Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Monday, October 3. All times are Eastern.
Top picks
Scorpion (CBS, 9 p.m.): What’s that? Oh, nothing much—just the return of Team Scorpion and their weekly moments of creating chaos and then trying to fix it. That’s right, Scorpion is back for its third season. And you know what? Scorpion is coming for that nerd crowd, TBBT. Watch your back. The two-hour season premiere is titled “Civil War & More Civil War,” and no, Chris Evans is nowhere to be found. Never mind, TBBT. You could still win this one.
Conviction (ABC, 10 p.m.): The new shows are still a-coming, and this time, it’s in the form of the ashes of Marvel’s Agent Carter. We know, it still hurts. “When it comes to our justice system, nothing is ever black and white. Just ask Hayes Morrison.” Really, that opening to the Conviction press release is all anyone needs in order to know what this show is all about. But here’s some more. There is an Ashmore twin in this series. And yes, “Hayes Morrison” is played by Hayley Atwell.
“Hayes, a lawyer and former first daughter, is a hero—a controversial one. She finds herself in a tricky position, facing jail time for drug possession or accepting a job from her nemesis, New York District Attorney Conner Wallace.” If only real life drug possession charges could just be removed with a decent job offer. But wait, the CIU—that’s the super special unit Hayes will work in—only has five days to solve any given case. Whoops! Never mind, take the drug conviction! Also: Hayes. Morrison. Gwen Ihnat is writing Conviction off as yet another weak Shondaland wannabe. Sorry, Agent Carter fans.
Timeless (NBC, 10 p.m.): Then there’s Timeless, which won’t bend to your legal ultimatums, Conviction. In fact, we’re getting Timeless in the same time slot as Conviction—legal woes be damned! (Though, every single one of us who ever had a time travel idea as a kid could probably get in on some class-action… action.) While ABC is all about using the law to solve crime, Timeless is all about time travel to stop crime. Hit it, press release: “AN UNLIKELY TEAM IS TASKED WITH TRAVELING THROUGH TIME TO CHASE A CRIMINAL MASTERMIND—AND PROTECT THE PAST.” Now we know that sounds like it could be the Legends Of Tomorrow logline, verbatim. Honestly, it probably is.
But here, let’s see what else it’s got: “When one of the world’s most dangerous fugitives steals a state-of-the-art time machine, the U.S. government asks a history professor, Lucy Preston (Abigail Spencer), a soldier, Wyatt Logan (Matt Lanter), and a scientist, Rufus Carlin (Malcolm Barrett) to embark on the adventure of a lifetime and chase the criminal mastermind, Garcia Flynn (Goran Visnjic) to the Hindenburg disaster of 1937.” So it’s Legends Of Tomorrow with less bloat and Abigail Spencer. Danette Chavez thinks that although the show has potential, it stumbles over its own hokiness. But just Abigail Spencer as the lead of a network television show is enough to sell us on this one, honestly.
Say, have you watched Rectify yet?