‘Abbott Elementary’ Leads ABC’s Comedy Lineup, Super Bowl Edition of ‘The Price Is Right,’ Capote Throws a Ball

Abbott Elementary

This bright spot among broadcast network comedies refuses to rest on its accolades, with change afoot (and several very special guests) in the Philadelphia school as the third season opens with an entertaining hourlong episode. Janine (Emmy winner Quinta Brunson) is determined on several fronts to make her revival of Career Day a success, a welcome distraction from her new swearing phrase. (Her fellow teachers are correct in calling it out as “forced.”) Could her new demeanor have anything to do with the continued awkwardness between her and Gregory (Tyler James Williams)? Elsewhere, the staff learns that a principal Ava (Janelle James) who actually cares about her job may be worse than the original flippant model, and Melissa (Celebrity Jeopardy! champ Lisa Ann Walter) isn’t sure how to take the increasingly serious wooing of her vending-machine-guy boyfriend Gary (Bruno Amato).

Not Dead Yet

Though the premise of this quirky sitcom involves newspaper obit writer Nell (Gina Rodriguez) seeing the ghosts of her subjects, the newest addition to the show in Season 2 is thankfully very much alive. Everybody Loves Raymond’s three-time Emmy winner Brad Garrett comes aboard as Duncan Rhodes, wealthy owner and publisher of the SoCal Independent newspaper run by his daughter, Lexi (Superstore’s Lauren Ash), who continually causes Nell grief in the workplace. He’s charismatic, confident, and so impressed by Nell’s straight talk that they form a bond, sure to drive Lexi up the wall. Preceded by the Season 6 premiere of The Conners (8/7c), in which Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) gets unexpected advice regarding her struggling Lunch Box restaurant, while Darlene (Sara Gilbert) heads to Chicago with her dad, Dan (John Goodman).

The Price Is Right at Night

Game shows are not immune to Super Bowl hype, as evidenced by the venerable Price Is Right staging an “Ultimate Super Bowl Party,” with host Drew Carey welcoming superfan and NFL “Mama” Donna Kelce to a football-themed prime-time episode. Her sons, Super Bowl-headed Travis of the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jason Kelce, introduce “America’s Mom” with a video message as Mama Donna takes the stage. Contestants play for prizes including a trip to Las Vegas to watch Sunday’s Super Bowl LVIII, a Super Bowl party package, a Hummer EV and a chance to take home $200,000.

Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans

A stylized episode of the limited series, a flashback filmed mostly in black and white, captures the social frenzy surrounding Truman Capote’s (Tom Hollander) infamous “Black and White Ball” in 1966, at the peak of the author’s literary and social celebrity. (This is long before he became a pariah after publishing a thinly veiled tell-all about his inner circle of socialite friends.) Each of the New York “swans” believes they’ll be his guest of honor, unaware of the surprise he has up his sleeve. Throughout, he and his glamorous circle are being captured in unguarded moments by the documentarian Maysles brothers, to whom Capote explains: “It’s all a masquerade, you see.”

The Marvels

Marvel legends Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) and Astronaut Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) meet their biggest fan, Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), in a female-forward intergalactic romp that was a box-office disappointment but acclaimed for the spirited chemistry of its leads. For the film’s streaming debut, Disney+ offers Assembled: The Making of The Marvels, a behind-the-scenes look at the movie’s elaborate production.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• Wild Cards (8/7c, The CW): In a change of pace, it’s disgraced Detective Ellis (Giacomo Gianniotti) who goes undercover, while con-artist Max (Vanessa Morgan) plays sleuth to get to the bottom of who shot a surfer.
• Nova: Easter Island Origins (9/8c, PBS): New research sheds light on the origins and inspirations for the iconic stone heads of Easter Island, created by the ancient Rapanui people.
• Family Law (9/8c, The CW): Abby (Jewel Staite) is both lawyer and amateur therapist for her client, a closeted actor who fears being outed by a bitter ex who’s written a play about him.
• Chicago P.D. (10/9c, NBC): Officer Torres (Benjamin Levy Aguilar) returns from furlough just in time to go undercover in a tough drug-trafficking case. Preceded by Chicago Med (8/7c), where Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) is alarmed to learn that two people close to her have ended up in the E.D., and Chicago Fire (9/8c), with Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) investigating further after a little girl starts a fire in her backyard.
• Judge Steve Harvey (10/9c, ABC): The comedic mock-courtroom show returns, with Harvey presiding over kooky cases including a grandma who gave a bad haircut.
• FBI True (10/9c, CBS): Cases involve the manhunt for CIA mole Aldrich Ames and an investigation into a Seattle-based sex trafficker.