Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET
SERIES PREMIERE: Nicolas Cage, acting like a sort of foul-mouthed Alistair Cooke, narrates this nonfiction series, each episode of which is devoted to a separate obscene word. There are a few facts that make this etymological excursion interesting, but not enough of a clever approach to make it a truly instructional and entertaining viewing experience. Try out the opening installment on scatology, for example, and see how much it appeals to you. Especially if you don’t know sh*t.
Various Networks, 7:00 p.m. ET
I usually really look forward to, and enjoy, TV programs in which I have absolutely no idea, and no confident way of predicting, what will happen next. But with this Georgia dual senatorial runoff, especially after last weekend’s Donald Trump phone recording and last night’s Trump “campaign” appearance, to say it’s going to be an unpredictable viewing experience is to understate the obvious. And for almost precisely half of us, it’ll be show with a devastating – or glorious – finale. Watch from your favorite news source or network… but please, just for harmony’s sake, also tune in to a source you don’t normally watch, just to see how that network reports the identical events. I promise, either way, it’ll be eye-opening.
NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: Is it just me, or has this already impressive and inventive musical drama gotten even more poignant and potent in its post-COVID return? Okay, so it could just be me. But I don’t think so. Zoey, played so perfectly and artfully by Jane Levy, returns for Season 2 trying to deal with her own drama, trauma, and isolation – and almost everyone around her is dealing with challenging problems of his or her own. I’d forgotten how much this series, with its musical interruptions prompted by Zoey’s “gift” of interior, intuitive musical fantasies, gets to the core of real emotions and issues. After previewing tonight’s season-opening premiere, I doubt I’ll ever forget again.
For a full review, see Mike Hughes' Open Mike.
NBC, 9:00 p.m. ET
Four episodes of this series’ Season 5 were broadcast last fall, but there hasn’t been a new installment of This Is Us since last November. But here, finally, is the first fresh outing of 2021, called “A Long Road Home.” And it has been, for all of us watching all of Us.