Fox, 8:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: This is the Season 12 opener for Idol, which tries to keep itself vibrant by introducing new judges (Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban, along with the show’s last surviving original judge, Randy Jackson) and, of course, new controversies. This year, the buzz is supposed to be that the ladies really don’t get along – but the real drama, for this show, would be if there were no offstage drama to hype interest.
ABC, 9:00 p.m. ET
In tonight’s new episode, Gloria and Jay – mostly Gloria (Sofia Vergara) – throw Manny a surprise party for his 12th birthday. What could go wrong? A lot, on this show. And it will.
Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET
Are you kidding? After last weekend’s postseason games – two of them, anyway – Wednesday-night quarterbacking with this gang will be as much fun as looking forward to this weekend’s games.
ABC, 10:00 p.m. ET
Juliette (Hayden Panettiere) and Rayna (Connie Britton) prepare to perform their first joint arena concert – but first, there’s some publicity to do (pictured). And, behind the scenes, some papers to serve.
FX, 10:00 p.m. ET
You might have thought – I certainly did – that the rebooted Season 2 of this series was about as strange as it could get, what with its odd assortment of Nazis, alien visitations, satanic possessions and serial-killing Santas. But last week, after a cruelly administered mega-dose of electroshock therapy, Judy (Jessica Lange) reacted to the playing of the record “The Name Game” in the ward by hallucinating a happy hullabaloo, leading the other patients in a merry song and dance sequence. How Singing Detective can you get? And this week, with the series about to end, what’s next? And who’s still alive? Only one thing is for sure: Anything can happen. Anything.