1) “What We Do in the Shadows” season-opener, 10 p.m. today, FX. After five weirdly funny seasons (and three best-comedy Emmy nominations), this starts its final one. The three-episode opener starts with Jerry The Vampire’s key question: If they are secret, why is a human camera crew there? No one remembers … and for 48 years, no one remembered to wake Jerry. Guillermo (shown here), the wise ex-aide, might know.
2) World Series, 8 p.m. ET Friday (or possibly Tuesday), Fox, with pre-game at 7. The plan is to start the Series on Friday, with the sixth and seventh games (if needed) in icy November. But there’s a catch: If both leagues need only five games for their championships, the Series starts Tuesday. Either way, it’s two games, travel day, three, travel, two more (if needed).
3) “The Marlow Murder Club” debut, 9 p.m. Sunday, PBS. TV loves having regular folks solve crimes that baffle the police. The first two weeks here are a delight, as Englishwomen wedge into a case. The other two weeks are OK. At 8 p.m., Sunday, PBS has the first half of an excellent “Ridley”; at 10, it starts reruns of the acclaimed “Wolf Hall” miniseries.
4) “Poppa’s House” debut, 8:30 p.m. today, CBS. Long ago, Damon Wayans did great comedy on “In Living Color.” Now, sadly, he’s in a clumsy show, with exaggerated characters doing noisy things, few of them clever. He plays a radio host, with Essence Atkins as a combative co-host; Damon Jr. plays his son. Also, “The Neighborhood” starts its season at 8.
5) “Happy’s Place” and “The Voice,” 8 and 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, NBC. Reba McEntire has opposite worlds: She’s a judge on “Voice,” which draws big audiences; she stars in “Happy’s,” which might not. It’s an almost-adequate comedy, in a tough slot (8 p.m. Fridays). This week, NBC trims “Voice” to 90 minutes and reruns the sometimes-funny comedy opener..
6) “Nature” season-opener, 8 p.m. Wednesday, PBS. Eastern lowland gorillas are huge (sometimes 500 pounds) and scarce (about 5,000 left). A Congolese expert works to come face-to-face with a giant silverback, habituating him to humans, so tourism money that can be used for preservation. This spends too much time on the film crew, but the result is impressive.
7) “Ghosts,” 8:30 p.m., Thursday, CBS. Previous Halloween episodes have given this show some of its best moments. Now comes the fourth one: Things are quiet this holiday, so the ghosts agree to Patience’s plan to put Sam on a witch trial. That follows an excellent “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage,” with Georgie’s sister Missy having trouble at school.
8) “Doctor Odyssey,” 9 p.m. Thursday, ABC. It’s Halloween, a week early. At 8 p.m., the “9-1-1” crew is busy on the holiday, when strange things can happen; also, Buck’s decorations are scarier than intended. Then it’s the Halloween Week cruise on “Odyssey.” That hour will rerun a week later (on the actual holiday), wrapping up ABC’s busy Hallo-surge.
9) “The Old Man” season-finale, 10 p.m. Thursday, FX. It’s a big week for FX, with “Shadows” returning and “Old Man” leaving. As this starts, Chase has been poisoned and Angela is being raided by Russians. We won’t spoil surprises – there are many – except to say Alia Shawkat, once known for “Arrested Development” comedy, is potent and perfect as Angela.
10) “I Am Alfred Hitchcock” (2021), 8-10 p.m. Saturday, CW. After last week’s “Chosen” season-finale, CW has two movie nights. Saturday has this portrait of the director whose films drew 46 Oscar nominations and six wins. At 7 p.m. Sunday, it’s Jack Black’s “Goosebumps”; that’s a light horror film, colliding with ABC’s “Hocus Pocus 2,” which is 8:01 p.m. Sunday.