CBS, 9:30 a.m. ET
Pro football starts very early today, at least on this continent. The 2-1 New York Jets are playing the 1-2 Miami Dolphins in Wembley Stadium in London – and with the time zone difference, that afternoon game in England is televised on the USA’s East Coast at 9:30 a.m. And while I’m a lifelong, die-hard Dolphins fan, I have an awful feeling that today, it’s the Dolphins who will die hard.
CBS, 9:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: What a strong way to start a new season. Alicia (Julianna Margulies), unfairly tainted by a political scandal, has dropped out of the State Attorney race and been forced to start over – not at either of her former law firms, but all on her own, working cases at the bottom of the Illinois legal food chain. Meanwhile, estranged husband Peter (Chris Noth) is as up as Alicia is down, and is positioned to run for an even higher political office. And that allows room for yet another advisor, played by the scene-stealing Justified and The Americans Emmy-winner Margo Martindale. And speaking of scene-stealers: also appearing in this Season 7 opener: Recurring player Michael J. Fox and new cast addition Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Everybody’s wonderful, Alan Cumming’s Eli is superheated, and Margulies, as a put-upon but doggedly determined Alicia, is terrific.
AMC, 9:00 p.m. ET
SEASON FINALE: The central family has been torn apart in this series – not by zombies (not yet, anyway), but by outside forces, and everything’s getting tougher. One family member has been put down, like the rabid dog in Old Yeller, rather than become a danger to others. Yet many, many dangers exist, especially outside the immediate neighborhood. And since this is the final episode before this spinoff series goes on hiatus, expect a bloody good cliffhanger.
HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: I stopped watching this series midway through Season 1, even though one of its episodes, a self-contained intense little drama, was impressive indeed. But I just didn’t get the point of what seemed to be all the intentional pointlessness. Advance reviews for Season 2, which resets the drama in a new location, a small town in Texas, are good, and even go so far as to say that even if you disliked last season, you should return to try this new one. (Remember that when you’re looking for promo slogans next year, True Detective.) I’m not so easily sold, or swayed, but I’ll try.
Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: Like many of Sunday’s returning TV series, Homeland is giving itself a significant makeover. For Season 5, Homeland jumps ahead in its story line two full years, and follows Carrie (Claire Danes) once she’s moved to Berlin and built a cozy little domestic nest for her daughter. But current events soon encircle Carrie and place her in the middle of a new terrorist investigation – and working with, or against, such former colleagues as Quinn (Rupert Friend) and Saul (Mandy Patinkin).
Showtime, 10:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: For Season 2, The Affair is doubling down. Last season, this drama, which demands that you watch closely in order to note all its subtle shifts in perspective, presented the same love affair and mystery story from twin points of view: Noah (Dominic West), the married author who initiates an illicit affair with a local married waitress, and that waitress, Alison (Ruth Wilson), who sometimes recalls the same events very, or slightly differently, than her lover. This season, those two characters are together, having split up with their respective spouses – but this year, those spouses, Noah’s soon-to-be-ex-wife Helen (Maura Tierney) and Alison’s jealous ex-husband Cole (Joshua Jackson), get their own point-of-view story segments as well. We don’t watch each scene played four times with different attitudes and wardrobes, though: For Season 2, there’s a lot less narrative overlap, but more stories and secrets revealed over all. And Richard Schiff from The West Wing, joining the cast as the lawyer hired to defend Noah on charges of vehicular manslaughter, is a perfect addition to this drama, right from his very first scene.
