Classic Sports Cliffhangers in ‘Game 7,’ Dancing to Disney, Kidnapping in a ‘Small Town,’ ‘Murders’ Goes Undercover

Documentary Premiere

Few things in sports are more exciting than when a championship series goes all the way to a seventh deciding game (or in the case of this weekend’s WNBA finals, a fifth). A five-part docuseries relives some of the most memorable Game 7’s in baseball, hockey and basketball history, with first-hand reflections from players on the winning and losing teams of these epic battles. The showdowns covered include the 2016 World Series that broke the Chicago Cubs’ century-long drought as they fought the Cleveland Indians, the 2003 ALCS pitting the New York Yankees against the Boston Red Sox, the Stanley Cup Finals in 1987 (Edmonton Oilers vs. Philadelphia Flyers) and 1994 (New York Rangers vs. Vancouver Canucks), and the NBA’s 2006 Western Conference Semifinals between the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs.

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The ballroom becomes a Magic Kingdom when the eight remaining couples dance to “Disney Night” with music from Disney-related films and properties. (Perhaps the greatest stretch is Danny Amendola and Witney Carson’s jazz routine to “Bye Bye Bye” from Disney-owned Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine.) The show opens with a routine to Aladdin’s “Friend Like Me” featuring Broadway star Michael James Scott, and the troupe performs with eliminated pros to “We’re Back,” a new song from the forthcoming Moana 2. The couples will be split into teams for the season’s first team competition, with Team Goofs performing to A Goofy Movie’s “I2I,” and Team Roar dancing to The Lion King’s “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King.”

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Things are going pretty swimmingly for police chief Karl Alberg (Rossif Sutherland) and his librarian girlfriend Cassandra (Kristin Kreuk) until she suddenly goes missing, and Karl’s department goes into overdrive to try to prevent a murder. Devon Sawa (Chucky) guests as the mysterious abductor, about whom a guilt-ridden Karl worries may have targeted someone he cares about as payback for an earlier crime back in his big-city Minneapolis days.

“Finally, a celebrity this season!” chirps Oliver (Martin Short) in a not-so-subtle dig at this year’s cameo-heavy guest cast. As Season 4 of the mystery-comedy nears the end with one episode to go, Oliver and his podcasting buddies Charles (Steve Martin) and Mabel (Selena Gomez) chase a lead to discover the identity of the late Sazz Pataki’s (Jane Lynch) stuntperson protégé. To get the answers they need, they volunteer as undercover background extras on the sci-fi movie Escape from Planet Klongo, hoping to get face time with this week’s secret celebrity. By the episode’s end, they’ll be a step closer to learning whodunit, but not without putting one of their own in danger.

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The fall season’s most delightful new mystery series delves into the world of exotic animal pets when a veterinarian is killed, and kooky consultant Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) once again displays her arcane knowledge of an obscure subject. She also (as the promos have shown) shoots her detective partner Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) with a tranquilizer dart, but for good cause. The case is twisty by procedural standards, yet still leaves time for Morgan to go snooping into her daughter Ava’s (Amirah J) personal business.

Series Premiere

Candidate for top import of the week is a whimsical German mystery-comedy that turns the former German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Katharina Thalbach) into a slapstick Miss Marple. Retiring to the bucolic small town of Klein Freudenstadt, declaring she’s “ready to lead a normal life,” Ms. Merkel keeps finding herself in the middle of murderous intrigue in two 90-minute episodes based on the novels of David Safier.

INSIDE TUESDAY TV:

• FBI (8/7c, CBS): While the team investigates the murder of a suburban couple in a home once owned by a federal-prison inmate, Agent Scola (John Boyd) adjusts to his new partner, Syd Ortiz (Lisette Olivera). Followed by FBI: International (9/8c), with the Fly Team off to the Netherlands to defuse a hostage situation involving the U.S. Ambassador, and FBI: Most Wanted (10/9c), with a guest appearance from FBI’s Alana De La Garza.
• Accused (9/8c, Fox): The Masked Singer’s Nick Cannon gets serious in the earnest cautionary tale of a tech entrepreneur whose relationship with his best friend and partner (Suits’ Patrick J. Adams) sours after their AI facial-recognition software hits a speedbump on the eve of a huge sale.
• American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez (10/9c, FX): The NFL pro’s (Josh Rivera) downward spiral escalates when his former buddy Sherrod (Roland Buck III) threatens payback after being shot, and even a getaway to California for surgery can’t ease Aaron’s paranoia. Another bad move: Asking Patriots coach Bill Belichick (Norbert Leo Butz) to be traded.
• The Irrational (10/9c, NBC): Rose (Karen David), the ex-MI6 agent turned crisis management fixer, re-enters Alec’s (Jesse L. Martin) life when they’re put on opposite sides of a case involving a Wall Street broker who’s killed while she’s playing hockey against her aggressive rival.
• Voces: Latino Vote 2024 (10/9c, PBS): An hourlong documentary explores the issues expected to drive Latino voter turnout in battleground states including Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
• Hasan Minhaj: Off with His Head (streaming on Netflix): The Peabody-winning Daily Show veteran delivers his third stand-up special for the streamer, regaling an audience at San Jose (CA) Civic with politically and personally barbed humor.