TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
Tonight’s TCM Warren Beatty showcase is merely a double feature, but what a twofer. It starts at 8 p.m. ET with 1978’s Heaven Can Wait, Beatty’s witty remake of 1941’s Here Comes Mr. Jordan. And that’s followed, at 10 p.m. ET, by 1981’s Reds. In both films, Beatty not only starred, but directed. Reds (pictured here) co-stars Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson, is rarely shown on television, and ought to be pounced on here, when the three-hour-plus movie about the Communist movement in both Russia and the United States is presented both uninterrupted and unedited.
ABC, 9:00 p.m. ET
This series’ executive producers include Christopher Lloyd (the writer-producer, not the actor) and Steven Levitan, both of whom did brilliant work crafting Frasier, starring Kelsey Grammer in his impeccable Cheers spinoff. Tonight, Modern Family makes room for Grammer as a special guest star, playing an old boyfriend of Cam’s – a former circus ringmaster and now concierge.
Fox, 9:01 p.m. ET
The premiere episode of Star, the new series from Empire creator Lee Daniels, has been shown a couple of times since December on Fox, and tonight the show snuggles into its regular night and time slot, and finally presents its second episode. Along for the ride: Empire diva Naomi Campbell, here playing the wife of the opportunistic music producer played by Lenny Kravitz.
FXX, 10:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: This series that won’t quit keeps going, and begins Season 12 with the confidence and fearlessness of a show that has outlasted almost all TV series around it. That makes for a somewhat mixed bag in tonight’s opener, which has the gang – played by Charlie Day, Kaitlin Olson, Danny DeVito, Rob McElhenney and Glenn Howerton – magically becoming black. Which, in this series, means alter egos of different color, and a constant desire to slip into song and turn this episode into a musical. I’m not saying I was entertained by it, but you sure have to give them credit for being out there…
FXX, 10:32 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: This series, on the other hand, takes its audaciousness and does wonderful, unexpected things with it. This season, in the opening moments of tonight’s Season 3 kickoff, Katie Findlay is introduced, and established, as Lucy, the new woman in the life of sad-sack Josh (Jay Baruchel). Yet in a departure for this show, she’s holding her ground and sticking around – and tonight’s season opener, in which Josh’s encroachment into her apartment has her roommates welcoming him about as warmly as Donald Trump spoke of Mexican immigrants during his presidential campaign, takes that metaphor and runs with it, very cleverly.