Week’s top-10 for Feb. 12: Sheldon leads a stampede of openers

1) “Young Sheldon” season-opener, 8 p.m. Thursday, CBS. The final season starts with life swirling. Sheldon is in Germany with his mom (shownhere) for summer classes; back home, a tornado has flattened his grandmother’s house. Everyone huddles together, including the newly engaged Georgie and Mandy and their baby. It’s a big, busy and exceptionally funny episode, a promising start for the season.

2) More season-openers, CBS. Other networks are scattering their strike-delayed season, but CBS packs it into one post-Super Bowl week. Tonight, the delightful “Bob (Hearts) Abishola” starts its final season (8:30 p.m.), with “The Neighborhood” at 8 and “NCIS” and “NCIS: Hawaii” at 9 and 10. There are 11 more openers this week, leaving only two reality shows and the new “Elsbeth” to start later.

3) “ “Resident Alien” season-opener, 10 p.m. Wednesday, Syfy and USA Network. One of TV’s best shows returns, mixing sci-fi drama with goofy humor. Sent to destroy all humans, an alien killed the local doctor, took his body … then decided he likes these folks. Now some people know his secret, one boy can see his real form … and a more-evil alien is in town. The result is a splendid oddity.

4) “American Idol” season-opener, 8-10 p.m. Sunday, ABC. While other shows were delayed by the strikes, “Idol” has its usual starting date. It’s the 22nd season (all with Ryan Seacrest hosting) and seventh on ABC, after starting on Fox. The auditions are again in Los Angeles and Nashville, but this time they’ll also be in the home towns of the judges – Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie.

5) “La Brea” finale, 9 p.m. Tuesday, NBC. Alongside all the openers, one show ends. And yes, it has a lot to wrap up. It started with people plunging into a giant sinkhole and reaching a world like 10,000 BC. Some bounced to other eras, others confronted new villages and warriors. Also, things got messier when some dinosaurs arrived. Now everyone tries to return to semi-normal life.

6) “Gospel,” 9-11 p.m. today and Tuesday, PBS. Henry Louis Gates offers a vivid history of a splendid artform. He shows us preachers (including Aretha Franklin’s father) who have a rich musicality and singers who have a message. He introduces the early masters (including writer Thomas Dorsey and singer Mahalia Jackson) and the modern forces who merge rock, gospel and sheer flair.

7) “The Bachelor,” 8-10:01 p.m., today and Tuesday, ABC. The show adds a second night this week, while going global. Tonight, in Malta, there’s the season’s largest group date, plus the start of a cocktail party that turns messy. On Tuesday, that party ends and the show is off to Spain for several dates. That leads into Valentine’s Day, led by movies on Hallmark, Freeform, HBO and Showtime.

8) “The New Look” debut, Wednesday, Apple TV+. As World War II grew, the French faced ethical decisions. Christian Dior created elegance for the wives of Nazis and collaborators, while his sister worked for the Resistance; Coco Chanel closed her shop, but reportedly collaborated. In 10 episodes (richly crafted, but sometimes bleak), we see both designers go on to post-war fashion splendor.

9) “All Creatures Great and Small,” 9 p.m. Sunday, PBS. The network’s Sunday dramas wrapped their seasons last week, but this one jumps ahead to a Christmas episode. It’s a fairly pleasant one that has James at a military base, hoping to get home for the holiday and the birth of his child. PBS also has a strong Wednesday, with a Jurassic-era sea monster (8 p.m.) and the Eiffel Tower history (9).

10) MORE: Jon Stewart finally returns to the world he mastered. Beginning today, he’ll anchor “The Daily Show” (11 p.m., Comedy Central) on Mondays only; others will do Tuesdays through Thursdays. Also, two live events will be at 8 p.m. ET Sunday: NBC has the People’s Choice awards (also on E and Peacock), with Simu Liu hosting; TNT and TBS have the pro basketball all-star game.