island” has a gay-romance time-loop, wonderfully played by Jonathan Bennett. Hallmark has “Love, Romance & Chocolate” (2019); Lifetime Movie Network has Catherine Bell in an entertaining true-crime tale, “Jailbreak Lovers” (2022).
6) More romance, streaming. Disney+ has a “Valentine’s Day Collection,” from “Lady and the Tramp” and the “Cinderella” musical to “WandaVision” and (through Wednesday) “Rosaline,” with Kaitlyn Dever as Juliet’s cousin. Paramount+ has a 200-film “Peak Romance” cluster, from “Dirty Dancing” and “Shakespeare in Love” to Diego Boneta’s new “At Midnight.” And Netflix just debuted Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher in “Your Place or Mine.”
7) “Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World,” 9 p.m. Tuesday, PBS. This three-parter started Jan. 31, then skipped a week because of the State of the Union address. It returns with 1980s New York — vibrant club scene … cocaine and AIDS devastation … and potent rap, peaking with Spike Lee’s bracing, 1990 video of Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power.” Then it leaps to Los Angeles, where fierce police action spurred the “gangsta rap” era.
8) “The Greatest @Home Videos,” 8 p.m. Friday, CBS. The award shows have started now, so Cedric the Entertainer has a fake one: “The Cedys” celebrate funny or cringe-worthy videos. That comes before a real awards show: At 9, Alan Cumming hosts PBS’ “Movies for Grownups” awards. Up for best picture are “Elvis,” “Tar,” “The Fablemans,” “The Woman King,” “Women Talking,” “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
9) “All Creatures Great and Small” season-finale, 9 p.m. Sunday, PBS. This season has been short – seven episodes, including this Christmas one – but deeply moving. Under Siegfried’s stern facade, we’ve seen his unstated love of horses and of his younger brother; we’ve also seen his World War I agony. Now that collides as the new war nears. We also see his housekeeper’s unspoken romance. After a wobbly, hard-to-understand start, it’s a great hour.
10) ALSO: On Thursday, there’s post-Valentine romance: Thorfinn and Flower have their first date on “Ghosts” (8:30 p.m., CBS); Kat and Max move in together on “Call Me Kat” (9:30 Fox.) … Saturday has two greats, Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger, collide in “In the Heat of the Night” (1967), at 8 p.m. ET on Turner Classic Movies … On an overcrowded Sunday, ABC launches “American Idol” at 8 p.m. and Milo Ventimiglia’s sleek “The Company You Keep” at 10.