1) “American Masters,” 9-11 p.m., PBS. Bella Abzug (shown here) reached Congress at full-speed. She “came there with a sledge hammer,” says former Rep. Charles Rangel. By her own account, she “always had a decent sense of outrage”; by a friend’s account, she “had an ego the size of Montana.” Alternately screaming at and charming her aides, she pushed key legislation involving equal opportunity. Here’s an excellent profile of a bigger-than-life personality.
2) “Guiding Emily,” 9 p.m., Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. Boosted by a subtle script and an Emmy-worthy performance, this is several notches above the usual TV movie. Sarah Drew (who was April on “Grey’s Anatomy”) plays Emily, a pleasant young woman whose world crumbles. Alongside her personal tragedy, there are moments of humor and warmth – especially when we hear the thoughts of a dog who is (understandably) gaga about her.
3) “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” 8 and 9 p.m., CBS. In a late change, CBS celebrates “Star Trek Day,” with the first two episodes of a series that has had two seasons on Paramount+. This is the Enterprise, before Kirk but with Spock (Ethan Pike). Anson Mount is Captain Pike, with Rebecca Romijn as his top officer. In the first hour, they try to rescue an officer; in the second, a comet streaks toward an inhabited planet.
4) “911: One Day in America,” Disney+. It’s been a busy week for this streamer. On Wednesday, it launched the family-friendly “I Am Groot,” continued “Star Wars: Ahsoka” and added “The Little Mermaid,” a movie with strengths (Halle Bailey is excellent) and weaknesses (visually, it’s fairly drab). Now it adds this mini-series, which the National Geographic Channel ran on the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. It’s richly detailed and beautifully crafted.
5) MORE: Two new Amazon Prime movies view young love – “How to Date Billy Walsh” and “Sitting in Bars with Cakes.” Older films include the deeply emotional “Sounder” (1972), at 8 p.m. ET on Turner Classic Movies, and the clever adventure “Red” (2010), at 8 on Syfy. New mini-series include the time-traveling “The Changeling,” on Apple TV+, and “Burning Body” (based on a sex-and-murder scandal in Spain) on Netflix.