1) World Series begins, 8:03 p.m. ET, Fox, with pre-game at 7. Baseball finally gets the spotlight, with the Texas Rangers (shown here) hosting the Arizona Diamondbacks. That repeats Saturday, moves to Arizona on Monday through Wednesday, then (if needed) returns to Texas on Nov. 3-4. Todayt, its competition includes college football (Florida Atlantic-Charlotte, 7:30 ET, ESPN2) and a terrific baseball movie (“A League of Their Own,” 1992, 1 and 10 p.m., E).
2) “Great Performances,” 9 p.m., PBS. For two Fridays, dance will soar. Next week is Kate Prince choreography, to the music of Sting; tonight, the New York City Ballet savors its past and present. It does two pieces by its co-founder George Balanchine, the 1934-35 “Serenade” and the 1957 “Square Dance,” plus a 2017 ballet in sneakers. It’s by Justin Peck, whose choreography has included a Tony (“Carousel”) and the recent “West Side Story” movie.
3) “Pain Hustlers,” Netflix. Two years ago, Hulu had a darkly moving look at the opioid crisis, with the eight-part “Dopesick.” Now this movie views the crisis through the eyes of drug representatives who were assured they were doing good; Emily Blunt and Chris Evans star. Also streaming today: The “Lake of Fire” documentary (Disney+), the Matt Bomer/Jonathan Bailey romance (Paramount+) and the horror film “Five Nights at Freddy’s” (Peacock).
4) “Magnum P.I.,” 8 p.m., NBC. In a rerun from two weeks ago, a friend of Kumu has been scammed out of her life savings. Also, TC becomes increasingly angry with the slow pace of his recovery from gunshot wounds; he begins pushing friends away.
5) Horror tales, cable. “Poltergeist” (1982), is one of the best of the scare films. It’s at 7:30 p.m. on AMC, followed by the “Creepshow” anthology at 10 and, at 11:09, the excellent episode that brought back “Fear the Walking Dead” to start its final six episodes. And if you prefer the old-old ones, Turner Classic Movies has “Frankenstein” (1931) and “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935) at 8 and 9:30 p.m. ET.