1) “IHeartRadio Music Festival,” 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT), Hulu; continues Saturday. This used to give the CW network a vibrant start to its fall season. Now, instead, it’s livestreamed. Ryan Seacrest hosts from Las Vegas, with a line-up that has country (Tim McGraw, Kane Brown), rap and hip hop (Public Enemy, Lil Wayne) and waves of pop and R&B – Kelly Clarkson, Lenny Kravitz (shown here in a previous show), Sheryl Crow, Miguel, TLC, Fall Out Boy, Foo Fighters and more.
2) “The Continental,” Peacock. This hotel has a stern boss (Mel Gibson) and a specific clientele (assassins). It starts a string of three weekly, movie-length “John Wick” prequels. Also arriving today is Hulu’s “No One Will Save You,” a horror tale with the talented Kaitlyn Devers. Earlier this week were the final “Sex Education” season (Netflix) and documentaries on super models (Amazon Prime) and Volodymyr Zelensky (Paramount+).
3) “American Masters,” 9 p.m., PBS. After some great documentaries, “Masters” has one that’s merely OK. It profiles Floyd Abrams, who became a First Amendment expert, he says, by accident: The New York Times’ lawyers refused to take the Pentagon Papers case; soon, Abrams was in charge. He won that and other key cases. Abrams, 87, is backed here by comments from his daughter Ronnie (a district judge) and son Dan (ABC’s chief legal analyst).
4) “Secret Celebrity Renovation,” 8 p.m., CBS. Davante Adams, the all-pro receiver for the Las Vegas Raiders (and formerly Aaron Rodgers’ top target with the Packers) is the focus. As a present to the grandmother who helped raise him, he renovates her California home, where he grew up.
5) “Fire Country,” 9 p.m., CBS. When Jake is suspected of being a serial killer, Bode and others decide to investigate. That rerun is followed by a “Blue Bloods” one from early in the season: Danny probes violent robberies involving expensive timepieces; Erin worries about charging a man who may be innocent. Their dad, the police commissioner, must re-open a case in which the officer was acquitted.
— Mike Hughes, TV America