Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Best Bets

-

7 p.m. on PBS Nature

This acclaimed documentar­y series opens its 39th season with the family-friendly “Pandas: Born to Be Wild,” which sheds new light on the daily lives of wild pandas. Over the course of three years, two Chinese cinematogr­aphers trekked through the steep and heavily forested trails of the Qinling Mountains to gather footage of these animals, capturing some revelatory wild panda behavior with the assistance of scientists and rangers on the trip. The film also follows a young panda raised in captivity but learning to live in the wild.

7 p.m. on ABC The Goldbergs

The nostalgic family sitcom kicks off Season 8 with a pair of back-to-back episodes. First, in “Airplane!,” after Beverly (Wendi McLendon-Covey) surprises the family with an end-of-summer trip to Miami, the flight down descends into the madness reminiscen­t of that 1980 movie comedy, during which Geoff (Sam Lerner) lets it slip to Erica (Hayley Orrantia) the real reason for the trip. Then, in “The Prettiest Boy in School,” Adam (Sean Giambrone) begins his senior year at school as a “cool kid,” but his longtime pals aren’t as lucky.

7 p.m. on CMT MTV PARMT TVLAND

2020 CMT Music Awards

Country music’s only awards show entirely voted on by fans celebrates both establishe­d country legends and a bevy of young rising stars in this year’s ceremonies, which air simultaneo­usly on MTV, Paramount Network, Pop TV and TV Land, among other sibling networks. Ashley McBryde, Dan & Shay, Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Combs and Thomas Rhett lead this year’s crop of nominees with the most nods. Other artists with multiple nomination­s include Blanco Brown, Carrie Underwood, Gabby Barrett, Kane Brown, Little Big Town, Miranda Lambert, Old Dominion and The Chicks.

8 p.m. on ABC The Conners

As this “Roseanne” spinoff moves to a new night for Season 3, it remains true to its art-imitates-life creative principle: The season premiere, “Keep on Truckin’ Six Feet Apart,” finds this fractious clan grappling with the bizarre new reality dictated by the coronaviru­s pandemic. As with real-life families across North America and the world, the health crisis places added stress on the characters’ already fraught financial situation while also testing some strained family dynamics. Sara Gilbert, John Goodman and Laurie Metcalf star.

8 p.m. on CW Coroner

As Jenny and Donovan (Serinda Swan, Roger Cross) investigat­e a lab technician’s death, her personal interest in the research being done at the facility threatens to distract from her focus in the new episode “Crispr Sistr.” Liam (Éric Bruneau) approaches the end of his rope as he is confronted with tragedy. Meanwhile, River (Kiley May) meets her new

8 p.m. on HBO 537 Votes

colleague. Ehren Kassam and Nicholas Campbell also star.

Filmmaker Billy Corben’s new documentar­y looks back at how the internatio­nal custody battle over Elian Gonzalez, a six-year-old born in Cuba, helped trigger

a devastatin­g political earthquake in Florida’s Miami-Dade County during the 2000 presidenti­al election. After election day, with victory depending on which candidate received Florida’s electoral votes, George W. Bush prevailed over Al Gore to take the presidency by a margin of only 537 votes.

black-ish

Preceded by two election-themed specials, Season 7 of this acclaimed family sitcom officially gets under way with “Hero Pizza,” which takes the characters back to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a first responder in this medical crisis, Bow (Tracee Ellis Ross) gets warm praise and support from her family for her selfless work ... at least, at first. As the crisis drags on, though, enthusiasm among the other Johnsons wanes, until someone violates quarantine lockdown rules. Anthony Anderson also stars.

9 p.m. on PBS The Age of Nature

“Understand­ing,” the second of three parts, explores how a deeper comprehens­ion of nature helps humans find new ways to fix its problems. Along Washington’s Elwha River, the removal of dams has led not only to the recovery of the local forest but also Chinook salmon, which provide food for the endangered orca population in the region. In China, a scientist’s determined efforts to restore the firefly population, which provides natural pest control, is transformi­ng the lives of rural farming communitie­s.

9 p.m. on FXX Archer

When daughter AJ is kidnapped, Archer (voice of H. Jon Benjamin) knows it’s up to him to get the little girl back lest mama Lana’s (voice of Aisha Tyler) maternal rage gets focused on the wrong target: namely, him, in the new episode “Caught Napping.” The voice cast also includes Jessica Walter, Judy Greer, Chris Parnell, Amber Nash and Lucky Yates.

 ??  ?? Anthony Anderson
Anthony Anderson

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States