Worth Watching: ‘Password’ to Prime Time, a Wedding on ‘Shadows,’ Blackout in the ‘Building’

Series Premiere10/9c

Jimmy Fallon has long honored the classic word-clue game show on his Tonight Show and now brings a splashy new version to prime time for several weeks. He and irrepressible host Keke Palmer (fresh from her breakout role in the summer hit Nope) tip their cap in the premiere to the legendary Betty White — who was the game’s supreme player and was married to the original series’ iconic host, Allen Ludden. Fallon plays alongside contestants in each episode, facing a celebrity opponent (in the opener, a collegial Jon Hamm) as they strategize how many clues it will take to guess the password. Some games build to a sudden-death tiebreaker, and the upbeat tone continues to the winner’s big-money lightning round, which even features a “redemption round” if necessary to give the player a second chance to score $25,000.

10/9c

Nandor (Kayvan Novak) becomes a vamp-zilla as he obsesses over his impending wedding to Marwa (Parisa Fakhri) in a hilarious high point of the supernatural comedy’s fourth season. Long-suffering human familiar/slave Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) is at his wits’ end to fulfill all of his master’s requests — including finding a live dodo to roast for his guests. And that’s where the Djinn (Anoop Desai) comes in, cautioning Nandor not to use up the last of his wishes before the ceremony. Favorite moment of many: Laszlo’s (Matt Berry) comparison of rich people to veal: “conceptually repulsive but so buttery on my tongue.”

“There’s nothing like a crisis to bring New Yorkers together,” chirps Murders podcast superfan Marv (Daniel Oreskes) as a blackout engulfs the Big Apple. With the Arconia plunged into darkness, our hero trio is concerned about Lucy (Zoe Colletti), Charles’ (Steve Martin) amateur-sleuth daughter, and what she’s witnessed in the building’s secret tunnels that might help solve the latest murder. Before the lights come back on, some other unexpected connections are made among the Arconia’s quirky inhabitants.

Season Premiere10/9c

Winner of 18 Sports Emmys, the fly-on-the-wall docuseries that embeds each pre-season with an NFL team has chosen the perennial Motor City underdogs, the Detroit Lions, as this year’s subject. With camera crews following every move of the team, and head coach Dan Campbell, on and off the field at the training camp in Allen Park, Michigan, Hard Knocks is an all-access pass to a team in transition.

• America’s Got Talent (8/7c, NBC): The live shows begin at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, with 11 performers returning to show their best material for America’s vote in hopes of continuing to the finals. Viewers can vote with the AGT app or online at nbc.com.
• Afghanistan Undercover (10/9c, PBS, check local listings at pbs.org): A year after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan, Frontline produces an alarming report exposing the perilous state of women under the Taliban’s oppressive rule.
• Big Bad Budget Battle (10/9c, Food Network and discovery+): This competition series seems especially timely considering the ever-rising cost of groceries these days. Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond hosts the series, which challenges three home cooks to create high-end cuisine with low-cost ingredients. The opener kicks off with each contestant getting $20 to purchase items to make a Signature Shortcut Dish.
• My Big Fat Fabulous Life (10/9c, TLC): Life throws Whitney Thore a less-than-fabulous speed bump in the reality show’s 10^th season when mom Babs suffers a stroke. While Whitney tends to family matters, she turns to ex-boyfriend Lennie Alehat for help with her online fitness videos, risking mixing business with pleasure.
• I Just Killed My Dad (streaming on Netflix): A disturbing three-part true-crime docuseries examines why 17-year-old Anthony Templet shot and killed his father in 2019, revealing a twisted family saga of kidnapping, control and emotional abuse.