‘American Idol’ in Nashville, ‘Wild Cards’ Deals the Mom Card, Senior Moments at ‘St. Denis,’ Amanda Knox Returns to Italy

American Idol

The path to future superstardom runs through Nashville in the singing competition’s 24th season (the ninth on ABC), where host Ryan Seacrest and judges Carrie Underwood (on her second tour of duty), Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie welcome hopefuls to “Idol University” in Music City, which is also where this year’s “Hollywood Week” round will be conducted later in the season. Other changes include a new ‘Ohana Round filmed in Hawaii featuring a focus group panel of influencers and tastemakers, after which the Top 20 will sing for America’s vote, for the first time incorporating social media.

Wild Cards

The third season of the charming caper series opens with reformed con artist Max (Vanessa Morgan) now an official police consultant, complete with beadazzled badge, reuniting with back-on-duty detective Ellis (Giacomo Gianniotti), cleared of all charges and refreshed from the break. “You are done with all the crimes, right?” Ellis nudges. Well … One thing she’s not telling him — yet — is that her long-thought-dead mother Vivienne (Bones‘ Tamara Taylor) has unexpectedly returned after 15 years on the run, with a deadly crime lord on her trail, endangering the entire family. But first, there’s the murder of a gifted pool shark to solve. And as Max likes to say, pool cue in hand, “Never hustle a hustler.”

St. Denis Medical

The hospital mockumentary stages a Health and Wellness Fair for local seniors, which supervising nurse Alex (Allison Tolman) sees as a great opportunity for education. She’s a buzzkill compared to the irreverent Chaplain Steve (Stephen Schneider), who gets the golden agers out of their seats to dance and play games. While Alex fumes, surgeon Bruce (Josh Lawson) and administrator Joyce (Wendi McLendon-Covey) cope with a patient whose Do Not Resuscitate order was mistakenly ignored, and whose bleak outlook on life makes them re-examine their own work/life balance.

Mouth of the Wolf: Amanda Knox Returns to Italy

You’d think Amanda Knox would have had enough of Italy, the country that wrongly imprisoned her on charges of murdering her roommate while a college student, leading to a sensational trial that most recently inspired a Hulu limited-series docudrama. In a new documentary, co-produced by ABC News Studios and directed by her husband Christopher Robinson, Knox heads back to Italy for the first time since her exoneration in 2015, serving as keynote speaker at a conference of the Italy Innocence Project. The emotional journey features a face-to-face encounter with Giuliano Mignini, the prosecutor who jailed her more than 15 years ago.

History’s Deadliest with Ving Rhames

Going beyond the true-crime genre, this new docuseries turns a long lens on devastating natural events as well as dastardly wrongdoers from the pages of history. Mission: Impossible stalwart Ving Rhames hosts the 10-part survey, opening with an episode featuring natural disasters. “Mother Nature is more powerful than man by far,” says Rhames, and History’s Deadliest demonstrates that fact with a roundup of killer hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, and fires.

INSIDE MONDAY TV:

• Extracted (8/7c, Fox): The wilderness survival competition returns for a second season, with two-time Survivor champ Sandra Diaz-Twine among those watching the action from headquarters and deciding when and whether to extract the players, which include Eric, the boyfriend of Sandra’s daughter.
• Memory of a Killer (9/8c, Fox): The thriller moves into its regular time period, with secret hitman Angelo (Patrick Dempsey) seeking the man who shot at his pregnant daughter, while trying to deflect the suspicions of FBI agent Linda Grant (9-1-1: Lone Star‘s Gina Torres).
• The Rookie (10/9c, ABC): The crime drama moves to a new night, but will Nolan (Nathan Fillion) be moving to D.C. with Bailey (Jenna Dewan)? Before that’s settled, the couple springs into action after witnessing a murder off duty.
• Brilliant Minds (10/9c, NBC): Dr. Wolf (Zachary Quinto) diagnoses a puzzling case of AI-induced psychosis when a sorority sister is admitted with strange symptoms.
• The Curious Case of … (10/9c, Investigation Discovery): A two-part episode concluding next week unravels the legal nightmare experienced by skincare queen Dawn DaLuise after a rival beautician set up shop nearby, and harassment turned into a murder-for-hire charge.
• Fatal Attraction: I’d Kill to Be You (10/9c, TV One): More true crime in a series exploring cases involving extreme envy and obsessive identity theft.
• The Office: Superfan Episodes (streaming on Peacock): The classic sitcom’s ninth and final season gets the “Superfan” treatment with behind-the-scenes footage, recut scenes, and other bonus material.