The next couple of days finally brings the NBC Thursday night comedies to the lineup, and ABC's Friday sitcoms join the new fall schedule.
However, the best highlight -- especially for those of us of a certain age -- will be on AETN. Let's take a look at that special first.
• Great Performances, 8-10 p.m. Friday on PBS and AETN. With Great Performances: Grammy Salute to Music Legends 2018, we have two packed hours honoring the Recording Academy's 2018 Special Merit Awards recipients.
This is the third annual concert spotlighting the honorees. This year's awards go to Brinkley native Louis Jordan, Neil Diamond, drummer Hal Blaine, Emmylou Harris, funk band The Meters, Queen and Tina Turner.
Special Merit Awards go to rock promoter Bill Graham, music executive Seymour Stein and five-time Academy Award-winning composer John Williams.
Gospel singer Yolanda Adams is master of ceremonies and performers include several honorees along with Micky Dolenz of the Monkees, Trisha Yearwood, Herb Alpert, Sammy Hagar and mononymous singers Ledisi and Shelea.
Gustavo Dudamel and Henry Rollins will present. Here's the playlist for each honoree with the performers in parenthesis:
Neil Diamond: "Holly Holy" (Adams); "I'm a Believer" (Dolenz and Diamond); "Sweet Caroline" (Diamond).
Emmylou Harris: "Boulder to Birmingham" (Harris) "Love and Happiness" (Harris and Yearwood).
Hal Blaine: "A Taste of Honey" (Alpert).
Louis Jordan: Medley -- "Choo Choo Ch' Boogie/Let The Good Times Roll" (Ledisi).
Tina Turner: Medley -- "What's Love Got to Do with It/Proud Mary/The Best" (Shelea).
John Williams: "Theme from Schindler's List" (Anne Akiko Meyers, David Newman and The American Youth Symphony); "Air and Simple Gifts" (Los Angeles Philharmonic Quartet).
The Meters: "Cissy Strut/Fire on the Bayou" (The Meters).
Bill Graham and Queen: "Right Now" and "We Will Rock You" (Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony).
Personal note: "Boulder to Birmingham," Harris' signature tune, always brings tears to my eyes, even when sung by the Starland Vocal Band with the song's co-author Bill Danoff.
• Today on NBC:
7 p.m., Superstore. Season 4 for America Ferrera and her wacky crew at the Cloud 9 big box store in St. Louis.
7:30 p.m., The Good Place. This is the regular time slot for Season 3. The inspired casting of Kristen Bell and Ted Danson continues.
8 p.m., Will & Grace. It's an 18-episode Season 2 for the revival (the 10th season overall). I confess the reboot didn't have the old magic for me, however, the revival has been enough of a success that Season 3 has already been ordered for fall 2019.
8:30 p.m., I Feel Bad. NBC had a back-to-back sneak peek of this new comedy on Sept. 19, but if you missed it, the series stars Sarayu Blue as Emet Kamala-Sweetzer, a wife and mother just beginning to realize she feels OK not being perfect. Prediction: Watch this one quickly before it disappears.
9 p.m., Law & Order: SVU. The two-hour Season 20 premiere was last week. This is the regular time slot premiere.
• Today on ABC:
8 p.m., Station 19. Season 2 of the Grey's Anatomy spinoff opens with "No Recovery," in which the firefighters of Station 19 continue to battle the raging skyscraper inferno from last season's finale cliffhanger.
Joining the cast this season are Boris Kodjoe (Code Black) as "a seasoned firefighter with a mysterious past," and Dermot Mulroney (Shameless) as the father of officer Ryan Tanner (Alberto Frezza).
• Friday on ABC:
7 p.m., Fresh off the Boat. It's already Season 5 for the comedy loosely inspired by the life of chef Eddie Huang. The humor comes primarily from culture clash and assimilation woes.
This is the first time since 1995 and Margaret Cho's All-American Girl that a network program has revolved around an Asian-American family. With the recent big-screen success of series star Constance Wu in Crazy Rich Asians, more could be on the way.
7:30 p.m., Speechless. Season 3 for the DiMeo family with Micah Fowler as Jimmy "JJ" DiMeo Jr., the nonspeaking eldest child with cerebral palsy. In real life, Fowler, 20, also has cerebral palsy, but is not speechless.
Even though Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting) is one of the show's main draws as Maya, JJ's protective mom, Season 2 averaged 4.88 million viewers, down from 6.23 million the first year. Consequently, the series has moved from Wednesdays to Fridays, where low ratings aren't such a handicap.
8 p.m., Child Support. Season 2 for the game show hosted by Fred Savage and starring Ricky Gervais. Friday low ratings? Last season's final episode was seen by only 2.24 million viewers.
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Weekend on 10/04/2018