The roll-out of new programming slows down this week to allow the presidential candidates to square off Monday, and last week's newly arrived programs to have a second episode on the other days.
Before Monday's debate, all-new slates arrive today on CBS, Fox and ABC. See today's TV Week insert cover story for all the details on Fox. Here's what's in store for ABC and CBS.
ABC:
• Once Upon a Time, 6 p.m. I highly recommend you attend this special hour-long remedial class ahead of the Season 6 premiere at 7. The series lost me in Season 4 when it became an infomercial for Frozen. After that, I couldn't follow everybody without a scorecard.
This special retrospective, "Once Upon a Time: Evil Reigns Once More," will catch viewers up on the past five seasons. All I know is that Jennifer Morrison is still playing Emma Swan, the daughter of Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas). I've loved Morrison since she was on House.
• Once Upon a Time, 7 p.m. The Season 6 opener, "The Savior," finds our heroes out to stop Mr. Hyde (Sam Witwer), refugees arriving from the Land of Untold Stories and Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle) asking a stranger to help free Belle (Emilie de Ravin) from the sleeping curse.
• Secrets and Lies, 8 p.m. Full disclosure: I never watched this anthology crime series beyond the pilot last season. Now Season 2 has arrived and you're on your own on whether this one will be worth your time.
The second season follows the Warner family of North Carolina. There's a murder and Juliette Lewis is back as Detective Andrea Cornell to solve the case.
Also on board are Terry O'Quinn, Kenny Johnson, Jordana Brewster and Michael Ealy.
• Quantico, 9 p.m. This is another series that I started and lost interest in after eight or nine episodes. I believe the rest of the season backed up on the DVR until one day I hit "erase" about 15 times.
Well worth the price of admission, however, is Priyanka Chopra as Alex Parrish. In the first season she was in a class of young FBI recruits and eventually was suspected of blowing up New York's Grand Central Station.
She didn't do it, but she was framed and it took all season to prove it.
In the second season, Alex has left the FBI and has been recruited by the CIA. In tonight's episode, "Kudove," Alex is at "a mysterious CIA training facility" when she "becomes caught at the center of a conspiracy that threatens lives across the globe."
Left the FBI? Shouldn't the series change its name to Langley?
CBS:
• 60 Minutes, 6:30 p.m. It's hard to believe, but the venerable news magazine has been on the air since Sept. 24, 1968. From 1991 to 1994, it was TV's No. 1-ranked program.
Last season, the show was No. 17 and averaged around 11.8 million viewers. It frequently broke into the Top 10. This is in spite of the fact that the bulk of the show's primary correspondents are also senior citizens. There's something to be said for experience: Steve Kroft, 71; Lesley Stahl, 74; Scott Pelley, 59; and Bill Whitaker, 65. Lara Logan is the kid on the crew at 45.
• NCIS: Los Angeles, 7:30-9:30 p.m. This is a special double episode because CBS is premiering Season 8 of the series a week earlier than planned.
Why? CBS's marathon six-hour JonBenet Ramsey documentary was cut back to four hours, leaving a big hole tonight.
The series, the first spin-off from NCIS (still TV's top drama), features Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J heading the ensemble of crime busters at the Office of Special Projects in L.A.
In tonight's episodes, "High Value Target" and "Belly of the Beast," the team is being carefully monitored because of a mole, and there's an important case involving a Syrian terrorist.
DEBATE
Monday's debate is the first of three planned presidential face-offs between Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican hopeful Donald Trump. If you hate politics or already have your mind made up, it'll be hard to avoid the thing Monday. You could watch just to see if Trump will implode or if Clinton will faint.
NBC's Lester Holt moderates the live 90-minute event from Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. Add post-debate commentary and it'll air from 8 to 10 p.m. on PBS, ABC, CBS, NBC and CSPAN. It will air from 8 to 9:30 p.m. on Fox, CNBC, CNN and Fox News. CNN will repeat the debate from 11:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.
The second debate is Oct. 9; Round 3 is Oct. 19.
The vice presidential candidates (quick -- can you name them?) debate Oct. 4.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 09/25/2016