SoCal TV highlights, Oct. 15–21: 'Snow White,' Jim Brown, 'American Buffalo' and more
SoCal TV highlights, Oct. 15–21: 'Snow White,' Jim Brown, 'American Buffalo' and more
The buffalo roam again on PBS, a gridiron great is saluted on MGM+, a landmark animated film gets a new 4K restoration and much, much more
Oh, give me a home, with a flatscreen TV, where the films and the TV shows play… Hello and welcome to this week’s TV … or Not TV? roundup of new and noteworthy programming on broadcast, cable and streaming TV. I’m Matt Cooper, former listings coordinator for the Los Angeles Times’ Calendar section. You herd it here first…
SUNDAY — Oct. 15
A young girl and others refugees from war-torn Ukraine find shelter and succor at “Camp Courage” in the Austrian Alps in this new 30-minute documentary short. Anytime, Netflix
The brain-bending animated sci-fi series “Pantheon” uploads a second season. With Katie Chang and “Lost’s” Daniel Dae Kim. Anytime, Prime Video
A sorority gal’s pet sloth goes on a slow-motion killing spree in the totes cheese-balls 2023 horror comedy “Slotherhouse.” Anytime, Hulu
The Las Vegas Aces face the New York Liberty as the WNBA Finals continue with Game 3. Noon ABC; also 5 p.m. Wednesday and 6 p.m. Friday, ESPN (if necessary)
Play ball! The Rangers and the Astros meet in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. 5 p.m. Fox; also 1:30 p.m. Monday, Fox, FS1; 5 p.m. Wednesday-Friday (if necessary), FS1
Natascha McElhone returns as proprietress of the “Hotel Portofino” in a second season of this romantic drama set in post-WWI Italy. 8 p.m. KOCE
They’re letting it all hang out in new episodes of the outdoor survival series “Naked and Afraid.” 8 p.m. Discovery Channel
The verdict is in in the stunning conclusion of the two-part, fact-based thriller “Murdaugh Murders: The Movie.” With Bill Pullman. 8 p.m. Lifetime
Me and “Billy the Kid,” we never got along. This drama about the notorious Old West outlaw is back for Season 2. Tom Blyth stars. 8 p.m. MGM+
The WWII-themed drama “World on Fire” returns for a second season on “Masterpiece.” With “Harlot’s” Lesley Manville. 9 p.m. KOCE
Dial “Z” for “zombie”! The horror-franchise entry “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon” ends its freshman season. Norman Reedus stars. 9 p.m. AMC
The Canada-set period drama “When Calls the Heart” concludes its 10th season, eh. Erin Krakow stars. 9 p.m. Hallmark Channel
Just when you think you’ve got all the kids’ toys put away, the docuseries “The Toys that Built America” returns with new episodes. 9 p.m. History Channel
“Annika” is back on the case in new episodes of this detective drama set in Glasgow. Nicola Walker stars. 10 p.m. KOCE
Wubba lubba what now? The animated sci-fi comedy “Rick & Morty” returns sans series co-creator and original lead voice actor Justin Roiland. 11 p.m. Adult Swim
MONDAY — Oct. 16
Whistle while you watch a brand spanking new 4K restoration of Walt Disney’s classic 1937 animated musical “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Anytime, Disney+
Hell hath no fury like a newbie EMT being menaced by a masked killer in the 2023 terror tale “Vindicta.” With Elena Kampouris. Anytime, Paramount+
The Diamondbacks face the Phillies or the Braves in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. 5 p.m. TBS; also 5 p.m. Tuesday; 2 p.m. Thursday; 5 p.m. Friday-Saturday (if necessary)
Ken Burns’ new two-night documentary “The American Buffalo” is a bison-tennial celebration of the iconic bovine that once populated the Great Plains in numbers untold. 8 p.m. KOCE; concludes Tuesday
Anything to declare? They’re going to find it either way in Season 2 of the docuseries “Contraband: Seized at the Border.” 9 p.m. Discovery Channel
Comic and correspondent Michael Kosta gets to sit in the big-boy chair as this week’s guest host on “The Daily Show.” 11 p.m. Comedy Central
TUESDAY — Oct. 17
The new two-part docuseries “Crush” recalls the tragedy that claimed the lives of scores of Halloween revelers in Seoul, South Korea in 2022. Anytime, Paramount+
A purported case of demonic possession is probed in “The Devil on Trial,” a new documentary from “Hillside Strangler” filmmaker Chris Holt. Anytime, Netflix
The new standup special “Heather McMahan: Son I Never Had” catches the comedienne cracking wise for fans in Lexington, Ky. Anytime, Netflix
Sucks to be her! A young teen has more to worry about than boys, blemishes and middle school in the new fantasy comedy “I Woke Up a Vampire.” Kaileen Chang stars. Anytime, Netflix
Whither Paul Lynde? Tiffany Haddish and Taye Diggs are among the famous faces featured in the new game show reboot “Celebrity Squares.” 8 and 8:30 p.m. VH1
It’s back to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. for a fifth season of Tyler Perry’s D.C.-set drama “The Oval.” 9 p.m. BET
Take a ride-along with rookie officers tasked with patrolling the vast Navajo Nation in the three-part doc “Navajo Police: Class 57.” 9 and 10 p.m. HBO; concludes 9 p.m. Wednesday
Reality TV stars are abducted and put through their paces by a pair of deranged superfans in the new TV-movie spoof “Binged to Death.” With Loni Love. 9 p.m. MTV
The late, great Robin Williams, who died in 2014, is remembered in the Season 2 premiere of the docuseries “Dark Side of Comedy.” 10 p.m. Vice
WEDNESDAY — Oct. 18
They’re here, they’re queer, and they ain’t afraid of no ghost in the new LGBTQ-friendly paranormal series “Living for the Dead.” “Twilight’s” Kristen Stewart narrates. Anytime, Hulu
Meet a man who pals around with the darndest duck-billed mammal you ever did see in “The Platypus Guardian” on the season premiere of “Nature.” 8 p.m. KOCE
These newlyweds are off to a rocky start when “Married at First Sight” returns for an all-new season set in Colorado. 8 p.m. Lifetime
Efforts to being more students of color into UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television in the aftermath of the 1965 Watts Uprising are revisited in “L.A. Rebellion: A Cinematic Movement” on a new “Artbound.” 9 p.m. KCET
The “Nova” miniseries “Ancient Earth” explores how a once-barren rock became the lush and hospitable planet we call home in the new episode “Life Rising.” 9 p.m. KOCE
They started it, but “Ms. Pat Settles It” in this new courtroom show featuring the comic and podcaster and her family and friends. 10 and 10:30 p.m. BET
There’s bones in them thar hills as “Secrets of the Dead” examines the brisk trade in dinosaur fossils in the new episode “Jurassic Fortunes.” 10 p.m. KOCE
THURSDAY — Oct. 19
Detectives past, present and future try to solve the exact same murder in the new decades-spanning sci-fi mystery drama “Bodies.” With “Boiling Point’s” Stephen Graham. Anytime, Netflix
An Air Force veteran battles cancer and lives to tell the tale in the new fact-based TV movie “God’s Grace: The Sheila Johnson Story.” With Demetria McKinney. Anytime, BET+
An aspiring reggaeton star gets by with a little help from his friends in the new Miami-set musical drama “Neon.” With Tyler Dean Flores. Anytime, Netflix
Prokofiev’s musical fable “Peter & the Wolf” gets an animated update courtesy of U2’s Bono and the Virgin Prunes’ Gavin Friday. Anytime, Max
The crew of a starship find themselves marooned on a fantastic planet — and then things get weird — in the new adult animated sci-fi series “Scavengers Reign.” Anytime, Max
And her hair was perfect! Isla Fisher is back in new episodes of the horror comedy “Wolf Like Me.” Josh Gad also stars. Anytime, Peacock
FRIDAY — Oct. 20
Our young heroes continue to suffer the indignities of adolescence in new episodes of the adult animated comedy “Big Mouth.” Anytime, Netflix
Crime novelist Michael Connelly’s intrepid LAPD detective turned P.I. returns in Season 2 of the spinoff series “Bosch: Legacy.” Titus Welliver stars. Anytime, Freevee
Pass the Advil, please: Bill Burr, Bobby Cannavale and Bokeem Woodbine play “Old Dads” in this 2023 comedy directed by Burr himself. Anytime, Netflix
Errol Morris has ways of making John le Carré talk when the filmmaker interviews the former British spy turned bestselling author in the intimate 2023 profile “The Pigeon Tunnel.” Anytime, Apple TV+
Release the teen kraken! “To All the Boys’” Lana Condor lends her voice to the computer-animated 2023 fantasy tale “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.” Anytime, Peacock
“We shall not be moved” declares a Black family in North Carolina standing up to greedy developers in acclaimed filmmaker Raoul Peck’s 2023 documentary “Silver Dollar Road.” Anytime, Prime Video
Hey, you, get off of my cloud! The futuristic comedy “Upload” starring Robbie Amell uploads a third season. Anytime, Prime Video
Sure, you’ve seen “Werewolf by Night.” But have you seen “Werewolf by Night in Color”? Michael Giacchino’s black-and-white 2022 special returns, colorized. Gael García Bernal stars. Anytime, Hulu, Disney+
Double your pleasure with a creepy double feature as “The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs” presents its annual live Halloween special. 6 p.m. Shudder TV, AMC+
A real estate agent hooks up with a hunky hockey player as the annual onslaught of holiday romances commences anew with the TV movie “Checkin’ It Twice.” 8 p.m. Hallmark Channel
Native American artists including R&B singer Martha Redbone take it to the stage in “Embracing Duality: Modern Indigenous Cultures” on a new “Next at the Kennedy Center.” 9 p.m. KOCE
“Kajillionaire” filmmaker Miranda July is among the creative types featured on a new installment of “Art in the Twenty-First Century.” 10 p.m. KOCE
SATURDAY — Oct. 21
The latest iteration of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo is among the myriad performers slated for the “iHeartRadio Fiesta Latina” streaming live from Miami. 5 p.m. Hulu
“Where Are You, Christmas?” says a lonely girl living in a black-and-white world in this new TV movie. “Nikita’s” Lyndsy Fonseca stars. 8 p.m. Hallmark Channel
“The Goldbergs’” Wendi McLendon-Covey portrays a corrections officer who falls for the wrong inmate in the new fact-based TV movie “Bad Romance: The Vicky White Story.” 8 p.m. Lifetime
Puerto Rican rapper, singer and actor Bad Bunny hops to it as both host and musical guest on a new “Saturday Night Live.” 8:29 and 11:29 p.m. NBC
Legendary running back, actor and activist Jim Brown, who died in May, is remembered on the Season 3 premiere of “NFL Icons.” 10 p.m. MGM+
L.A.-based singer-songwriter-violinist Sudan Archives and rapper Lil Yachty perform on a new “Austin City Limits.” 11 p.m. KOCE
(All times Pacific; programming subject to change without notice)