Rob Lowe Is ‘Unstable,’ A ‘Ghosts’ Descendent, ‘Alaska’ Finale, ‘CSI’ Cold Case, MLB Opening Night

Series Premiere

Rob Lowe moonlights from 9-1-1: Lone Star with his equally charming and charismatic son, John Owen Lowe, in a snappy, delightfully offbeat comedy about, what else, a heightened father-son relationship. Rob is Ellis Dragon, a world-famous biotech creator whose potentially world-saving visionary projects are in jeopardy because of his, yes, unstable mental state following the death of his wife. (The Apple TV+ comedy Shrinking has a similar premise, although with much lower stakes.) To save his company, and to keep a concerned board off his back, uptight CFO Anna (Fleabag’s fabulous Sian Clifford) enlists Ellis’ estranged flute-playing son Jackson (John Owen) to reunite with and hopefully ground his sad dad. The chemistry between the Lowes is terrific, and the influence of fellow creator/producer Victor Fresco (Better Off Ted, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, more recently Santa Clarita Diet) can be felt in the inspired workplace wackiness. Not a dud in this ensemble, including Fred Armisen as a smitten therapist who never wants to leave the Dragon homestead.

8:30/7:30c

Another ghost’s descendant arrives at Woodstone, when 1930s jazz singer Alberta’s (Danielle Pinnock) great-grandniece Alicia (Ashley D. Kelley) checks into Woodstone, so intrigued by the podcast investigating her ancestor’s murder that she begins to fall for creepy co-host Todd (Rodrigo Fernandez Stoll). While Alberta and the rest of the spirits beg Sam (Rose McIver) to put a stop to this attraction, another paranormal relationship is in jeopardy, when the secret affair between Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky) and Trevor (Asher Grodman) is in danger of being exposed by redcoat Nigel (John Hartman), who tries his hand at petty blackmail.

Season Finale

10/9c

In the season finale of the issue-driven newspaper drama, reporters Eileen (Hilary Swank) and Roz (Grace Dove) follow leads from a newly released 9-1-1 call that could help exonerate a prisoner who was coerced to make a false murder confession. These ace journalists might want to make good on their job offers from the New York Times and Washington Post, respectively, because the rest of the newsroom is all abuzz about rumors of a new rival publication with deeper pockets that could put them all out of business.

10/9c

Series creator Anthony E. Zuiker returns to write an emotional stand-alone episode of the rebooted procedural, which also welcomes back original cast member Eric Szmanda as irreverent investigator Greg Sanders, who’ll be filling in for a while on the “vampire shift.” The case of the week is a personal one for Crime Lab chief Max Roby (Paula Newsome), who makes it her mission to find long-overdue justice when the remains of a young girl are found in a barrel submerged for more than 40 years in a drying Lake Mead. After experts reconstruct the victim’s face, her mother (well played by the fierce Regina Taylor) confronts Max, distrustful that the police will finally be able to do their job. We know better.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• Major League Baseball Opening Night (7 pm/ET, ESPN): With World Series champ Houston Astros hosting the Chicago White Sox for opening night, a revered former Astro—seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemons—joins the broadcast both with Karl Ravech, analyst Eduardo Perez and reporter Buster Olney. Let the games begin.
• Prom Pact (8/7c, Disney Channel): Doogie Kamealoha’s Peyton Elizabeth Lee stars in a high-school romcom as Mandy, a yearning-for-Harvard senior who tutors a jock (Blake Draper) whose Harvard alum senator dad could help get her accepted. Co-stars include Milo Manheim as Mandy’s bestie and The Goldbergs’ Wendi McLendon-Covey as her mom.
• Young Sheldon (8/7c, CBS): Attention must be paid, when Sheldon’s (Iain Armitage) twin Missy (Raegan Revord) steals their dad’s truck to run away with her troubled friend, child prodigy Paige (Mckenna Grace).
• Grey’s Anatomy (9/8c, ABC): The docs go to work to save several lives when the hospital goes into lockdown after last week’s attack by anti-abortion protesters. Somehow amid the chaos, Maggie (soon-to-depart cast member Kelly McCreary) manages to get on husband Winston’s (Anthony Hill) wrong side again.
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (9/8c, NBC): The squad’s newest member, Detective Grace Muncy (Molly Burnett), sheds her tough shell when Benson (Mariska Hargitay) brings in her brother (Michael Trotter), who Grace helped raise, as a person of interest in a case involving women’s drinks being drugged in crowded bars.
• CMT Defining: Carly Pearce (10/9c, CMT): A new series of specials highlighting the career paths of female country musicians begins with the reigning ACM Awards Female Artist of the Year.
• RapCaviar Presents (streaming on Hulu): A docuseries inspired by the Spotify playlist tackles hot-button issues including gender norms, misogynism, social media and mental health from the perspective of hip-hop stars including Jack Harlow, Roddy Ricch, Polo G, City Girls and Tyler, The Creator.
• Silent Road (streaming on Topic): A Greek crime drama, launching with three episodes, depicts the shock waves when a bus of schoolchildren disappears, held for ransom.
• The Dreamer—Becoming Karen Blixen (streaming on Viaplay): A name familiar from the Oscar-winning Out of Africa comes into sharper focus in a Danish docudrama, starring Wonder Woman’s Connie Nielsen as Karen Blixen during the 1930s, as she became a writer after returning from her years in East Africa.