1) “Matlock,” 9 p.m., CBS. Last week ended with a jolt: Olympia learned Matty has been lying to her. Now she demands the truth; that brings a tense hour, reminding us that Kathy Bates (shown here) is a gifted, Oscar-winning actress. Can Matty salvage the friendship? Can she find who buried the vital study? That will be settled (partly) in next week’s season-finale.
2) “Elsbeth,” 10 p.m., CBS. Fresh from the tension in this week’s “Matlock,” we get the fun of one of this show’s best episodes. Yes, there’s a murder; there always seems to be. But the appeal is seeing the villain – played by David Alan Grier, in a career surge at 69 – trying to cover it up.
3) “Hacks” season-opener, Max. One of TV’s big winners returns. In each of the first three seasons, “Hacks” was an Emmy-nominee for best comedy (winning once). In each, Jean Smart won for best actress in a comedy and Hannah Einbinder was nominated for supporting actress. Now their characters face a new challenge, running a talk show.
4) “Grey’s Anatomy,” 10 p.m., ABC. Bailey works with a highly regarded surgeon on a tough procedure. Other doctors have a more-immediate crisis – a patient impaled by an ice pick. That follows “9-1-1” (bio-hazard crisis in a lab) and “Doctor Odyssey” (cheerleaders and some cheerless setbacks).
5) Also: At 8 p.m., NBC’s “Law & Order” probes the murder of a rising basketball star, FX has the terrific “Free Guy” movie (2021) and “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage” has a fresh impasse: The young, married couple disagrees on having a second baby; her family struggles to stay out of it.
— Mike Hughes, TV America