TV top picks
1:30 p.m. on ABC College football
Coach Jim Harbaugh’s third season in Michigan begins as his Wolverines meet the Florida Gators on a neutral field at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Harbaugh’s squad will have a lot of new but talented faces and will have their hands full with the Gators defense. This game could turn into a battle of defenses depending on how Harbaugh’s new offensive recruits rise to the occasion for junior quarterback Wilton Speight.
6 p.m. on TNT Movie:
American Sniper An enormous box-office hit, director Clint Eastwood’s engrossing 2014 drama tells the true story of Chris Kyle (Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper), a rodeo rider who becomes a Navy SEAL assigned to use his expert shooting skills to protect military comrades. He becomes a target of enemy forces, and his multiple tours of duty ultimately take a toll on his relationship with his wife (Sienna Miller).
6 p.m. on ABC College football
Two of college football’s best teams open the season against each other when sophomore quarterback Deondre Francois and the Florida State Seminoles meet the Crimson Tide of Alabama at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Francois and the Seminoles have one of the toughest schedules among top college football programs this season. Nick Saban’s Alabama team will bring another solid defense and looks to rebound from last year’s loss to Clemson in the CFP championship game.
9 p.m. on HBO Movie: A Monster Calls
Patrick Ness (Class) adapted his own acclaimed young-adult novel for this dark, emotionally resonant and visually stunning 2016 fantasy film about 12-year-old Conor (Lewis MacDougall, pictured), whose lonely life with his cancer-stricken mother (Felicity Kendal) is changed by a massive, ancient tree creature (Liam Neeson via motion-capture animation), who tells the boy three stories.
Midnight on CBS Candy Crush
Inspired by the popular mobile game, the series ends its season with back-to-back episodes, “This Is Mind Blowing” and “There’s No Time for Fear.” Two-person teams compete on a giant, very colorful interactive game board, as host Mario Lopez observes the action.