TV Best Bets

Monday, Oct. 12: A Mysterious Woman Upends a Professor’s Life on ‘Soulmates’

Jorge Alvarino/AMC

ALSO SEE: Your Full 2020 NFL Regular Season TV Schedule

All Times Eastern.

Monday, Oct. 12

Soulmates: “The Lovers”
AMC, 10pm

In the new episode “The Lovers,” David Costabile (Billions) plays a college professor who has his personal and professional life thrown into chaos when a woman (Sonya Cassidy, Lodge 49) hacks into his Soul Connex account.

Heavenly Creatures Movie Marathon
TCM, beginning at 6am
Catch a Classic!

Enjoy 14 hours of creature features today, with a great lineup of titles ranging from cheesy low-budget flicks like The Killer Shrews (1959) to iconic classics like the original King Kong (1933), and everything in between. Through the magic of special effects, you’ll also see dinosaurs (in films like 1953’s The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms and 1954’s Godzilla), amphibious humanoids (1954’s Creature From the Black Lagoon and 1961’s Creature From the Haunted Sea), killer rabbits (1972’s Night of the Lepus) and other beasts.

American Ninja Warrior: “Semifinals 1”
NBC, 8pm

Qualifying is over, and it’s time to step it up for the competition’s Semifinals. Competitors will face up to 10 daunting obstacles — including the head-spinning Corkscrew and mechanical Clockwork, which are new to the course this season — in addition to fan favorites such as the Salmon Ladder and the iconic Warped Wall. Notable competitors include Daniel Gil, Jesse Labreck, Sandy Zimmerman, Jody Avila and Grant McCartney.

The Zimmern List: “Louisville, KY”
Cooking Channel, 9pm

Andrew travels to Louisville, Kentucky, which boasts one of the most eclectic food scenes in the country. He digs into Southern favorites with an Asian twist, fried chicken served with a fiery sauce and comfort food for the modern era.

Love It or List It: “To Downsize or Not to Downsize”
HGTV, 9pm

Two empty nesters who fell in love with their property’s large, private lot are considering downsizing. She wants David to find them a townhouse closer to her work downtown, but he needs Hilary’s help to prove their current home can be a private oasis.

Emergency Call: “Close to Home”
ABC, 10pm

911 call takers are faced with a variety of local emergencies, including a badly injured teenaged girl whose description matches that of a fellow dispatcher’s daughter.

Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations: “El Paso”
Cooking Channel, 10pm

Andrew Zimmern is in El Paso, where Texas meets Mexico on the border as well as in the kitchen. The city is filled to the brim of its 10-gallon hat with Tex-Mex cuisine as well as Mexican classics. From traditional fajitas and menudo to rolled tacos and entomatadas, El Paso’s take on the enchilada, Andrew explores the restaurants and dishes that the locals love.

The Family Chantel
TLC, 10pm
Season Premiere!
Pedro and Chantel return, along with all of that family drama. The former 90 Day Fiancé and Happily Ever After? stars continue to take us inside their uniquely modern family that is getting bigger, feistier and more international than ever before on both sides of the aisle.

Tuesday, Oct. 13

Tremors
AMC, 6pm
Catch a Classic!

This 1990 cult classic airs as part of AMC’s FearFest October celebration, and it has lost none of its thrills, chills and good old-fashioned monster-movie charm even after 30 years and plenty of lesser sequels. Kevin Bacon leads a fun ensemble cast in this throwback creature feature about a small and remote desert town suddenly terrorized by giant, subterranean wormlike beasts that periodically break through the surface to eat people.

NFL Football: Buffalo Bills at Tennessee Titans
CBS, 7pm Live

Tuesday night football? Due to positive COVID-19 tests, the Week 5 Buffalo Bills at Tennessee Titans game was pushed back to Tuesday night on CBS.

The Bachelorette
ABC, 8pm
Season Premiere!

Clare Crawley embarks on her journey to find her soulmate when Season 16 kicks off on a new night. Thirty-one men from across the nation look forward to an opportunity to meet this stunning hairdresser.

Cosmos: Possible Worlds: “The Cosmic Connectome”
FOX, 8pm

In the episode “The Cosmic Connectome,” embark on a voyage of discovery through the evolution of consciousness with stops in ancient Greece and a visit to the largest life form on Earth.

Finding Your Roots: “Fashion’s Roots”
PBS, 8pm

Henry Louis Gates Jr. steps into the world of fashion and meets three icons of style: Diane von Furstenberg, Narciso Rodriguez and RuPaul Charles, introducing ancestors who were just as audacious as they are.

Tell Me a Story
The CW, 9pm
Season Premiere!

The second season of the series featuring reimagined fairy tales begins tonight. This season features the stories of three legendary princesses: Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty like you’ve never seen them before.

neXt: “File #2”
FOX, 9pm

In the new episode “File #2,” the artificial superintelligence called neXt escapes the confines of Zava company’s servers, and FBI cybercrime expert Shea Salazar (Fernanda Andrade) assembles her team to find out where neXt is headed.

Windy City Rehab: “Alison’s Aftermath”
HGTV, 9pm

Designer Alison Victoria is hustling to defend her business and her reputation. This three-flat building has lots of potential. It’s located in the Ukrainian Village, one of Chicago’s hottest neighborhoods, and Alison is excited for this new challenge of figuring out how to make each of the units unique and luxurious in their own way. With her business experiencing pressure from all angles, can Alison keep everything from falling apart?

Driving While Black
PBS, 9pm

Discover how the advent of the automobile brought new freedoms and new perils for African Americans on the road in this deep look into the dynamics of race, space and mobility in America over time.

Wednesday, Oct. 14

BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky
Netflix
This documentary about the band BLACKPINK depicts the highs and lows of being a K-pop idol group. The film interweaves exclusive interviews with never-before-seen footage of BLACKPINK members Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa, from their trainee days to the global sensations they are today. Viewers will get a first look into the recording process of the band’s follow-up album.

2020 Billboard Music Awards
NBC, 8pm Live

This year’s Billboard Music Awards had originally been scheduled to air live from Las Vegas back in April, but the ceremony was postponed due to the pandemic. NBC does plan to air the awards live this month, but at presstime details on the production (which we assume will be done virtually somehow) had not been announced. We do know that Kelly Clarkson will return to host the event for the third time.

American Wild Seasons
Smithsonian Channel, 8pm

Winter is the ultimate challenge. As temperatures plunge, monarch butterflies and humpback whales flee to Californian and Hawaiian climes. Those staying home face brutal cold and scarcity. In Wisconsin, great horned owls hunt voles tunneling beneath snow, while Michigan river otters maintain openings in the ice to keep fishing. In Wyoming, American Bison snowplow to grasses beside warm thermal rivers where superbly adapted American dippers fly-dive underwater.

Presidential Biopics
TCM, beginning at 8pm
Catch a Classic!

There are still a few weeks to go until we know whether we’ll have a new president or keep the same one, but while you wait, you can enjoy an evening of classic biographical films that hail former commanders-in-chief with stories about their pre-presidency lives. Watch Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940), with Best Actor Oscar nominee Raymond Massey in the title role; Sunrise at Campobello (1960), with Ralph Bellamy as Franklin D. Roosevelt; PT 109 (1963), with Cliff Robertson as World War II-era John F. Kennedy; and 1776 (1972), the musical about the Founding Fathers, a few of whom later became presidents.

Sistas
BET, 9pm
Season Premiere!

Tyler Perry’s hourlong comedy drama about women navigating life in their 30s returns for Season 2. This season, actors Trinity Whiteside and Crystal Hayslett have been upped to series regulars, and Chris Warren joins as a recurring cast member.

The Amazing Race
CBS, 9pm
Season Premiere!

Eleven new teams begin their globe-trotting quest for a $1 million prize at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, then speed off to places like France, Germany, Kazakhstan, Brazil, and Trinidad and Tobago. Phil Keoghan returns as host.

Brother vs. Brother: “And the Winner Is…”
HGTV, 9pm

As the competition draws to a close, Drew and Jonathan face one final challenge — the outdoor space renovation. The clock ticks down as the guys race to add curb appeal, outdoor dining areas and relaxing spaces that maximize the beautiful Los Angeles weather. The home with the highest increase in the value will determine the ultimate winner of the competition series.

NOVA: “Nature’s Fear Factor”
PBS, 9pm

When top predators disappeared from Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park, other animals fell into unusual patterns. Now scientists are reintroducing wild dogs to restore the park’s “landscape of fear” and with it the natural balance of the ecosystem.

The Age of Nature
PBS, 10pm
New Series!
Explore humanity’s relationship with nature and wildlife, as scientists and conservationists from all over the world examine ways we can restore our planet. In the first episode, “Awakening,” discover how a new awareness of nature is helping to restore ecosystems from Panama to China to Mozambique. See how innovative actions are being taken to repair man-made damage and restore reefs, rivers, animal populations and more.

Baroness von Sketch Show
IFC, 12am (late-night)
Season Premiere!

The critically acclaimed all-female Canadian sketch comedy series returns for a fifth and final season. The troupe continues its exploration of the angst and absurdity of modern life, delivering their observations in bite-sized nuggets of fun.

Thursday, Oct. 15

Star Trek: Discovery
CBS All Access
Season Premiere!

After following Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) into the wormhole in the second season finale, Season 3 finds the crew of the USS Discovery landing in an unknown future far from the home they once knew. Now living in a time filled with uncertainty, the Discovery crew, along with the help of some new friends, must work together to restore hope to the Federation.

TCM Birthday Tribute: Mervyn LeRoy
TCM, beginning at 6am
Catch a Classic!

On the 120th anniversary of his birth (born Oct. 15, 1900), film director/producer Mervyn LeRoy is celebrated with a 14-hour marathon of some of his memorable films. Check out classics like Random Harvest (1942), for which LeRoy received a Best Director Oscar nomination; The Bad Seed (1956); They Won’t Forget (1937); Sweet Adeline (1934); and more.

Flip or Flop: “Back House Flip”
HGTV, 9pm

Tarek and Christina find a small house in Lakewood, California, to flip quickly. But when they discover an unpermitted addition, they are faced with a dilemma of bringing the addition up to code or tearing down the nicest part of the house.

My Feet Are Killing Me: First Steps: “A Foot Like a Fist”
TLC, 10:30pm

Dr. Ebonie takes on the challenge of stay-at-home mom Emily, whose feet are so deformed her toes nearly touch her heels. Born with spina bifida, her toes are so turned she actually walks on top of her pinky toes with every step.

Impractical Jokers: Dinner Party
truTV, 10pm
New Episodes!

Joe, Murr, Q and Sal are back with new meals and new guests. Cable’s No. 1 new unscripted comedy series returns to truTV with 10 new celebrity-packed episodes. Each week, the lifelong buddies invite viewers back to their dinner tables where they safely, and hilariously, sit down to break bread from their respective homes. New dinner guests include Wayne Brady, Edie Falco, Kane Hodder, Colin Jost and DJ Marshmello, as well as a reunion with their Impractical Jokers: The Movie costar Paula Abdul, among others.

Friday, Oct. 16

Grand Army
Netflix
New Series!

This series follows five students at the largest public high school in Brooklyn who are taking on our chaotic world as they fight to succeed, survive, wild out, break free and seize the future.

The Trial of the Chicago 7
Netflix
Original Film!

Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Jeremy Strong, Mark Rylance, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, William Hurt, Michael Keaton, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Frank Langella star in writer/director Aaron Sorkin’s (The West Wing) film that dramatizes events that occurred at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, when what was meant as a peaceful protest turned into a violent clash with police and the National Guard.

Shark Tank
ABC, 8pm
Season Premiere!
The Sharks are back for a 12th season of giving people from all walks of life the chance to chase the American dream and potentially secure business deals that could make these entrepreneurs into millionaires.

Fright Favorites: “Horror Anthologies”
TCM, beginning at 8pm
Catch a Classic!
Long before the American Horror Story TV series, horror movies had a history of dabbling in the anthology format, telling several scary tales in one sitting. Tonight’s Fright Favorites lineup features three of the best. The evening fittingly begins with the granddaddy of horror anthologies — the truly nightmarish 1945 British classic Dead of Night. Also on the lineup are two terrific 1963 anthologies: Vincent Prince in Twice Told Tales, which adapts three gothic stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne; and Italian horror maestro Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath, which presents three terrifying tales introduced by Boris Karloff, with the second story also starring the legendary actor in one of his most chilling performances.

Selling the Big Easy
HGTV, 9pm

In “Neoclassical Revival vs. Bywater Beauty,” an engaged couple wants to sell their properties and buy their first home together. He wants an open concept layout with outdoor cooking space, and she loves old New Orleans architecture and wants something with an old-world feel and updated amenities. Then in “Madisonville Manor vs. Peaceful Palace,” a New Orleans couple is ready to upgrade their home for their family and wants to get the best bang for their buck, which means moving outside the city limits. He’s hoping for outdoor space while she wants an open floor plan that’s great for entertaining.

Great Performances: “Grammy Salute to Music Legends”
PBS, 9pm

Enjoy a starry tribute celebration of Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award winners featuring archival clips and acceptance remarks from the honorees and the artists they have influenced, including Chicago, Roberta Flack, Iggy Pop and more.

Saturday, Oct. 17

College Football: Georgia at Alabama
CBS, 8pm Live

A primetime SEC matchup on CBS has the Georgia Bulldogs on the road against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Tuscaloosa’s Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Help! I Wrecked My House: “The Toilet Is Still in the Hallway”
HGTV, 8pm

Martine and Scott recently moved into their midcentury fixer knowing it needed some work. With some past construction experience, Scott convinced Martine he could handle all the remodeling himself. Three months later, the work isn’t finished, and Martine is at her wit’s end. Jasmine rescues them by finishing their bathroom remodel, updating their kitchen and creating the cozy midcentury home that the couple craves.

Singin’ in the Rain
TCM, 8pm
Catch a Classic!
One of the most beloved movie musicals of all time, 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain remains an enjoyable and influential masterpiece nearly 70 years after its premiere. Set during the era when silent movies are giving way to talking pictures, the film follows a dancer turned matinee idol (Gene Kelly) who is caught in the bumpy transition along with his buddy (Golden Globe winner Donald O’Connor), a potential love interest (Debbie Reynolds) and a costar (Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee Jean Hagen). The cast is exceptional, but beyond the fun performances, it’s also worth continuing to marvel at the technical achievement of the film (which was co-directed and -choreographed by Kelly and Stanley Donen), which is especially evident during Kelly’s iconic sequence where he does, in fact, sing (and dance) in the rain.

Sweet Autumn
Hallmark Channel, 9pm
Original Film!
Maggie, a successful entrepreneur, returns home for a will reading and discovers she’s inherited half of her aunt’s famed maple candy business. What she doesn’t understand is why Aunt Dee’s maple supplier, Dex, inherited the other half. Through a series of letters Aunt Dee left, Maggie and Dex search for the reason behind her aunt’s final wishes. As she and Dex grow closer, Maggie must decide if the life she built is the one she wants. Nikki DeLoach, Andrew Walker and Henriette Ivanans star.

Ghost Nation: “Evil Ink”
Travel Channel, 9pm

Jason, Steve, Dave and Shari head to Deptford, New Jersey, to investigate a tattoo shop where disturbing apparitions, disembodied voices and even physical encounters are threatening the business.

Photo Ark
Nat Geo Wild, 10pm

In this two-part special concluding next Saturday, tag along with National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore on his quest to use the power of photography to inspire people to save species at risk by photographing every species living in the world’s zoos and wildlife sanctuaries. Sartore just recently documented the 10,000th species for the Photo Ark, and he’ll go to great lengths to photograph thousands more, even if it means braving the dense Amazon rainforest and the heights of the Colorado Rockies, or even following a giant armadillo into a bathroom!

Eli Roth’s History of Horror: “Monsters”
AMC, 10pm

Award-winning horror film director, writer, producer and actor Eli Roth explores the history of monster movies and the evolution of special effects technology. But, whatever their size or shape and whatever they represent, for many horror fans monsters are the best part of the genre.