1) “Elsbeth,” 10 p.m. Thursday, CBS. Mac (Brittany O’Grady, center, who’s terrific) is a former child star, gorgeous and clueless. She wakes up on Halloween-with a haircut, a hangover, a tattoo, an arrest and a nightmare (or maybe a memory) involving shooting someone. Elsbeth (in cocktail-hour costume) investigates, in an hour that’s bright, funny and well-plotted. Read more…
1) “I Am Alfred Hitchcock” (2021), 8-10 p.m., CW. Deftly fanning his fame, Hitchcock (shown here) did interviews, hosted a TV series, did cameos in his films … and directed great movies. Ranging from the haunting “Psycho” to the lively “North by Northwest,” they drew 46 Oscar nominations and six wins. Here’s a profile of a man who also had a controlling attitude. Read more…
1) World Series, 8:08 p.m. ET, Fox, with pre-game at 7. It’s the Dodgers (shown here with Shohei Ohtani) and Yankees, in what used to be a Series tradition. When they were neighbors (in Brooklyn and the Bronx), they did seven Series from 1941-56; the Yankees won six. Then the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles. They’ve only met in four more Series (each winning two), and none since 1981. Read more…
1) “Doctor Odyssey,” 9 p.m., ABC. Ever since the “Roseanne” days, ABC has savored its Halloween episodes. That starts at 8 p.m., with the “9-1-1” crew busy on the holiday; also, Buck’s decorations are scarier than intended. Then it’s the Halloween Week cruise (shown here) on “Odyssey”; the episode will rerun a week later, on the actual holiday. Read more…
Maybe we should start worrying about ABC.
At first, its apparent austerity program seemed logical. Faced with giant jolts – the pandemic and two strikes – ABC scrambled. It added unscripted shows; it also borrowed shows from cable and streaming networks.
But now that’s gone overboard. After the season had already started, ABC decided to pillage all of “Monday Night Football,” pushing two game shows and “Scamanda” until 2025.
They won’t be missed; the world certainly has no shortage of games or true-crime stories. ABC does have some good shows — including “High Potential,” shown here, at 10 p.m. Tuesdays — but it continues its austerity trend; consider: Read more…
1) “Nature” season-opener, 8 p.m., PBS. Eastern lowland gorillas (shown here) are huge (sometimes 500 pounds) and scarce (about 5,000 left). Now we follow a Congolese expert; he hopes to be face-to-face with a giant silverback, habituating him to humans, so tourism money can fund preservation. This spends too much time on the people, but is still impressive. Read more…
1) “Happy’s Place” and “The Voice,” 8 and 8:30 p.m., NBC. Reba McEntire has double duty here. She’s a judge on “Voice,” which trims to 90 minutes tonight, to make room for a rerun of her comedy opener. It’s an almost-adequate show, in which she learns that a half-sister (shown here) she didn’t know about has inherited half of the bar she runs. Read more…
After a slow stretch, the Acorn streamer is back on track. Coming up are:
— The third season of “Whitstable Pearl” (shown here), There’s a new hour each Monday, from Oct. 21 to Nov. 25.
— The first season of “Detective Ellis.” It has movie-length (close to two- hour) tales on Nov. 4, 11 and 18,
At first glance, those might seem identical – a pair of six-hour seasons, with women solving murders in small-town England.
But they’re also opposites, reflecting Acorn’s range. One has gentle tales, pausing briefly for humor or warmth. The other is intense. Read more…
1) “What We Do in the Shadows” season-openers, 10, 10:34 and 11:09 p.m., FX. This weird – and weirdly funny – show has gradually been noticed, with three best-comedy Emmy nominations in five years. Now its final season starts with these cozy vampires (Nadja is shown here) waking Jerry The Vampire, wh has a key question: If vampires are secret, why is a human camera crew there? No one can remember. Read more…
1) “Tracker,” 8:30 p.m., CBS. Yes, it’s great to have a strong-and-silent hero; that’s kind of a Hollywood tradition. But sometimes you need the opposite. Tonight, Colter (Justin Hartley), quiet and careful) is missing. His brother (noisy and risky) is called in to help. He’s again played by Jensen Ackles (left, with Hartley), in a vibrant episode. Read more…
