New Batch of Masked Singers, Swan Song on ‘Feud,’ Erika Plays Vegas, Golfers Take a ‘Full Swing’

Season Premiere

8/7c

Rita Ora adds sparkle to the panel of regulars (Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg and Robin Thicke) trying to figure out who’s crooning beneath those elaborate masked costumes as Season 11 of TV’s silliest singing competition gets underway. As always, the draw here is the fantastical array of designs, with the first round of contestants including an Ugly Sweater, Gumball, Lizard, Goldfish, Starfish and (perhaps the most radical notion for this witless show) a Book.

10/9c

In the series’ penultimate episode “Beautiful Babe,” which could just as appropriately be titled “As I Lay Dying,” Naomi Watts movingly portrays New York society’s alpha swan Babe Paley in her final days. “I’ve had a life,” she reflects, succumbing to cancer and dreaming about her former friend Truman Capote (Tom Hollander) on her deathbed. “What if we accepted how little it matters in the end?” she confides about the feud that erupted after he published their inner circle’s secrets in a scandalous Esquire article. Even so, the author is blocked before and after her death, with CBS magnate Bill Paley (the late Treat Williams) refusing to let Truman attend the funeral and eulogize the woman who held their group together for so many glittery years.

Special

9/8c

Leave it to the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills diva to bring the backstage drama as Erika Jayne prepares over a hectic six-week rehearsal period to begin a residency in performance at the House of Blues in Las Vegas. She may be singing the blues about the legal woes in her chaotic personal life, but with opening night looming, Erika will need to hit her mark and earn the spotlight.

Season Premiere

In a year marked by “a lot of controversy and a lot of uncertainty,” the second season of the pro golf docuseries leans into the business of sport when a proposed deal is announced between the PGA Tour and Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf. It’s also a Ryder Cup year, with the selection of teams from the top ranks of U.S. and Europe. Among the stars weighing in on the personal and professional pressures: Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Tom Kim, Wyndham Clark and Ryder Cup captains Luke Donald and Zach Johnson.

10/9c

Who’s the giant “Blue Avian” bird who’s come to recall alien-in-disguise Harry (Alan Tudyk) for violating galactic law? None other than The Righteous Gemstones scene-stealer Edi Patterson, though you can call her Heather after she sheds her wings. “You’re a lot different,” she marvels at Harry, the once-cold alien who’s now showing signs of human emotion—including infatuation. “I bet she smells like a feather pillow locked in a hot car,” Harry fantasizes during this alien encounter. Elsewhere, Sheriff Mike (Corey Reynolds) and deputy Liv (Elizabeth Bowen) make progress in tracking what happened to alien tracker Peter Bach (Terry O’Quinn).

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• Survivor (8/7c, CBS): While one tribe reels from the season’s first tribal council, another castaway wins the biggest music battle in Survivor history: “Taylor Swift vs. Metallica.”
• My 600-Lb. Life (8/7c, TLC): The 12^th season opens with the story of Krystal, who turns to Dr. Younan “Dr. Now” Nowzaradan for help after meeting the man of her dreams, whom she won’t wed until she’s confident she’s well enough that he won’t need to be her caretaker.
• Animal Control (9/8c, Fox): It’s mating season as Season 2 of the workplace sitcom opens, and while love is in the air—including with inebriated raccoons at a bowling alley—Animal Control officer Shred (Michael Rowland) isn’t feeling it, still smarting over office director Emily (Vella Lovell) dating former director Rick (Kevin Bigley). Scrubs’ Sarah Chalke guests as a former flame of Frank’s (Joel McHale) who had the nerve to ghost him.
• Family Guy (9:30/8:30c, Fox): The long-running animated comedy moves to a new night, with the Griffins inviting their friends to join them on a prize vacation to a cabin in Maine. Mayhem inevitably ensues.
• On the Case with Paula Zahn (10/9c, Investigation Discovery): A new season opens with the investigation into the 1999 double murder of teenage girls in Alabama.
• Rebranding Alert: As of today, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries is now Hallmark Mystery.

 ON THE STREAM:

• Extraordinary (streaming on Hulu): Season 2 of the spicy fantasy-comedy finds Jen (Máiréad Tyers) enrolling at a clinic to try to discover her latent power in a world where everyone is endowed with special gifts. Becoming an adult could be an even greater challenge.
• The New Look (streaming on Apple TV+): Christian Dior (Ben Mendelsohn) has an opportunity of a lifetime to open his own design house in the wake of World War II—“It’s time for life to being anew,” his investor tells him—but the fashion icon is more concerned in tending to his sister Catherine (Maisie Williams), emotionally broken from her experience in a Nazi prison camp.
• Constellation (streaming on Apple TV+): From the mouth of babes: “I don’t really know what’s what,” says Alice (Davina and Rosie Coleman), perplexed daughter of disoriented astronaut Jo (Noomi Rapace) in a psychological mystery that was more compelling in outer space than in delving into dualities in inner space. I’m with Alice, and bailing on this slow-moving, impenetrably pretentious muddle.