ABC is ready to get all Old Testament with Of Kings And Prophets

Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Tuesday, March 8. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
Of Kings And Prophets (ABC, 10 p.m.): Network television’s latest dalliance with the Biblical miniseries starts with a bang, as the Prophet Samuel tells King Saul that God has a suitably Old Testament demand: Destroy the Amakelites. Also, the shepherd David spends his introductory subplot trying to settle some family debts. We don’t need to read Erik Adams’ upcoming pre-air review to predict we might want to keep an eye on this David character.
Also noted
New Girl (Fox, 8 p.m.): Jess gets back from jury duty just as we’re getting called in for jury duty, which we can’t believe is a coincidence. (Erik Adams would like to be the first of literally everyone to assure us that, yeah, that’s a coincidence.) Anyway, Jess immediately sets out to learn who one of her fellow sequestered jurors is in real life, which we’re guessing means there was some smoking hot dude among those 12 good people and true. Oh, and this means Megan Fox’s Reagan is leaving, which Nick is going to take great, just great.
The Real O’Neals (ABC, 8:30 p.m.): After last Wednesday’s double-length premiere, the show settles into its regular time in The Muppets’ vacates slot. Tonight’s episode sees the O’Neals looking to appease Martha Plimpton’s matriarch by observing Lent. We’re predicting failure on all fronts there.
Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC, 9 p.m.): TV’s most punctuated show returns from its second (and hopefully not last, but, yeah…) Agent Carter-induced hiatus with Coulson finding renewed determination to destroy Hydra. We feel like he resolves to do that pretty frequently, but we suppose that’s only necessary when dealing with an evil organization named after the mythological creature with an endless supply of heads. Oliver Sava is ready to give up the struggle, though, so please welcome the show’s new reviewer, Alex McCown.
Regular coverage
Grandfathered (Fox, 8:30 p.m.)
American Crime Story: The People Vs. O.J. Simpson (FX, 10 p.m.)
Elsewhere in TV Club
Joshua Alston has a review of Showtime’s The Circus, which represents one of the most fearsome editing challenges in television history:
The Circus is still in production, and its heroic post-production team assembles the show mere hours before it airs on Sundays. The most recent episode, which chronicles the fallout within the GOP following Donald Trump’s Super Tuesday triumphs and the widening schism in the party, is a great example of just how close The Circus cuts it. The episode, appropriately titled “The Reckoning,” includes not only the Super Tuesday results, but the subsequent Republican debate, Mitt Romney’s speech calling for Trump’s ouster, Trump’s controversial decision to break his date with the CPAC conference, and even the results of the primaries and caucuses held the Saturday before it aired.