New Face on ‘New Amsterdam,’ Tragedy on ‘The Resident,’ Yankees vs. Red Sox, Celebrating Rita Moreno

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Michelle Forbes has graced more terrific TV shows than we can count (True Blood, Battlestar Galactica, Homicide: Life on the Street, The Killing, to name just a few), and now she comes to the embattled New York hospital as Dr. Veronica Fuentes, a financial fixer recruited to bolster New Amsterdam’s bottom line. This will surely put her on a course collision with Dr. Max (Ryan Eggold), who’s just gone public with his relationship with Dr. Sharpe (Freema Agyeman).

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The mood is even more somber in the Chastain ER, where a “familiar patient”—that would be Nic Nevin (departing cast member Emily VanCamp)—is brought in after a serious car accident, and the doctors question every difficult decision. It’s going to be especially tough on her husband Conrad (Matt Czuchry). Be prepared for tears.

It all came down to a walk-off run scored in the ninth inning of the season’s final game to secure the Yankees a spot in the win-or-go-home Wild Card Game in the American League. They face their longtime rival Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, and not since Tom Brady returned to Gillette Stadium on Sunday night has there been such a buildup in the sports world. (Or so the sportscasters will tell you.)

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Hey you guys! Whether you know her best as the sizzling Anita in West Side Story or the bellowing live wire of The Electric Company—or perhaps the scene-stealing abuela of the reimagined One Day at a Time—it’s a given that few Hollywood stars burn as bright at 89 as Rita Moreno, the subject of an irresistible American Masters profile. Her accomplishments are well known—an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony)—but so are her survival instincts, emerging triumphant from a studio system that for too long only saw the Puerto Rican native as stereotypically exotic. “Did having to struggle so much take something out of me? Not me!” she declares. Bravo!

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Whether the CGI saber-tooth tigers make you thrill or giggle, at least this sci-fi melodrama doesn’t skimp on the heavy-breathing action and peril in its second episode. While Eve (Natalie Zea) scrambles to save her son Josh (Jack Martin) from his infected bite in the Prehistoric Land Down Under, above ground her ex, Gavin (Eoin Macken), continues to try to convince authorities that his visions indicate there’s life beyond that mysterious lighted portal in the sinkhole. As stoner anthropologist Scott (Rohan Merchandaney) says down in 10,000 BC L.A.: “Isn’t that insane?” Happily, yes.

Special

Multiple Emmy winner Dave Chappelle returns with his sixth Netflix comedy special. As Morgan Freeman cheekily wondered in a promo, “What could he possibly have left to say?” That’s what keeps us tuning in to the winner of 2019’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

Inside Tuesday TV:

• Only Murders in the Building (streaming on Hulu): The amateur sleuths aren’t going it alone any longer, now that they’ve discovered Superfans (“Arconiacs”) of their podcast lurking outside the building. Charles’ (Steve Martin) new girlfriend Jan (Amy Ryan) is also happy to help them in their hunt for the killer—though a jealous Oliver (Martin Short) sees her as “reverse helpful.”
• The Prison Breaker (streaming on discovery+): Using his own words, never-before-seen letters and exclusive interviews, a four-part docuseries relates the incredible exploits of escape artist Richard Lee McNair, whose multiple jailbreaks made him internationally infamous.
• Escape the Undertaker (streaming on Netflix): A raucous Halloween-themed interactive special lets viewers lead the WWE tag team The New Day through a booby-trapped haunted mansion.
• Castle (2 pm/1c, Lifetime): The popular crime drama sets up shop at Lifetime as its exclusive cable home, with Season 1 episodes airing Tuesdays through November. (After the holiday deluge, the show will return in January.)
• Generation Gamble (8/7c, CNBC): Melissa Lee reports on a new trend among Gen Z of online investing, crypto and sports betting apps that may be encouraging risky financial behavior.
• BET Hip Hop Awards (9/8c, BET): Nelly receives 2021’s “I Am Hip Hop” Award at the ceremony from Cobb County, Georgia, where Cardi B, Lil Durk and Megan Thee Stallion lead the nominations with nine each.
• The Nate & Jeremiah Home Project (9/8c, HGTV): Interior design experts and spouses Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent help homeowners renovate with a personal touch, incorporating their own mementos. First up: Two sisters want to keep their mom’s memory alive in the house they’ve inherited.
• Dinner: Impossible (10/9c, Food Network): Robert Irvine travels the U.S. attempting to feed huge crowds under challenging conditions. His first stop: Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, where Team Irvine whips up new spins on the park’s favorite dishes for 150 fans at the park’s 150th anniversary, using only ingredients from the concession stands.
• American Crime Story: Impeachment (10/9c, FX): It’s Christmastime 1997, and Monica Lewinsky (Beanie Feldstein) has her sights set on a move to New York, unaware that the shoe is about to drop—courtesy of her “friend” Linda Tripp (Sarah Paulson), now working openly with the FBI and the Independent Counsel. An agent insists her secret tape recordings are essential, because “a jury would bleep-ing hate that lady [Tripp].” Her betrayal is about to come out into the open.