1) “Secrets of the Octopus,” 7:08 to 10 p.m. today, National Geographic Channel. Earth Day brings a flood of splendid films (including “Queens,” shown here), led by a rerun of this series, which debuted Sunday. We see the octopus in all its complexity. It’s cautious, yet ready to reach out for some humans … It’s a camouflage master, changing shape and color …. It’s also a cunning predator, even disguising as a passing cloud.
2) More Earth Day shows, today. On the grim side, “American Experience” (9-11 p.m., PBS) looks at Love Canal in the 1970s, linked to cancer, miscarriages, birth defects and more. On the cheery side? National Geographic reruns gorgeous series — “Secrets of the Elephant” at 9:50 a.m. and “Queens” at 12:50 p.m. Disney+ (which also has the NatGeo shows) debuts “Tiger” and has 15 previous nature epics.
3) “Guilt” season-opener, 10 p.m. Sunday, PBS. Max is an upscale schemer; Jake is his down-market brother, a decent chap who’s along for the ride. In the first two seasons, Max went to prison and Jake found love. Now the brothers are in Chicago with Jake’s girlfriend, running a bar; in their native Scotland, others are scheming. By the end of the first hour, it all comes together in entertaining ways.
4) “American Idol,” 8-10 p.m. today and Sunday, ABC. There are 12 singers left, but that will be trimmed to 10 tonight and eight on Sunday. Tonight, they’ll do songs that reached No. 1 one; on Sunday, they’ll do ones from the year they were born. Also from 8-10 p.m. today, NBC’s “The Voice” has the first half of its “playoffs.” Two teams, John Legend and Dan+Shay, are trimmed from five to three.
5) “Shogun” finale, 10-11:30 p.m. Tuesday, FX; also, Hulu. Gorgeous visually, yet relentlessly morose, “Shogun” ends solemnly. We see the lethal result of the raid on Osaka Castle and its aftershocks. We learn of Toranaga’s long-range scheme and see hints of the fate of Blackthorne, the English mariner. The result could alternately be considered masterful or merely a monotone.
6) “The Masked Singer,” 8 p.m. Wednesday, Fox. If you’ve always wanted to see Ken Jeong do a Spice Girls song, this is your hour. There’s a “girl-group” theme, so the judges – Jeong, Rita Ora, Robin Thicke and Jenny McCarthy – will open with the Spice Girls’ “Wannabe.” Past contestants Carnie Wilson and Raven-Symone will also perform; current ones will do such songs as “I’m So Excited.”
7) Pro football draft, ABC, ESPN and NFL Network. Once ignored by TV, this is now a three-day, three-network adventure. ABC focuses more on the people, the others more on stats and such, but they each do it big. This opens from 8-11:30 p.m. ET with Round 1 and (barring a trade) the Bears. Friday (7-11:30 p.m.) has Rounds 2 and 3; Saturday (4-7 p.m.) closes things with Rounds 4 through 7.
8) “Fire Country,” 9 p.m. Friday, CBS. Last week, this show and “Blue Bloods” both rested, replaced by a Billy Joel concert. Now they’re back to start the final four episodes of the season. For “Fire,” a tough storyline begins: Local people protest the notion of having convicts man a local fire station. This show will be back in the fall; so will “Blue Bloods,” but only to wrap its final season.
9) “I Am Burt Reynolds” (2020), 8-10 p.m. Saturday,, CW. When an injury ended his football hopes, Reynolds re-invented himself. He was movies’ good-old-boy, quick with quips, fights and romance. Here’s a detailed look, on a night that happens to have fun films – “Blazing Saddles” (7:15 and 11:30 p.m., Sundance), “Up” (8 p.m., Disney) and two “Avengers” ones (6 and 9:15, AMC).
10) ALSO: Two true stories should grab attention: “Thank You, Good Night” (Friday on Hulu) tells of Jon Bon Jovi – the New Jersey-born son of two ex-Marines – who became a rock mega-star. “Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office” tells of the English sub-postmasters who were accused of losing money … until they linked and found the real problem. The compelling finale is 9 p.m. Sunday on PBS.