1) “Saturday Night Live” season-opener, 11:29 p.m., NBC. The 50th season starts, with Jean Smart(shown here) – fresh from her Emmy win for “Hacks” – hosting and Jelly Roll as the music guest. Chloe Troast, Punkie Johnson and Molly Kearney won’t be back; three newcomers arrive, with Maya Rudolph returning for sketches that include Kamala Harris.
2) Wrestling, 8-10 p.m., TNT and CW. The two worlds of Cody Rhodes collide in this timeslot. TNT has All Elite Wrestling, which began with Rhodes as its principal star and spokesman. He left in 202, returniong to the WWE. Now CW has a documentary on “Wrestlemania XL,” the WWE event that had a tag-team match with Rhodes facing The Rock.
3) Football. Many wrestling fans might prefer to switch to a titanic football game; it’s Georgia (ranked No. 2) at Alabama (No. 4), at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC. There are more games all day, starting with Oklahoma (No. 20) at Kansas State (No. 23), at noon on ESPN.
4) “Equalizer,” 8 p.m., CBS. This reruns the season-finale, with Mel kidnapped by a member of her veterans-support group. It’s a strong episode, concluding with some key changes for the upcoming season.
5) Movies. With its sequel soaring at the box office, “Beetlejuice” (1988) gets a marathon. The Paramount Network airs it every two hours, 1:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Also: BBC America has 1974 Mel Brooks delights, “Young Frankenstein” and “Blazing Saddles,” at 4:30 and 7; Turner Classic Movies has Federico Fellini’s arthouse favorite, “8 ½,” at 8 p.m. ET.
— Mike Hughes, TV America