your BEST BETS to watch
5:15 p.m. on (12) (18) NFL Football.
The NFL opens up the 2021 regular season with its traditional “Kickoff Thursday” match-up, which this year pits the Tampa Bay Buccaneers against the Dallas Cowboys at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. For Tom Brady and the Bucs, it’s the beginning of their defense of their Super Bowl LV title as well as the 44-year-old Brady’s pursuit of his eighth Super Bowl ring. As for Dak Prescott and the ’boys, they’d like nothing more than to open the season with a win and put their 6-10 2020 season behind them.
6 p.m. on (31) Kids Behind Bars: Life or Parole.
A new episode examines the case of Deon Haynes, who was just 17 when he was sentenced to life in prison for killing a former classmate, Christy Davis, in her home. Now 47, Haynes has been granted a resentencing hearing, but his continued claim that he is innocent has some decision-makers wondering whether he is really capable of being rehabilitated.
7 p.m. on (37) Long Island Medium: In Memory of 9/11.
In the two decades since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks on the United States, friends and families of the nearly 3,000 victims of that tragedy still are left with unanswered questions and a hunger for closure. In this twohour special, Theresa Caputo tries to bring those still-bereaved survivors a sense of peace by meeting with them in the shadow of the World Trade Center, a site near the Pentagon and at the Flight 93 memorial in Pennsylvania to deliver messages of healing and heroism from the departed.
8 p.m. on (55) Movie: The Florida Project.
Willem Dafoe earned best supporting actor nominations at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards and England’s BAFTA Awards for his performance in director and co-writer Sean Baker’s character-driven drama set at a budget motel in Florida near Walt Disney World. Dafoe plays motel manager Bobby Hicks, who reluctantly serves as a surrogate father to the largely happy brood of kids who swarm his site unsupervised while their parents try to eke out a living. Brooklynn Prince drew special praise for playing Moonee, one of the kids.
9 p.m. on (16) When Nature Calls With Helen Mirren.
Several unhappy animals find themselves stuck on an apparently endless Zoom conference call in “Uncle Antelope’s Truth Bombs,” a new episode of this family-friendly “docu-comedy” narrated by Helen Mirren. Among other highlights, elephants receive lessons in etiquette, and a squirrel hosting a home shopping program is stalked by a deranged viewer. Also: a searing expose on lizards who hoard.