TV Best Bets

Friday, Sept. 16: HBO Sparks Up High Maintenance

High Maintenance © 2016 HBO. Credit: Craig Blankenhorn

All Times Eastern.

Friday, Sept. 16

High Maintenance
HBO, 11pm
New Series!
Based on a web series of the same name, this scripted comedy follows “The Guy” (Ben Sinclair), a Brooklyn pot dealer who makes deliveries by bicycle and runs into some of the city’s most eccentric characters.

College Football
ESPN & ESPN2, beginning at 8pm Live
Friday night college football features the Baylor Bears at the Rice Owls (ESPN) and the Arizona State Sun Devils at the UTSA Roadrunners at the Alamodome in San Antonio (ESPN2).

Z Nation
Syfy, 8pm
Season Premiere!
Season 3 debuts tonight with a two-hour movie, before the series moves to its regular, later airtime next Friday. Actually taking place during Season 2, this movie finds the gang protecting the town against a new enemy.

Penn & Teller: Fool Us: “Can Penn & Teller Fool Penn & Teller”
The CW, 9pm
Season Finale!
Magicians Anthony Asimov, Angela Funovits, Ivan Amodei and Vince Charming try to stump Penn & Teller and earn the right to perform with the celebrated duo in their show at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Art in the Twenty-First Century
PBS, 9pm
Join host Claire Danes for access to creative minds at work in contemporary art. Each episode, set in a different city, presents four artists creating works that engage with the world around us and allow us to see it in new ways. Tonight’s back-to-back episodes visit artists Nick Cave, Chris Ware, Theaster Gates and Barbara Kasten in Chicago and Damián Ortega, Pedro Reyes, Minerva Cuevas and Natalia Almada in Mexico City.

Quarry: “Figure Four”
Cinemax, 10pm
Things get even darker in Cinemax’s new series that is based on the novels by Max Allan Collins. In tonight’s episode, Mac (Logan Marshall-Green) looks to pay down a debt, as Joni (Jodi Balfour) is queried by detectives following the death of a coworker.

Saturday, Sept. 17

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week — The Touring Years
Hulu
Ron Howard directs and produces this documentary look at the first part of the Beatles’ career (1962-66), when the iconic band was touring and performing in front of fevered crowds before concentrating later on more studio-based work.

College Football
ABC, CBS, ESPN, FOX, FS1 & NBC, beginning at 12pm Live
Saturday features a full slate of college football action from around the country. Highlights include Florida State at Louisville (ABC), Iowa State at TCU (FS1), Oregon at Nebraska (ABC), Alabama at Ole Miss (CBS), Pittsburgh at Oklahoma State (ESPN), Michigan State at Notre Dame (NBC), Ohio State at Oklahoma (FOX) and USC at Stanford (ABC).

Sister Cities
Lifetime, 8pm
Original Film!
Based on the internationally acclaimed stage play of the same name, the film features an impressive cast headlined by Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook), Stana Katic (Castle), Jess Weixler (The Good Wife), Michelle Trachtenberg (Gossip Girl) and Troian Bellisario (Pretty Little Liars), and tells the story of four estranged sisters who reunite to mourn their mother’s passing, only to discover a secret that could tear them apart. The movie also stars Amy Smart (Justified), Tom Everett Scott (Scream: The TV Series), Emmy nominee Alfred Molina (The Normal Heart) and Kaia Gerber in her acting debut.

Sunday, Sept. 18

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400
NBCSN, 2:30pm Live
The Sprint Cup Series playoffs Round of 16 begins today at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400, the first race of the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

68th Primetime Emmy Awards
ABC, 8pm Live
Find out if your favorite television shows and stars take home a statuette as Jimmy Kimmel hosts TV’s biggest night, live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Leading the nominations: Game of Thrones (23), The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (22), Fargo (18) and Veep (17). The broadcast is preceded by a one-hour red carpet show.

Royal Wives at War
PBS, 8pm
Take a fresh look at the abdication crisis of 1936 through dramatized monologues by the two women at its heart, the queen mother and Wallis Simpson, as they look back at the events that led to Edward VIII’s decision to give up the throne.

The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey
CBS, 8:30pm
New Miniseries!
This two-part true-crime miniseries focuses on the 1996 unsolved murder of 6-year-old beauty pageant participant JonBenét Ramsey, and aligns with the 20th anniversary of the murder.

Fear the Walking Dead: “Pillar of Salt”
AMC, 9pm
Madison takes action when one of the hotel residents gets violent. At the Colonia, Alejandro reveals his dark side.

Poldark Revealed
PBS, 9pm
Follow the cast and crew of Poldark on location; uncover the real-life stories behind the history, books and characters; and learn what makes Ross Poldark such an unforgettable, much-loved hero.

Ray Donovan: “Rattus Rattus”
Showtime, 9pm
Season Finale!
Time to pray. Ray (Liev Schreiber) devises a Hail Mary plan to play his pursuers at the FBI against his enemies in the Russian mob. Because what didn’t work for Jimmy Hoffa …

Masterpiece Classic: “Indian Summers Season 2”
PBS, 10pm
Aafrin saves his friend’s life, but gets a gruesome payback. Ralph’s ambition faces a roadblock. Sooni feels family pressure. And Madeleine extracts the truth.

Monday, Sept. 19

The Big Bang Theory
CBS, 8pm
Season Premiere!
As The Big Bang Theory returns for Season 10 tonight, hopefully viewers will learn what Mary Cooper (Laurie Metcalf) and Alfred Hofstadter (guest star Judd Hirsch) were up to after the pre-wedding dinner. This season, Katey Sagal joins the cast as Penny’s (Kaley Cuoco) mom and Jack McBrayer (30 Rock) plays Penny’s troubled brother.

Gotham
FOX, 8pm
Season Premiere!
Detective James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) works in a monster-ridden Gotham as a bounty hunter and is searching for answers about the Indian Hill escapees, and why their powers appear to be killing them. Executive Producer John Stephens explains that in Season 3, “You are really going to see how the villains have taken up residence inside the city, and the villains have become more and more just part of the fabric of the city of Gotham.”

Three Days of Terror: The Charlie Hebdo Attacks
HBO, 8pm
This documentary from Emmy nominee Dan Reed (Terror at the Mall) is a searing account of the January 2015 terror attacks on Paris, which combined the last European attack by al-Qaida and the first European attack inspired by ISIS. On Jan. 7, 2015, two brothers who were members of al-Qaida in Yemen stormed the Paris offices of the satiric weekly Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people, including two police officers, and injuring 11 others. During a massive two-day manhunt for the killers, an additional five people were murdered and 11 others were wounded. Drawing on exclusive access to hostages, survivors, police, paramilitary forces, and intelligence findings and evidence — as well as never-before-seen footage and photographs — Reed highlights the courage and resilience of Paris’ police and citizens in the face of mass murder.

The Voice: “The Blind Auditions Premiere”
NBC, 8pm
Season Premiere!
The 11th season kicks off as new coaches Alicia Keys and Miley Cyrus join the program.

Kevin Can Wait
CBS, 8:30pm
New Series!
In this new sitcom, Kevin James plays a newly retired NYPD cop who wants to spend his newfound free time with his buddies. But his hopes are dashed when he discovers he has to help his wife (Erinn Hayes) in raising their kids.

Lucifer: “Everything’s Coming Up Lucifer”
FOX, 9pm
Season Premiere!
While he and Chloe (Lauren German) investigate the murder of an actress, Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis) is distracted by his mother’s escape from hell. Ellis reveals his reaction to the announcement that Tricia Helfer is playing his mom in Season 2. “I was really, really happy when they told me Tricia was on board for lots of reasons,” the charmer says. “I was a huge Battlestar Galactica fan. It is a bit weird that I used to have a crush on my mom.”

The Good Place
NBC, 10pm
New Series!
Ted Danson plays a heavenly urban planner and Kristen Bell his erroneous new resident in this hyper-colored belly-laugher from comedy veteran Michael Schur that may also cure you of swearing. “I met Mike on another project that didn’t quite ring a bell for me, but we so were taken with him that we asked if he had anything else,” says Danson of heading back to comedy after a lengthy dramatic run on the CSI franchise. “Two days later he came back — this was something he hadn’t thought of for me. He started talking for an hour and a half, and I just listened. It was so out of left field and had been so well thought out … it was just amazingly smart conversation. Then I heard that Kristen was interested and most likely going to be involved and it was just like, ‘I will place my bet that this is something that will make me happy.’” Us, too, Ted. Us, too.

POV: “Kingdom of Shadows”
PBS, 10pm
Take an unflinching look at the hard choices and destructive consequences of the U.S.-Mexico drug war. Witness the human side of the conflict through the eyes of a U.S. drug enforcement agent, an activist nun in Mexico and a former Texas smuggler.

Tuesday, Sept. 20

Dancing With the Stars: Results Show
ABC, 8pm Live
Get a feel for the frontrunners in Season 23 as the first results show happens tonight!

NCIS
CBS, 8pm
Season Premiere!
Wilmer Valderrama joins the cast as agent Nick Torres, who comes to NCIS when his cover is blown and presents a challenge for Gibbs (Mark Harmon). Also signing on this season is Blue Bloods alum Jennifer Esposito, who plays Special Agent Alexandra Quinn, an experienced agent and instructor at the Law Enforcement Training Center whom Gibbs convinces to join his team.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: “Coral Palms Pt.1”
FOX, 8pm
Season Premiere!
Jake (Andy Samberg) and Holt (Andre Braugher) adjust to life in the Witness Protection Program, but their anonymity is jeopardized when a video of them goes viral. Maya Rudolph, Rhea Perlman and Jorma Taccone guest-star.

The Voice: “The Blind Auditions Premiere, Part 2”
NBC, 8pm
The blind auditions continue with coaches Miley Cyrus, Alicia Keys, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton all vying to discover and mentor the next singing phenomenon.

Bad Girls Club: Social Disruption
Oxygen, 8pm
Season Premiere!
This season’s bad girls move into the BGC mansion to escape their naughty behaviors and confront their issues. Without their legions of social media followers criticizing and celebrating their every move, will these spicy divas be able to move past their sexy personas?

New Girl: “House Hunt”
FOX, 8:30pm
Season Premiere!
When Nick (Jake Johnson) returns earlier than expected from his summer in the Big Easy, Jess (Zooey Deschanel) finds getting her mind off of him is anything but easy. And while Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Cece (Hannah Simone) look for a love nest of their own, Winston (Lamorne Morris) struggles with a long-distance relationship with Aly (guest star Nasim Pedrad).

Bull
CBS, 9pm
New Series!
Michael Weatherly — a familiar face from CBS’ NCIS — is Dr. Jason Bull. Based on talk show host Phil McGraw’s early career, the show follows Bull, a brilliant trial consultant who examines juries. In high-stakes trials, he and his top-notch staff create defense strategies that tip the scales of justice.

Scream Queens
FOX, 9pm
Season Premiere!
Season 2 of the campy dramedy takes place in a hospital for unusual maladies. Taylor Lautner reveals that he and costar John Stamos, both newcomers to the cast, will be playing surgeons who deal with very peculiar patients. Oh doctor, we’re feeling a fever coming on!

Dance Moms: “Return of the Minis”
Lifetime, 9pm
The minis are back and the elites wonder if Abby can hold true to her promise of a fresh start. Abby challenges the minis with a beauty pageant themed dance, planning to crown one mini “Queen of the Routine.” The elites perform a tribute to Prince but feel the pressure to do the music legend justice and fear they will fail to win with another tribute dance. To add to the chaos, Abby assigns dueling duets: JoJo and Brynn vs. Kendall and Nia. But when Nia falls ill, Kendall is left in the lurch.

Strut
Oxygen, 9pm
New Series!
From executive producer Whoopi Goldberg, Strut follows a group of transgender models breaking down barriers in the beauty industry. The series highlights Slay Model Management, the world’s first agency that exclusively represents transgender models.

Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War
PBS, 9pm
Ken Burns and Artemis Joukowsky (grandson of this film’s subjects) codirected this stunning documentary detailing the little-heard story of Waitstill and Martha Sharp, a Unitarian minister and his wife, who left their children behind in the care of their Wellesley, Mass., parish and boldly committed to multiple life-threatening missions in Europe. Over two dangerous years, they helped to save hundreds of imperiled political dissidents and Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazi occupation across Europe.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
ABC, 10pm
Season Premiere!
According to new ABC Entertainment chief Channing Dungey, Agents’ new time slot will allow the series to “go a little bit edgier, a little darker, and take some risks.” Jason O’Mara signs on as S.H.I.E.L.D.’s new Director, while Coulson (Clark Gregg) returns to the field, teamed with Mack (Henry Simmons) to track down and confirm the presence of Enhanced people, a.k.a. Inhumans. Robbie Reyes (Gabriel Luna, Wicked City) will roar into the lives of Agent Coulson and the team as a junkyard mechanic who can turn on a dime into the terrifying Ghost Rider, and Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) discovers that Dr. Radcliffe (John Hannah) has started putting the finishing touches on a new, secret invention. Also Agent May (Ming-Na Wen) is tasked with training specialist strike teams, and Fitz and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) have taken a big step forward in their relationship.

Halt and Catch Fire: “And She Was”
AMC, 10pm
Tensions rise over an offer to buy Mutiny. Donna gets a weekend alone, while Gordon and Cam bond over video games. Joe has a standoff with the board.

This Is Us
NBC, 10pm
New Series!
Our pick for the breakout drama of the fall weaves a stellar ensemble cast and intertwined, ultra-relatable storylines (career woes, abandonment issues, body-image agony) into an addictive character study that traces the life journeys of a quartet of folks we meet on their shared 36th birthday. Tonight’s premiere boasts a breathtaking tearjerker surprise that makes us even more eager to spend our Tuesday nights with This Is Us. Soap star Justin Hartley (Passions, The Young and the Restless) bolsters his nighttime-drama resumé as Kevin, a hunky sitcom actor yearning for more from life and his career. “It’s very funny and very touching, and then every single other character and story in the script is just so beautiful,” he says of This Is Us. “The character development even throughout the first episode is just gorgeous writing, and it kept getting better and better.”

NCIS: New Orleans
CBS, 10pm
Season Premiere!
In the season premiere, a sniper is at large during a crowded festival weekend, and the NCIS team partners with several federal agencies on the case. Vanessa Ferlito joins the cast as FBI Special Agent Tammy Gregorio.

Wednesday, Sept. 21

The Goldbergs
ABC, 8pm
Season Premiere!
Goldbergs creator Adam F. Goldberg, who based the series on his own growing-up years, tweeted that fans can expect more “smothering, yelling, 80s toys, Star Wars references, tightie whities and the Big Tasty run!” in Season 4.

Survivor
CBS, 8pm
Season Premiere!
A war of generations begins as the millennials’ “Vanua” tribe battles Gen X’s “Takali” tribe in Season 33 of Survivor. In the 90-minute premiere, “May the Best Generation Win,” a massive storm leads to a first in Survivor history, and one castaway snatches a powerful advantage in the game.

Lethal Weapon
FOX, 8pm
New Series!
Damon Wayans and Clayne Crawford have just the right chemistry to pull off a remake of the 1987 classic film starring Danny Glover and Mel Gibson.

Blindspot: “Heave Fiery Knot”
NBC, 8pm
The team races to stop a corrupt DEA agent from selling stinger missiles to a drug cartel as Weller (Sullivan Stapleton) fights to keep everyone together under the increasing pressures of Jane’s (Jaimie Alexander) rift with the others and the uncomfortable addition of Nas (Archie Panjabi) as co-leader.

Speechless
ABC, 8:30pm
New Series!
Executive producer Scott Silveri based this comedy on his own memories of growing up with a special needs brother. Minnie Driver stars as Maya DiMeo, the put-upon matriarch of a clan made up of her patient and unflappable husband Jimmy (The Big Bang Theory’s John Ross Bowie), angsty preteen son Ray (Mason Cook), tough-nut daughter Dylan (Kyla Kenedy) and oldest son J.J. (charming newcomer Micah Fowler), a funny, patient guy born with cerebral palsy. As Maya takes on — and puts off — the world trying to make it more accommodating of J.J., her boy goes right ahead and finds himself the ally he and his family desperately need. Families with special needs members might find the pilot a bit of an eye roll, but the cast and good intentions could make it worth sticking around for.

Modern Family
ABC, 9pm
Season Premiere!
Stuff to look forward to as Season 8 premieres: Martin Short does an ep as the guy who does Phil’s tchotchkes, and Nathan Fillion recurs as TV weatherman Rainor Shine. We swear we’re not making that up.

Law & Order: SVU
NBC, 9pm
Season Premiere!
What will become of Peter Gallagher’s grief-stricken Deputy Chief William Dodds after son Mike (Andy Karl) died in last season’s finale? And with Tucker (Robert John Burke) eager to begin life anew with Liv (Mariska Hargitay) and little Noah (Bradley Dubow) in Paris — and Liv more than a little weary of working motherhood — is there another shake-up ahead in the SVU ranks? Find out when the perennial favorite returns for an 18th season tonight.

Empire
FOX, 9pm
Season Premiere!
At the end of Season 2, Hakeem was left standing at the altar, Lucious and Anika got hitched, and Anika and Rhonda were engaged in a rooftop catfight when one of them appeared to fall. But this is TV, and those Lyons (including those by name only), seem to have nine lives.

black-ish
ABC, 9:30pm
Season Premiere!
Dre and Bow’s (Emmy nominees Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross) new addition is on the way, delighting only some of its soon-to-be siblings. As for twins Jack and Diane (Miles Brown, Marsai Martin) losing their “babies of the family” status, Martin giggles, “I think Diane is probably sad or something. Diane is a little scary. I’m not sure what she’d do with the baby.”

Big Brother
CBS, 9:30pm
Season Finale!
Find out which Big Brother Houseguest gets the $500,000 grand prize in this 90-minute season finale.

Designated Survivor
ABC, 10pm
New Series!
Kiefer Sutherland stars as Tom Kirkman, the titular character in this intriguing new drama/thriller. Kirkman served as the civic-minded, peace-loving HUD secretary before a nuclear explosion wiped out the Capitol, the POTUS and other federal bigwigs. Just like that, Kirkman’s the president — in the midst of a potential terrorist crisis — and surrounded by plenty of people who doubt him and his do-no-harm ways. Does he have it in him to unite his team and save the day, his own bewildered family and the nation?

The World’s Greatest Tribute Bands
AXS TV, 10pm Live
Tonight’s episode of the live concert series features a special 90-minute tribute to David Bowie.

Chicago P.D.: “The Silos”
NBC, 10pm
Season Premiere!
Intelligence investigates a gruesome case. Upon further examination, it appears the victim was wearing a CPD-issued wire at the time of his death. Meanwhile, Burgess (Marina Squerciati) meets her new partner, Julie Tay (guest star Li Jun Li), who came from one of the worst assignments in the city. Together they respond to their first call, and Tay shares details of her past. Additionally, Commander Crowley (guest star Barbara Eve Harris) confronts Lindsay (Sophia Bush) about why she and Voight (Jason Beghe) were at that location on the night that Intelligence pursued Justin’s killer.

India: Nature’s Wonderland
PBS, 10pm
Join wildlife biologist Liz Bonnin, actress Freida Pinto and mountaineer Jon Gupta as they explore India’s natural wonders in a two-part miniseries, which begins tonight. From tigers and gibbons to elephants and rhinos, from the sacred Ganges to tea plantations, experience the subcontinent’s marvels.

Mr. Robot: “eps.2.9_pyth0n-pt2.p7z”
USA Network, 10pm
Season Finale!
Angela gets a new acquaintance, and an old friend reveals everything to Elliot.

Thursday, Sept. 22

Grey’s Anatomy
ABC, 8pm
Season Premiere!
Jo’s past with her abusive husband and the fate of her future with Karev should take center stage in Season 13, as should Meredith’s bond with Riggs. Plus, we’ll see if those rumors that Jackson (Jesse Williams) and April (Sarah Drew) — and April and Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) — make amends are true.

Rosewood: “Forward Motion & Frat Life”
FOX, 8pm
Season Premiere!
A new captain (Eddie Cibrian) shakes up the East Miami P.D., and Miami’s young, hot-shot mayor gets personally involved when his promising young mentee is murdered.

Superstore
NBC, 8pm
Season Premiere!
Season 2 picks up in the wake of the store walkout at the end of last season. Executive producer and creator Justin Spitzer told reporters that he was glad to be able to address unions in Season 1, and that viewers can expect the show to continue to get political and issue-oriented at times. As examples of what to see in that regard this season, Spitzer explained: “We deal this year with Mateo being undocumented. We deal with transgender bathroom protests, which are a big thing right now, obviously, in Target. The morning-after pill, open-carry. And those are early on [in the season].”

NFL Football: Houston at New England
CBS & NFL Network, 8:25pm Live
Thursday Night Football heads to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., as the New England Patriots host the Houston Texans in Week 3.

The Good Place: “Tahani Al-Jamil”
NBC, 8:30pm
The series begins in its regular time slot with an episode in which Chidi (William Jackson Harper) begins formally teaching Eleanor (Kristen Bell) about ethics. Lesson No. 1: be kind to your neighbor. Meanwhile, Michael (Ted Danson) and Janet (D’Arcy Carden) help Chidi find a new, exciting hobby.

Pitch
FOX, 9pm
New Series!
A female has finally made it to the big leagues, but not everyone is happy to meet or play with the infamous pitcher Ginny Baker (Kylie Bunbury, Under the Dome). The series also stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Ali Larter, Mark Consuelos and Dan Lauria.

Chicago Med
NBC, 9pm
Season Premiere!
The medical drama and most recent entry in NBC’s popular Chicago franchise (until Chicago Justice bows in midseason) begins its second season tonight. According to executive producer and creator Dick Wolf, the thing he finds interesting about Chicago Med is that “it’s one show that, if you watch every week, you will learn something. No, we’re not announcing unknown medical breakthroughs, but that’s the responsibility that we have, is that we have to get it right. … You don’t want to get a call from 300 cardiologists saying, ‘Are you crazy? You probably killed 15 people last night with that information.’ It’s a bigger responsibility than we have on the other shows.”

How to Get Away With Murder
ABC, 10pm
Season Premiere!
Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) and Co. (but especially Annalise) had a rough run last season and it looks like they won’t fare too much better in Season 3. Says ABC, “With Wallace Mahoney’s murder unsolved and Frank’s whereabouts still unknown, Annalise and her inner circle struggle to keep their secrets from getting exposed. Relationships will be fractured, lies will spin out of control, and a shocking, new mystery will upend their entire lives.” Which is just how HTGAWM fans like it.

The Blacklist
NBC, 10pm
Season Premiere!
Now that we know Liz (Megan Boone) is alive and Alexander Kirk (Ulrich Thomsen) is her dad, the team has some adjusting to do. Plus, are Red and Mr. Kaplan headed for a showdown?

Friday, Sept. 23

Last Man Standing
ABC, 8pm
Season Premiere!
Tim Allen’s sitcom returns for Season 6, which sees Mike face new challenges as he continues to be surrounded by forces testing his ideas about everything he believes in.

MacGyver
CBS, 8pm
New Series!
We guarantee your pulse will be pounding — and your funny bone tickled, too — after tonight’s premiere episode, penned by Hawaii Five-0’s Peter Lenkov, directed by Furious 7’s James Wan and starring the X-Men films’ own Havok, Lucas Till, as a new-era Angus MacGyver, Department of External Services agent and dazzling problem solver.

Hell’s Kitchen: “When the Wall Comes Tumbling Down”
FOX, 8pm
Season Premiere!
British chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay welcomes the newest crop of hopefuls to the grounds of a U.S. Army training facility where they’re divided into two teams: men vs. women — and they’ll all have to prove their culinary skills in the Signature Dish Challenge.

Dr. Ken
ABC, 8:30pm
Season Premiere!
The put-upon GP (Ken Jeong) and his wacky family members, friends and coworkers return for a sophomore season.

Shark Tank
ABC, 9pm
Season Premiere!
The Sharks are back for Season 8, giving you a prime opportunity to ogle Robert Herjavec’s shiny new wedding ring from network mate and Dancing With the Stars partner Kym Johnson. Hopeful entrepreneurs pitch their products in hopes of attracting the cash and mentorship of business moguls. When asked about a favorite product this season, shark Mark Cuban revealed that there will be “lots of beer!”

Hawaii Five-0
CBS, 9pm
Season Premiere!
In the Season 7 premiere, McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) refuses to listen to Danny’s (Scott Caan) pleas to take it easy while recovering from surgery. When the body of a serial killer is left in the Five-0 headquarters, the team goes on a hunt for the vigilante.

The Exorcist
FOX, 9pm
New Series!
Based on one of the greatest horror movies ever made, this chilling series follows two very different priests working together to help the Rance family deal with demonic possession. The Rances seem like your typical American family — but all is not as it appears.

Art in the Twenty-First Century
PBS, 9pm
Tonight’s first episode, “Los Angeles,” features Diana Thater’s immersive video installations and Liz Larner’s experimental abstract sculptures, along with Tala Madani, who skewers stereotypes in satirical paintings, and Edgar Arceneaux, who examines history through drawing and performance. In “Vancouver,” we meet Liz Magor, who makes realistic casts of humble objects; Stan Douglas, who reenacts historical moments through multimedia productions; Brian Jungen, who transforms consumer goods into sculptures; and renowned photographer Jeff Wall.

Z Nation: “A New Mission”
Syfy, 9pm
In the first episode of Season 3, Warren and gang are taken prisoner, while Murphy escapes the sub with his newly formed group.

Blue Bloods
CBS, 10pm
Season Premiere!
In Season 7, Danny’s (Donnie Wahlberg) world is turned upside down when Michael Lewis (guest star Michael Imperioli) from the attorney general’s office obtains new evidence against Danny in a self-defense shooting case.

Van Helsing
Syfy, 10pm
New Series!
In the wake of a vampire takeover, Vanessa Helsing is the last hope for survival, as she discovers she has a unique blood composition that makes her immune to vampires and gives her the ability to turn a vampire human. With this secret weapon, Vanessa becomes a prime target for the vampires, while she tries to save humanity. Kelly Overton, Jonathan Scarfe and Christopher Heyerdahl star.

Saturday, Sept. 24

College Football: Duke at Notre Dame
NBC, 3:30pm Live
NBC airs this Saturday afternoon college football matchup between the Duke Blue Devils and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from legendary Notre Dame Stadium.

Steve Jobs
HBO, 8pm
Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender) and the company he cofounded, Apple, revolutionized the technology industry. But, over time, Jobs struggled to stay involved with Apple and battled through enormous infighting. Also stars Kate Winslet and Seth Rogen.

Ghost Adventures
Travel Channel, 9pm
Season Premiere!
Zak and the crew are called to the Palace Saloon in Prescott, Ariz., to help banish a malevolent spirit that is terrorizing the staff. During the investigation, Jay is attacked in the saloon’s basement, where the spirit resides.

48 Hours
CBS, 10pm
Season Premiere!
TV’s popular true crime series returns for its 29th season. Over the years, the series has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.