If you like to laugh for two hours, then top it off with a gritty police procedural before bed, then CBS is where you'll want to be tonight.
Four comedies and a drama finally settle into the CBS Thursday schedule now that the network has finished its turn with NFL Thursday Night Football. The jocks switch to NBC beginning Nov. 9 when the Seattle Seahawks take on the Arizona Cardinals.
At 7 p.m. today, The Big Bang Theory moves over from Monday night, followed by the second episode of Young Sheldon, which had a sneak preview Sept. 25, then went off to take a nap. They are followed by the season premieres of Mom and Life in Pieces, then the new drama S.W.A.T. Here's a look.
• Young Sheldon, 7:30 p.m. I reviewed this promising new sitcom when it debuted, but here's a reminder since it has been so long.
The Big Bang prequel takes place in 1989 East Texas ("the land of God and football") when 9-year-old Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage) skips four grades to start high school alongside his much more normal older brother, Georgie (Montana Jordan).
Knowing Sheldon (Jim Parsons) as we do from The Big Bang Theory, wacky genius-fish-out-of-water stuff ensues.
Raegan Revord plays Sheldon's twin sister, Missy, and Zoe Perry plays Sheldon's mother, Mary.
Trivia: Sheldon's protective mother is portrayed on The Big Bang Theory by Perry's real-life mom, Laurie Metcalf.
Bonuses include Annie Potts as Sheldon's beloved foul-mouthed Meemaw, and Parsons narrating the series.
In tonight's episode, "Rockets, Communists, and the Dewey Decimal System," Sheldon awkwardly tries to make his first friend by following a self-help book.
• Mom, 8 p.m. Anna Faris plays recently sober single mom Christy Plunkett, and the brilliant Allison Janney portrays her recovering alcoholic mother, Bonnie Plunkett.
It's only the show's fourth season, but Janney has already won two Emmys for her role. They go along with her previous five statuettes -- four for playing C.J. Cregg on The West Wing and one as Margaret Scully on Masters of Sex.
Before you ask, the 40-year-old Faris tops out at 5-foot-4 and really isn't short. But Janney, 57, is 6-feet tall and makes her seem that way.
This sitcom is worth the price of admission for Janney alone, but the pair make a great comic duo as each tries her best to overcome the mistakes of the past and deal with dysfunctional relationships.
The ensemble includes Matt Jones (Breaking Bad) as Christy's ex-husband, Baxter, and three comedy veterans on the Plunkett support team: AA sponsor Marjorie (Mimi Kennedy, Dharma & Greg), wealthy divorcee Jill (Jaime Pressly, My Name Is Earl), and the tearful Mensa member, Wendy (Beth Hall, Mad Men).
• Life in Pieces, 8:30 p.m. It's the third season for the sitcom that has an unusual approach to each episode. The series follows the funny but complicated Short family, which seems to have more than its fair share of doctors and lawyers.
Each half-hour episode is broken down into four short stories about milestones -- one each from the perspectives of the parents and each of the three kids.
Hollywood veterans Dianne Wiest and James Brolin play the parents, John and Joan. He's a retired airline pilot and she's a therapist.
Betsy Brandt portrays oldest daughter Heather. She and her otorhinolaryngologist husband, Tim (Dan Bakkedahl), are considering having a fourth child.
Middle child Matt (Thomas Sadoski) has finally married his true love, Colleen Brandon Ortega (Angelique Cabral).
And coddled youngest child Greg (Colin Hanks) is still overwhelmed after he and his lawyer wife, Jen (Zoe Lister-Jones), had their first child, now a toddler.
The series is all about the little pieces of time that flash by, but add up to a life.
• S.W.A.T., 9 p.m. This is CBS, so naturally we need yet another police procedural to go along with the other 10 or 15 already on the schedule.
This remake, inspired by the 2003 movie and the 1975 TV series of the same name, stars hunky fan favorite Shemar Moore (Criminal Minds) in the Samuel L. Jackson and Steve Forrest role as Daniel "Hondo" Harrelson, a former Marine from Los Angeles who is now a police SWAT sergeant torn between his current job and the mean streets where he was raised.
Hondo's team includes veteran David "Deacon" Kay (Jay Harrington); cocky newbie Jim Street (Alex Russell); K-9 officer Chris Alonso (Lina Esco); and ace driver Dominique Luca (Kenny Johnson).
Overseeing the unit is Capt. Jessica Cortez (Stephanie Sigman), who has an "off the books" relationship with Hondo.
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Weekend on 11/02/2017