What’s on today
Tonight’s best bet is a new film codirected by Ken Burns and Artemis Joukowsky called “Defying the Nazis ,”at9 on KQED. This is a very powerful and moving documentary about the Rev.
Wait still Sharp and his wife, Martha Sharp, above, of Wellesley, Mass., who made a courageous decision to leave their children in the care of their Unitarian parish and make several dangerous trips to Europe in the two years before World War II to help save hundreds of Jewish refugees and political dissidents fleeing Nazi occupation across Europe.
Tonight’s very, very good bet is the premiere of “This Is Us” at 10 p.m. on
NBC. The drama has a gimmick that sounds kind of, well, gimmicky: It’s about various people from different walks of life (although there is a set of twins in the group) who all turn 36 on the same day. The series is quite intentionally meant to recapture the lightning in a bottle that was “Parenthood” and comes pretty darn close. Human and heartwarming.
The new fall season has two shows inspired by the careers of real-life men. One is the forthcoming ABC drama “Notorious,” based on the life of famed defense attorney Mark Geragos, premiering Thursday. The other is “Bull” and it’s bull. The
CBS show, premiering at 9 p.m., is based on the former career of TV’s Dr. Phil, when he ran a highly successful trial consultant business. The previews looked pretty good — not totally brainy or anything, but the kind of lightweight fun you often look for on CBS.
But it doesn’t matter how much promise the setup has if the writing stinks, and the writing on “Bull” stinks. The plot has no credibility, the writers pull an out-of-left-field gimmick for the episode conclusion, and the show is just disappointing. Bad shows that were fated to be nothing better don’t bother me as much as shows that could have been contenders and just waste it. And more often than not, the problem is incompetent writing. That’s the case here. The fourth season of “Brooklyn Nine
Nine” airs at 8 p.m. on Fox, and the 14th season of “NCIS” at 8 as well. ABC airs a new episode of “Dancing With the
Stars” at 8 p.m., a special night. Meanwhile, over on NBC ,“The Voice,” now in season 11, slips into its regular 8 p.m. time slot.
Season 16 of “Bad Girls Club” launches on Oxygen at 8 p.m.
The sixth season of “New Girl” begins at 8:30 p.m. on Fox. “Scream Queens” launches its second season on Fox at 9:01 p.m. John Stamos has joined the cast after the cancellation of “Grandfathered.” BBC America looks at David Beckham, and who wouldn’t want to do that? “David Beckham: For the Love of the Game” is a 90-minute doc airing at 9.