Olivia Rodrigo in Concert, ‘Only Murders’ Finale, Return of the Waverly Place Wizards, ‘Dancing’ Halloween Style
Grammy winner Olivia Rodrigo performs her GUTS World Tour in a Netflix concert special. Only Murders in the Building resolves its latest comedic whodunit in the Season 4 finale. Murders star Selena Gomez also appears in the first episode of Disney Channel’s Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, a series sequel to the fantasy sitcom Wizards of Waverly Place. “Halloween Nightmares” is the theme of this week’s Dancing With the Stars, featuring a round of dance-offs.
Olivia Rodrigo: Guts World Tour
One of today’s gutsier rock superstars gives her fans a front-row seat to her 2024 global concert tour — hailed by Variety as “maybe the best rock tour we’ll get all year” — with an energetic performance filmed at L.A.’s Intuit Dome. She whips her audience into a frenzy, charging them: “You’re gonna scream as loud as you can and let it all out!” They’re more than happy to follow her lead.
Only Murders in the Building
When last we saw our favorite comedy-mystery podcasters, no less a celebrity than Ron Howard provided a critical clue revealing to Charles (Steve Martin) and Oliver (Martin Sheen) the identity of stuntwoman Sazz Pataki’s (Jane Lynch) protégé and presumed killer — who happens to be with their partner Mabel (Selena Gomez), putting her in mortal danger. How this gets resolved, and how the Season 4 finale sets up the already ordered fifth season, remains to be seen. One hint: The episode is titled “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” suggesting there may be shenanigans at the much-anticipated nuptials of Oliver and Loretta (Meryl Streep).
Wizards Beyond Waverly Place
The popular fantasy-comedy series (2007-12) returns for a next-generation sequel, with Murders star Selena Gomez reprising her role of Alex Russo in the first of two episodes, introducing her brother Justin (David Henrie) to the powerful but untrained young wizard Billie (Janice LeAnn Brown). Justin had pledged to put magic behind him and try to lead a normal life with his mortal family, but the arrival of Billie (who may hold the future to the Wizard World) changes all of that. All eight episodes will be available for streaming Wednesday on Disney+ and Disney Channel On Demand.
Dancing With the Stars
Only seven couples are left in this season’s competition, and the battle gets scarier with “Halloween Nightmares” as the theme for dances performed (and appropriately costumed) in the Argentine Tango, Contemporary, Viennese Waltz and Tango styles. The episode also features this season’s “Dance-Offs” between two couples in a head-to-head dance, the winner of each round getting bonus points. (Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong, with the season’s highest cumulative score, sit this one out with immunity.) Among the tunes this week: Olivia Rodrigo’s Vampire, in case fans didn’t get enough from her Netflix concert.
High Potential
Do we sense a potential workplace romance in the works on this enjoyable light mystery? Not between offbeat police consultant Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) and her grudgingly impressed detective partner Karadec (Daniel Sunjata), that would be wrong. But while working the latest case, messy Morgan gets a talking to from Tom, a charming janitor with higher ambitions who blames her for leaving smears from her “cheesy chip fingers” around the office. Recall that the series began with her temping as an overnight janitor, and this could be a match made in TV heaven. Also satisfying: the twist in a case involving a shady health-tech CEO found dead after a rowdy launch party, impaled on one of her own trophies.
INSIDE TUESDAY TV:
- World Series (7 pm/ET, Fox): First the pre-game, then Game 4 between the Yankees (on home turf) and the Dodgers.
- FBI (8/7c, CBS): Double duty for Agent Scola (John Boyd), who’s still struggling on the job after his former partner left, then visits FBI: Most Wanted (10/9c) to be with his romantic partner Nina (Shantel VanSanten) when her father (Cold Case’s John Finn) and sister (Hannah Adrian) pay a visit.
- Citizen Nation (9/8c, PBS): The inspiring docuseries ends with the finalists in Washington, D.C. to decide the championship of the “We the People” civics competition.
- American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez (10/9c, FX): The troubled NFL star (Josh Rivera) continues his mental spiral after receiving tragic news that propels him towards yet another ill-advised friendship.
- The Irrational (10/9c, NBC): There’s no such thing as an off night for behavioral crime consultant Alec (Jesse L. Martin) and his FBI agent ex-wife Marisa (Maahra Hill), when they attend an embassy wedding that becomes a crime scene.
- Frontline (10/9c, PBS): In “American Voices 2024,” the documentary series revisits citizens from rural, urban and suburban communities across the country who shared their views on politics and society amid the tumult of 2020. Filmmakers check in to see how much has or hasn’t changed for them over the last four years.
- Tom Papa: Home Free (streaming on Netflix): The comedian delivers a stand-up set with riffs on aging and parenthood.
- One Shot: Overtime Elite (streaming on Prime Video): The sports docuseries’ second season follows the league of top teenage players as they work toward their goal of making it to the professional level in the NBA.