1) “NCIS: Sydney” opener, 8 p.m. Tuesday, CBS. Lots of cop cliches are bundled here, but they’re done with crisp skill. There’s the steel-tough beauty (a newer cliché) and the handsome, cocky cop (an older one). They’re loose cannons who battle each other, until authority figures try to smite both. Olivia Swann and Todd Lasance (shown here) lead a first-rate cast. Americans and Aussies merge, for an entertaining blend of action, drama and occasional humor.
2) “Ghosts U.K.” debut, 9 and 9:30 p.m. Thursday, CBS. Now we get two versions of “Ghosts” – the American adaptation (via reruns, at 8:30) and the British original. That one is darker and more frenetic: The American woman adjusted quickly to seeing ghosts; the British one spends much of these two episodes quaking. Many of the American ghosts – especially the society matron – are more likable. Still, the British version is fun in itsown, noisy way.
3) “A Murder at the End of the World” debut (Tuesday, Hulu) and “The Crown” return (Thursday, Netflix). Both “Crown” Dianas are streaming this week. First is Emma Corrin, 27, who was Diana in the fourth season. In “Murder,” she’s a hacker who – after a long and fascinating prologue – must solve a crime in a remote retreat. Then is Elizabeth Debicki, 33, who was Diana in the fifth season and in this sixth and final one, which focuses on her and her sons.
4) “Hotel Portofino” and “World on Fire” season-finales, 8 and 9 p.m. Sunday, PBS. Both seasons end with deep emotion. The pre-war “Portofino” finds hope for Bella’s effort to save the hotel — but agony for people surrounding her son — his wife, his lover and his friend. For the wartime “Fire,” Harry is back from the front … just as his wife plans to re-join the Resistance. Despite one flaw (his annoyingly one-note mother), this is a strong episode.
5) “Blackberry,” 10 p.m. today through Wednesday, AMC. At its peak, Blackberry had 45 percent of the cell-phone market; now it has zero. That was told in a movie that (with scenes added) is now this mini-series. The tone is light, as hinted by the top roles – Jay Baruchel (“Man Seeking Woman”), Matt Johnson (who wrote the script) and Glenn Howerton (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”). Schemes included one to move the Pittsburgh Penguins to Canada.
6) “Quantum Leap,” 8 p.m. Wednesday, NBC. After pausing last week for a debate, NBC returns to its Wednesday specialty – new dramas that are slick and entertaining. “Leap” has a good one: Ben time-travels to Princeton, shortly after the death of his hero, Albert Einstein. He meets someone he helped in another leap – a student then working as a waitress. That’s followed by a fairly good “Magnum,” with an Amish teen whose sister vanished in Hawaii.
7) “Making Shakespeare: The First Folio.” 9-11 p.m. Friday, PBS. When Shakespeare died (in 1616, at 52), only about half of his 36 plays had been published. The rest – “Macbeth,” “The Tempest,” “Julius Caesar,” etc. – could have faded away. Instead, friends re-created them, in the era’s biggest and most expensive book. This film has fascinating details and takes long looks at “Hamlet” – which, as it happens, is not one of the shows that needed a rescue.
8) “A Merry Scottish Christmas,” 8-10 p.m. Saturday, Hallmark. For six years, Lacey Chabert and Scott Wolf were “Party of Five” siblings. Now they do it again … in her 17th Christmas movie. Filmed in Scotland, it has them visit their mother, who has a secret. This arrives at the same time that Lifetime starts its holiday slate with “Christmas Plus One” (sisters vow to be married by the next Christmas); at 8 p.m. ET, Great American Family has “Santa, Maybe.”
9) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m. Saturday, NBC. Making up for lost time, “SNL” has its fifth new episode in six weeks. It’s the second hosting turn for Jason Momoa, 44, whose second Aquaman movie arrives Dec. 22. The music guest is Tate McRae, 20, a dancer (at 13, the first Canadian finalist on “So You Think You Can Dance”) turned singer. As a teen, she hit the top-20 with “You Broke Me First,” from an EP appropriately called “Too Young to Be Sad.”
10) “Fear the Walking Dead” series-finale, 9-11:19 p.m. Sunday, AMC, repeating at 11:19, 1:32, 3:45. For eight taut seasons, this has eyed a zombie-filled world. Madison (the terrific Kim Dickens), a former school counselor, was at the core of the first four seasons, seemed to die heroically, then re-emerged at the end of the seventh season. Now that Shrike is dead, Madison has been turning PADRE into a force for good … but the hordes are at the gate.