SoCal TV, Oct. 27-Nov. 2: The World Series, UFOs, Martha Stewart and more
TV shows, movies, sports and specials on broadcast, cable and streaming this coming week
Welcome to an all-new TV or Not TV roundup of new and noteworthy programming on broadcast, cable and streaming this coming week. I’m Matt Cooper, former listings coordinator for the Los Angeles Times’ Calendar.
Sunday — Oct. 27
Rawr! Zoe Saldaña is back in action for a second season of the espionage drama “Special Ops: Lioness.” With Morgan Freeman and Nicole Kidman. Anytime, Paramount+; 8 p.m. Monday, Showtime
Investigators open their case files to pick apart murderers’ elaborate schemes for revenge in the new true-crime series “A Plan to Kill.” 7 p.m. Oxygen
When off-the-grid living turns out to be harder than it looks, it’s “Homestead Rescue” to the rescue in new episodes of the unscripted series. 8 p.m. Discovery Channel
A Chicago woman reconnects with a hunky former theater school rival while working at a catering company over the holidays in the new TV movie “The 5-Year Christmas Party.” With Katie Findlay. 8 p.m. Hallmark Channel
Love means never having to say “Don’t Scream, It’s Me.” A married woman is confronted by her ex-boyfriend, recently escaped from prison, in this new thriller. With Kaylah Zander. 8 p.m. Lifetime
Three British women of a certain age do a bit of amateur sleuthing in the new mystery drama “The Marlow Murder Club” based on the Robert Thorogood novel. With Judith Potts. 9 p.m. KOCE
The new documentary “Chris Brown: A History of Violence” examines the allegations of partner abuse and sexual assault made against the chart-topping R&B star. 9 p.m. Investigation Discovery
The truth is out there — and it may prove stranger than fiction — in the new paranormal investigation series “Beyond: UFOs and the Unknown.” 10 p.m. MGM+
Return with us now to Manhattan, Kansas as the comedy drama “Somebody Somewhere” kicks off its third and final season. With Bridget Everett. 10:30 p.m. HBO
Monday — Oct. 28
A struggling stand-up comic (Bobby Cannavale) and his young autistic son take a cross-country road trip in the poignant 2024 drama “Ezra.” Rose Byrne and Robert De Niro also star. Anytime, Paramount+
Your Los Angeles Dodgers battle the New York Yankees in Games 3 and 4 — and 5, 6 and 7, if necessary — of the 2024 World Series. 5 p.m. Fox; also Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday
Kids make the darndest political choices in a new edition of the quadrennial Nick News election-year special “Kids Pick the President.” 8 p.m. Nickelodeon
You won’t learn about what your favorite celebrities are up to — unless they’re up to no good, that is — in new episodes of the true crime series “People Magazine Investigates.” 9 and 10 p.m. Investigation Discovery
Chef and cookbook author Jake Cohen takes the no-mess, no-stress approach to mealtime in the new culinary series “Jake Makes It Easy.” 10 and 10:30 p.m. FYI
“American Dad,” also known as the irreverent Seth MacFarlane animated sitcom that isn’t “Family Guy,” is back for a 19th season. 10 p.m. TBS
Your intrepid reporter trails the Trump campaign from state to state and venue to venue in the new satirical special “The Daily Show Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: Rally Together.” 11:30 p.m. Comedy Central
Tuesday — Oct. 29
The new concert documentary “Olivia Rodrigo: Guts World Tour” sees the young pop music diva performing for fans at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. Anytime, Netflix
Get up close and personal with the pro basketball stars of tomorrow — today! — in new episodes of the docuseries “One Shot: Overtime Elite.” Anytime, Prime Video
Whodunit? Find out in the Season 4 finale of the mystery comedy “Only Murders in the Building.” With Steve Martin, Selena Gomez and Martin Short. Anytime, Hulu
The new stand-up special “Tom Papa: Home Free” captures the veteran comic waxing rhapsodic about life as an empty nester. Anytime, Netflix
A music journalist (“Girls’” Lena Dunham) accompanies her father, a Holocaust survivor (Stephen Fry), on his first return visit to his home country of Poland in the 2024 dramedy “Treasure.” Anytime, Paramount+
Abracadabra! “Wizards of Waverly Place” sparks a spinoff, “Wizards Beyond Waverly Place” (and keep an eye out for a guest spot by the original series lead, the aforementioned Selena Gomez). 8 and 8:30 p.m. Disney Channel; also Wednesday
“Frontline” checks back in with voters that the newsmagazine interviewed during the previous presidential-election cycle in the new special “American Voices 2024.” 10 p.m. KOCE
African American men share their thoughts and feelings on a variety of personal, political and cultural issues in the new special “BET Presents Black Men Speak Summit.” 10 p.m. BET
Wednesday — Oct. 30
While supplies last… Aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their products to potential customers, then hopefully to Amazon execs, in the new competition series “Buy It Now” hosted by JB Smoove. Anytime, Prime Video
Oscar winner Russell Crowe stars as a troubled actor whose role in a horror movie takes him to some dark places in the 2024 supernatural thriller “The Exorcism.” With David Hyde Pierce. Anytime, Shudder
A New York woman’s purported close encounter of the fourth kind back in 1989 is probed in the new docuseries “The Manhattan Alien Abduction.” Anytime, Netflix
It’s a good thing… TV personality, media mogul, lifestyle maven and hostess with the mostest Martha Stewart looks back on her life and career in the new documentary “Martha” directed by R.J. Cutler. Anytime, Netflix
A high schooler travels back in time to the early 2000s in an effort to prevent her sister’s murder in the 2024 sci-fi/slasher flick “Time Cut.” With Madison Bailey. Anytime, Netflix
Witch, please: The Marvel limited series “Agatha All Along” starring Kathryn Hahn as the titular wiccan of MCU infamy ends its run. With Aubrey Plaza and Patti LuPone. 6 p.m. Disney+
A 10-year-old and his compatriots sally forth to save their kingdom in the new animated series “Max & the Midknights” based on the children’s books. 7 p.m. Nickelodeon
“Nature” travels to Pennsylvania — sorry, Transylvania — to survey the local flora and fauna in the new episode “Dracula’s Hidden Kingdom.” 8 p.m. KOCE
The five-part “Nova” miniseries “The Solar System” concludes with “Wandering Worlds,” a look at moons, asteroids and other less than planet-sized heavenly bodies in our little corner of the galaxy. 9 p.m. KOCE
“Secrets of the Dead” visits a burial site in Eastern Europe where extra effort was made to make damn sure the not-so-dearly departed could never rise again in the new episode “Field of Vampires.” 10 p.m. KOCE
Thursday — Oct. 31
Steve Carell reprises his voice role as reformed supervillain Gru — and yes, the Minions are back too — in “Despicable Me 4,” the 2024 entry in the kid-friendly animated franchise. Anytime, Peacock
Keri Russell returns as America’s ambassador to the Court of St. James in a second season of the London-set political thriller “The Diplomat.” With Rufus Sewell. Anytime, Netflix
Hunky aspiring actors vie to become the next piece of holiday-movie man candy in the new reality competition “Finding Mr. Christmas.” With host Jonathan Bennett and lead judge Melissa Peterman. Anytime, Hallmark+
Whoa, Nelly! The new documentary “Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words” tracks the Houston-born hip-hop diva’s rise to the top of the charts. Anytime, Prime Video
A gift shop owner plays amateur sleuth — and falls for a hunky detective, natch — in the new cozy mystery series “Mistletoe Murders.” With Sarah Drew. Anytime, Hallmark+
Friday — Nov. 1
Life in plastic is fantastic — and mysterious — in the new kid-friendly animated series “Barbie Mysteries” based on the popular toy line. Anytime, Netflix
A tough Danish immigrant (director-star Viggo Mortensen) and a tender French Canadian woman (Vicky Krieps) try to build a life together in the gritty 2023 frontier-era tale “The Dead Don’t Hurt.” Anytime, Paramount+
He’s a real doll! The story of the long-lived, darkly comic “Child’s Play” horror franchise is told in the new special “Doc of Chucky.” Anytime, Shudder
A preteen has a complicated relationship with her mother, an acupuncturist, in “Janet Planet,” a 2023 coming-of-age tale set in rural Massachusetts in the 1990s. With Julianne Nicholson and Zoe Ziegler. Anytime, Max
The man, the myth, the maestro: The new documentary “Music by John Williams” salutes the conductor-composer without whom “Star Wars,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and myriad other movies would be nowhere near as thrilling. Anytime, Disney+
A humble pastor runs for Congress in the 2024 faith-based drama/franchise entry “God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust.” With David A.R. White, Dean Cain, Scott Baio, Isaiah Washington and Charlene Hilton. 5 p.m. Pure Flix
A singing waitress/aspiring Broadway star gets caught up in a Cyrano-style love triangle in the new TV movie “A Carol for Two.” With Ginna Claire Mason. 8 p.m. Hallmark Channel
The lady bosses of the “Belle Collective” are back in business in new episodes of this reality series set in Jackson, Mississippi. 8 p.m. OWN
“Groundhog Day’s” Stephen Tobolowsky and “The Carol Burnette Show’s” Vicki Lawrence guest star on a new episode of the George Lopez sitcom “Lopez vs. Lopez.” 8:30 p.m. NBC
Go behind the scenes as acclaimed composer John Adams, acclaimed theater artist Peter Sellers, et al. mount a brand-new production with the San Francisco Opera in “Land of Gold” on a new “Great Performances.” 9 p.m. KOCE
Saturday — Nov. 2
A woman who runs a small-town animal shelter hooks up with a hunky Army veteran in the new TV movie “Tails of Christmas.” With Ash Tsai. 5 p.m. GAF
The new special “Reagan: Portrait of a Presidency” recalls the life and times of the Hollywood actor turned GE pitchman turned California governor turned 40th U.S. president. The aforementioned Dean Cain narrates. 8 p.m. The CW
A long-married couple recall their own romance for the edification of their daughter’s current beau in the new movie “Our Holiday Story.” With Nikki DeLoach. 8 p.m. Hallmark Channel
A mother desperately seeking her missing daughter steps outside of her insular religious community for help in the new TV movie “A Kidnapping in Amish Country.” With Jorja Cadence. 8 p.m. Lifetime
Sweet home Alabama: The reality TV franchise entry “Love & Marriage: Hunstville” returns for a ninth season. 8 p.m. OWN
Comic John Mulaney returns for his sixth turn as host and reigning pop music “It girl” Chappell Roan performs on a new “Saturday Night Live.” 8:29 and 11:29 p.m. NBC
(All times Pacific; programming subject to change without notice)