CW, 8:00 p.m. ET
SEASON RETURN: This indefatigable CW series, which began as a WB series way, way back in 2005, had its final Season 15 run cut short, with seven episodes yet to be televised. They finally start showing up tonight, with the expanded series finale scheduled for next month. And if you don’t remember, back when the CW broadcast the previous episode of Supernatural, what the hell the Winchester brothers were up to, don’t feel bad. Neither do I. But I do remember that, in their case, the phrase “what the hell” is anything but apocryphal. Neither, for that matter, is the word “apocryphal.”
NBC, 8:30 p.m. ET
SPECIAL: Here’s a newly added highlight for tonight. NBC has made room for a live prime-time special: Seth Meyers: Closer Look, based on his smart and sharp topical news monologues on Late Night with Seth Meyers. And since Meyers is performing live, he will be able to react to the very latest current events, and there have been a lot of them in the last week or so alone. Revelations about President Donald Trump’s meager federal tax payments. Trump’s interruptathon during his first televised presidential debate with Joe Biden. More than 20 members of the White House inner circle, including the president himself, contracting COVID-19. Trump being hospitalized. Trump leaving the hospital temporarily to wave from his car to supporters gathered outside. Trump returning to the White House, declaring himself cured, but gasping for breath after ascending the White House balcony steps. Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris debating on national TV last night. And already today, plans for a second presidential debate are revised to make them a remotely, separately televised event between the two candidates – which Trump already has said he intends to boycott, and perhaps stage one of his rallies instead. That’s all in about a week, and Meyers will be able to take aim at all of it. How time flies. And speaking of flies…
CBS, 10:00 p.m. ET
This series is a couple of years old now, and previously was streamed exclusively on CBS All Access. But now, with the pandemic continuing and few current drama series in production, the inventory of already produced streaming shows from CBS All Access suddenly looks very attractive to CBS, the major network, as a source of programming that is “new” to most Americans, who neglected to pony up for the CBS All Access monthly fees. Tonight is the episode in which the setting of Star Trek: Discovery is revealed to be something other than what viewers, and this show’s protagonist, had presumed. And it’s a revelation that calls back plots and premises from the original Star Trek series, and almost every Star Trek spinoff since – so it’s no mirror coincidence.