Irish Noir in ‘Bloodlands,’ C.B. Strike returns, Peyton Manning Counts Down ‘History’s Greatest,’ Marty Rocks ‘The Neighborhood’

Season Premiere

A riveting presence in British crime dramas including Murphy’s Law and The Missing, James Nesbitt returns in one of his darkest projects as detective Tom Brannick for the intense Irish noir’s second season. Viewers learned Tom’s most dangerous secret at the climax of Season 1, and in the wake of a new murder, he tries to hide from his colleagues the existence of a missing fortune of gold while tangling with the victim’s widow (Once Upon a Time’s Victoria Smurfit), a femme fatale for the ages. Two episodes drop each week before the Feb. 20 finale. Also new to Acorn: a new season of the much lighter The Madame Blanc Mysteries.

Season Premiere

9/8c

Tom Burke returns as Robert Galbraith’s (the pseudonym of J.K. Rowling) damaged PI hero Cormoran Strike for an adaptation of the fifth novel in the series, in which childhood grief haunts him and his client, Anna Phipps (Sophie Ward), who hires Strike to pursue the cold case of her mother, missing since 1974. He agrees, while also caring for his dying aunt (Call the Midwife’s Linda Bassett). Good thing he still has fellow sleuth Robin Ellacott (Holliday Grainger) to lean on, although fans seem to want them to be more than just workmates.

Series Premiere

10/9c

The NFL Hall of Famer knows something about being a GOAT, which sets him up nicely as host of a new series that enlists 100 experts in various fields to orchestrate top-10 countdowns of all sorts of greatest-of-all-time subjects. The opening episode features something dear to Manning’s heart, as the show lists the top 10 stadiums of all time, reaching all the way back to the iconic and ancient Roman Colosseum.

8/7c

The network’s Monday night comedies aren’t going anywhere. Just renewed for a sixth season, The Neighborhood is rocked when Marty (Marcel Spears) reveals his future plans to parents Calvin (Cedric the Entertainer) and Tina (Tichina Arnold). Eyebrows are also raised at Marty’s bachelor party, where neighbor Dave (Max Greenfield) lets loose his freak flag. Also renewed for another season (its fifth) is Bob Hearts Abishola (8:30/7:30c), in which Bob (Billy Gardell) labors to put his foot down—presumably clad in a fashionable sock—when his over-the-top family becomes a distraction on delivery day at his new sock factory. Elsewhere, Abishola (Folake Olowofoyeku) sees a new side of Kemi (Gina Yashere) when her successful son pays a visit.

INSIDE MONDAY TV:

• Alert: Missing Persons Unit (9/8c, Fox): In the new procedural, while Jason (Scott Caan) and MPU colleague Mike (Ryan Broussard) head to the Allegheny Mountains to seek a missing couple, Jason’s presumed once-missing son Keith (Graham Verchere) joins a trauma therapy group where he connects with a peer.
• NCIS (9/8c, CBS): Tania Raymonde (Goliath) guests as a famous actress who shadows the team to prepare for a role, but may get more than she bargained for when they investigate a decapitation.
• The Good Doctor (10/9c, ABC): It could be an uncomfortably crowded house when Dr. Glassman (Richard Schiff) bunks with Shaun (Freddie Highmore) and Lea (Paige Spara) while his house is being exterminated.
• Black Travel Across America (10/9c, National Geographic): A documentary special visits landmarks once listed in the “Negro Motorist Green Book,” which guided Black travelers during an era of racial segregation to hotels, restaurants and other businesses that would service Black customers.