TV HIGHLIGHTS

The 52nd Annual CMA Awards, 8 PM on Ch. 22 and Ch. 9:

Why mess with something that works so well? For the 11th time, country music superstars Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood return to host these annual awards ceremonies, broadcast live in most areas from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Chris Stapleton and Dawn Huff lead the pack of this year’s nominees with five and four nods, respectively. Stapleton’s competition in the Entertainer of the Year category is Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban.

Criminal Minds, 10 PM on Ch. 7 and Ch. 12:

Time is of the essence — literally as well as figuratively — as Rossi (Joe Mantegna) and his BAU team race to capture the vigilante terrorists who are staging an ongoing series of attacks on the nation’s capital every 27 minutes in a new episode called — what else? — “Twenty Seven.” It falls to Prentiss (Paget Brewster) and Unit Chief Andrew Mendoza (Stephen Bishop) to lead efforts to identify the unidentified bad guys and understand their motive. Matthew Gray Gubler also stars.

American Horror Story: Apocalypse, 10 PM on FX; 11:04 PM on FX; 1:08 AM on FX:

This season might just as easily have been titled “American Horror Story: Everything But the Kitchen Sink,” since it’s given us nuclear devastation, mass murder, the Antichrist, witches and callbacks for characters from earlier seasons “Murder House” and “Coven.” Oh, and Joan Collins as witch-turned-moviestar Bubbles McGee. It all gets wrapped up (-ish) in tonight’s season finale, but as usual, the only thing we know about it in advance is that it’s called “Apocalypse Then.”