All-Star ‘All’s Fair,’ ‘Lowdown’ Finale, ‘Dancing’ Rocks Out, Playing the ‘Squid Game’

All’s Fair

Check out this blue-chip cast: Kim Kardashian, Naomi Watts, Niecy Nash-Betts, Sarah Paulson, Teyana Taylor, Glenn Close. And get a load of the names of the characters they’re playing: Allura Grant, Liberty Ronson, Emerald Greene, Carrington Lane, Milan, Dina Standish. Sounds like high-class Scandal-level trash, but we’ll have to see it to believe it since episodes weren’t made available for preview. All’s Fair (as in “in love and war”), from Ryan Murphy Productions, is set in a swank all-female firm specializing in divorce law, and among the clients seen in the juicy trailer are the likes of Brooke Shields, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Judith Light, who have been known to leave little scenery unchewed when given the chance. Launches with three episodes. Bring popcorn.

The Lowdown

When last we saw “truthstorian” and muckraking snoop Lee Raybon (Ethan Hawke), he was facing down a racist militia within a church of gun-toting zealots. How’s he going to get out of this scrape? And will his crusade for the truth finally expose the shady land deal that led to the death of Oklahoma gubernatorial candidate Donald Washberg’s (Kyle MacLachlan) more sensitive brother Dale (Tim Blake Nelson)? The season finale of Sterlin Harjo‘s offbeat dramedy takes some wild leaps as it addresses the climactic dilemma of how a hero can ride off into the sunset if his van won’t even start.

Dancing With the Stars

Rock on, dancers! With this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction scheduled for Saturday (live-streaming on Disney+), the remaining couples perform Paso Doble, Jive, Contemporary, Viennese Waltz, and Jazz routines to iconic rock and pop classics immortalized by past and present inductees. Flavor Flav, a 2013 Hall of Famer as part of Public Enemy, joins the judges’ panel, while co-hosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough step in to join the couples in the team competition, when they perform to live versions of “Celebration” by Kool & the Gang and “25 or 6 to 4” by Chicago.

Squid Game: The Challenge

Every second counts as 456 contestants eagerly don those green jumpsuits to play a non-lethal version of the elaborate game, each hoping to beat the odds and reap that $4.56 million fortune. As the extreme reality competition’s second season begins, it doesn’t take long to cull the herd, though it’s still a daunting field, with breakouts including a calculating pair of twins and a gregarious father-daughter team. There’s a target on everyone’s back—make that shirt front, which explodes in a squib of ink when anyone’s number comes up should they fail to master these creatively twisted versions of classic children’s games. Launching with four episodes, followed by four more on Nov. 11 and the finale on Nov. 18.

Doc

In a taut episode of the medical drama, the hospital faces repercussions from the UNOS transplant system, with Chief Medical Officer Michael (Omar Metwally) on the spot for lying to the agency during a hostage crisis. In happier news, TJ (Patrick Walker) is back to work after being shot during that incident, tackling an emotional case involving a prison inmate and his dying mother. Recovering amnesiac Amy (Molly Parker) is also challenged emotionally, treating a hospital chaplain (Timothy V. Murphy) who despite his pain offers some healing words for her troubled relationship with daughter Katie (Charlotte Fountain-Jardim).

Inside Tuesday TV:

• NCIS (8/7c, CBS): Rocky Carroll directs an episode involving the kidnapping of the wife of a high-ranking Department of Justice official. Followed by NCIS: Origins (9/8c), featuring Philip Winchester (Law & Order: SVU) as team leader Mike Franks’ (Kyle Schmid) estranged brother, Mason; and NCIS: Sydney (10/9c), which takes a page from The X-Files‘ playbook during the search for a U.S. Navy pilot who vanishes at a UFO hotspot in the Outback.
• Rock Hudson: Star of the Month (8/7c, Turner Classic Movies): The matinee idol (1925-85) is featured every Tuesday this month, starting with an inauspicious early appearance as a Native American in 1950’s Winchester ’73, followed by his sole Oscar-nominated performance in the 1956 epic Giant (9:45 pm/8:45c).
• Murder in a Small Town (8/7c, Fox): The Vampire Diaries‘ Sara Canning guest-stars as a survivor of a bear attack that may be covering up an actual murder.
• Love & Hip Hop: Miami (8/7c, BET): The reality series moves to BET for its seventh season.
• The Curse of Oak Island (9/8c, History Channel): The 13^th season opens with a new revelation in the treasure hunt finding a possible connection to the Knights Templar.
• Who Hired the Hitman? (10/9c, Investigation Discovery): A weekly true-crime docuseries seeks the mastermind behind a murder, opening with the puzzling death of a farmer found dead on his kitchen floor.
• Frontline (10/9c, PBS): Reporter Evan Williams explores “The Rise of Germany’s New Right.” 

On the Stream:

• Leanne Morgan: Unspeakable Things (streaming on Netflix); The Tennessee-bred comedian and star of Chuck Lorre‘s Leanne (renewed for a second season) riffs on family life, motherhood, and newfound stardom in her second Netflix stand-up comedy special.
• Guts & Glory (streaming on Shudder): The final three hope to survive a farmhouse scare and win the spooky reality competition that recreates classic horror-movie scenarios. Once the blood settles from the season finale, series creator Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead franchise) takes viewers behind the scenes in a special episode.
• Forest of the Missing (streaming on MHz Choice): A four-part limited series from France depicts the search for a serial killer when 12 male skeletons are discovered in the Black Forest near the French-German border.