Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET
MOVIE PREMIERE: Vince Gilligan both writes and directs this latest entry in the Breaking Bad franchise, which picks up exactly where we last saw Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman at the end of that superb AMC series. Now we get the next chapter in Jesse’s saga, as well as a flashback or two, all of which ends up being a wonderful new part of the canon, and provides several opportunities to re-encounter old characters and players. To say more would be wrong, but trust me: El Camino is every bit as satisfying as Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. For my full review on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, listen to the show today, or visit the Fresh Air website later this afternoon.
Nickelodeon, 7:00 p.m. ET
MINISERIES PREMIERE: Part 1. This three-part limited series reboots the beloved anthology horror franchise for kids for a new Nickelodeon generation, with an all-new storytelling Midnight Society. First up: a “Carnival of Doom” story, starring Rafael Casal as evil ringmaster Mr. Tophat. (A better name, I guess, than that given to the put-upon Vampire’s Apprentice protagonist, Count Turtopp. But I digress.)
TBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
Game 1 in the National League Championship Series is played tonight at 8 p.m. ET, with the Washington Nationals facing the St. Louis Cardinals. The winner of this series represents the National League in this year’s World Series, and both NL teams arrived at this point via a very dramatic path: Both the Nationals and Cardinals needed five games to win their best-of-five series, against, respectively, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves.
HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET
This week’s scheduled lineup sounds fascinating: Maher’s scheduled guests include MSNBC and The Circus contributor John Heilemann, Minnesota Sen. (and 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful) Amy Klobuchar… and Howard Stern. Wednesday night on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, Stern called his wife of 11 years, Beth Stern, on stage and proposed to her all over again. (She said yes.) What will he do here for an encore?