Daily Best Bets

1) “Grey’s Anatomy” season-opener, 9 p.m., ABC. Here’s one of the last shows to return post-strike … and one that people really missed. It’s the 20th season, tying the show with “Gunsmoke” for No. 3 among dramas (trailing only two “Law & Order” shows). The season starts with a doctor (Teddy) and patient (Sam) in peril. Meredith re-thinks her research and the young interns (shown here is Adelaide Kane as Jules Millin) face a tough case Read more…

1) “Resident Alien,” 10 p.m., Syfy. This may be the first show in which someone says: “I’m so sorry; we don’t normally have bird guests.” She unthinkingly cooked chicken for Harry and his new lover, whose alternate form (shown here with his alternate form) is as a blue bird, and … Well, one of TV’s best (and strangest) shows has one of its best episodes, mixing broad humor with subtle dialog and sci-fi plot twists. Read more…

1) “Password” season-opener, 10 p.m., NBC. Joe Manganiello (shown here) keeps showing up after “The Voice.” At 10 p.m. Mondays (after a two-hour “Voice”), he hosts “Deal or No Deal Island”; tonight (after a on-hour “Voice”), he battles Jimmy Fallon. Keke Palmer returns as host, after winning the primetime Emmy for best gameshow host. Read more…

1) “Queens” conclusion, 8, 9 and 10:03 p.m., National Geographic. This splendid series views the females that dominate animal society. At 8 p.m. is a moving portrait of an elephant herd (shown here) as it trudges toward elusive water, while protecting a baby. from fierce predators. That’s followed by hours in Ethiopia (wolves and simians) and along the coast, with bears and orcas. Read more…

1) Academy Awards, 7 p.m. ET, ABC. This one should actually be fun. There’s a clever host — Jimmy Kimmel (shown here), for the second straight year and fourth overall. There are movies – led by “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” – people have actually seen. And there’s music: Billie Eilish, Becky G, Jon Btatiste, Ryan Gosling and Mark Ronson, Scott George and the Osage Singers. Read more…

1) Oscar prep. On Academy Awards eve, here are two best-piicture nominees. “Past Lives” (7:15 p.m., Showtime) is also up for best original script; it’s extremely slow and subtle, sort of the opposite of a soap opera. “American Fiction” (8 p.m. and midnght, MGM+) is up for adapted scriipt, music, actor (Jeffrey Wright, shown here) and supporting actor (Sterling K. Brown). It has a wonderfully clever plot Read more…

1) “SWAT,” 8 and 9 p.m., CBS. For the second time in four weeks, this ambitious show (shown here in a previous episode) has a two-parter. This time, the parts air together: A Chilean arms dealer kidnaps a woman and her daughter in Los Angeles. Then bikers steal a cache of armor-piercing bullets; the team tries to catch them before they can pull off a heist. Also, there are personal crises for Tan, Nichelle and others. Read more…

1) State of the Union address, 9 p.m. ET, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS and news channels. In an election year, this speech is crucial; so is the Republican response (by Katie Britt, a U.S. senator from Alabama), set for 10 p.m. If you insist on skipping these, we’ll list alternatives (one is shown here) for most time zones; then we’ll view the 8 p.m. hour. Read more…

1) “Animal Control” season-opener, 9 p.m., Fox. The network’s only comedy (cartoons excluded) is a good one, skillfully mixing sight gags and verbal humor. It’s always fun to see raccoons misbehave in a bowling alley, but there’s also joy in the personal bits: Victoria (shown here) is in danger of being deported … leading her co-workers to a startling discovery: They’re not considered essential workers Read more…

1) “The Cleaning Lady” season-opener, 8 p.m.,, Fox. A month after the death of one of its stars, this adjusts nimbly. Adan Canto died at 42 of appendix cancer; he was terrific as Arman, a good-hearted drug boss who rescued Thony, the doctor-turned-cleaner. Now we’re told Arnan plans to use a drug plane to extricate her sister from the Philippines; a crisis forces a fragile pairing of Thony (shown here, center) and Arman’s wife-or-widow. Read more…