Disney+, 3:00 a.m. ET
SERIES PREMIERE: The story of the space race, and the United States’ selection, training and employment of our country’s first astronauts, is an exciting and engrossing one. It’s been told, brilliantly, twice – first in the movies in the 1983 movie The Right Stuff, based on the nonfiction book by Tom Wolfe, and then on TV in the equally excellent HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon in 1998. It’s been told somewhat less impressively, and on an obviously smaller scale and budget, by ABC’s The Astronaut Wives Club in 2015 – and, starting today, by this new The Right Stuff miniseries, presented by Disney+ and starring Patrick J. Adams as John Glenn, Jake McDorman as Alan Shepard, and Colin O’Donoghue as Gordon Cooper. If you’ve seen the original movie adaptation of The Right Stuff, and watched the HBO series from Tom Hanks and company, then by all means, dive into this new miniseries. Otherwise, start there first.
PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET
PBS is repeating this 2010 documentary about John Lennon’s years in New York City tonight -and with good reason Today, October 9, marks the 80th anniversary of Lennon’s birth, in Liverpool in 1940. Check local listings.
HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET
Last week, Maher took the week off. But tonight, he’s back – and boy, does he have a lot of ground to make up… tax scandals, a presidential case of COVID-19, two debates, and President Trump’s hospital stay and release.
BBC America, 11:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: This is the official Season 28 season premiere of The Graham Norton Show, and his guests for this edition include Dolly Parton. Norton always elicits quirky, and very interesting, things from his guests, and Parton has visited his show enough times to come ready to play. And this time, she plays her fingernails – using them to tap out a handy version of the 9 to 5 theme. How talon-ted is that?