1) Football, 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN. In the second half of the college semi-finals, Texas (shown here) and Ohio State collide. The winner goes to the championship game Jan. 20, facing the winner of Thursday’s Georgia-Notre Dame game.
2) “NCIS: Sydney,” 8 p.m., CBS. At first, this was just doing fill-in duty during the strikes. But it turned out to be an entertaining show; now its second season will start Jan. 31. Before that, we get reruns; this case takes Evie back to her days doing undercover narcotics work.
3) “Fire Country” and “SWAT,” 9 and 10 p.m., CBS. These shows will also have reruns until CBS’ mid-season push. On “Fire Country,” public opinion is moving against the convicts working as firefighters. On “SWAT,” Los Angeles faces gang warfare, with brutal attacks on stash houses.
4) “Happy’s Place,” 8 p.m., NBC. When Bobbie’s daughter Grace is home from the military, it’s a big deal for everyone – especially Bobbie’s half-sister, who’s never met Grace. The result has the usual excesses, but also has some funny moments. You have to credit any script that has references to “King Lear” and Lucy from”Peanuts.”
5) “Goosebumps” season-opener, Hulu and Disney+. David Schwimmer plays a dad facing scary plants and more. That follows Thursday’s debuts of a Noah Wyle medical drama (“The Pitt,” Max), a cop show from the “Law & Order” people (“On Call,” Amazon Prime) and a tough western from some of the “Friday Night Lights” people (“Primeval,” Netflix).