What’s On: ‘American Masters’ on Edgar Allan Poe, Kelly Clarkson as ‘Voice’ Advisor, Return of ‘Donuts’
Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive (9/8c, PBS, check local listings at pbs.org): Be still the tell-tale heart of any Poe fan, as American Masters presents producer Eric Stange’s atmospheric biographical portrait of the prolific and troubled 19th-century writer best known for his eerie Gothic tales, trend-setting detective stories and haunting poems. Denis O’Hare (American Horror Story) recites Poe prose in feverishly melancholy reenactments, while Kathleen Turner provides sonorous narration, with commentary from the likes of Marilynne Robinson and cult-film icon Roger Corman (who takes ghoulish delight in describing premature burial, a favorite Poe motif, as “the ultimate claustrophobia”). Poe’s was a life marked by loss, tragedy and self-destructive impulses, and the circumstances of his untimely death at 40 are as shrouded in mystery as any of his enduring works.
The Voice (8/7c, NBC): One of the smartest moves this Emmy-winning singing competition has executed lately is locking down Kelly Clarkson, Season 1 champ of American Idol, as a coach for the next cycle, Season 14, before ABC’s rebooted Idol premieres in the new year. As a prelude, Clarkson serves as an advisor to all of the teams as the “Knockout Rounds” get underway this week.
Superior Donuts (9/8c, CBS): Now that The Big Bang Theory has decamped back to Thursday nights, leaving the mostly woeful Monday comedy lineup behind, last midseason’s comedy returns with Orange Is the New Black‘s Diane Guerrero joining the cast. She’s Sofia, whose new-to-the-block organic food truck threatens to upstage Arthur’s (Judd Hirsch) donut shop. Not that Franco (Jermaine Fowler) is all that concerned, as he is immediately intrigued by the alluring upstart.
Inside Monday TV: A Halloween edition of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars (8/7c) includes a team dance competition, with the remaining eight contestants divided into two squads, Team Monster Mash and Team Phantom of the Opera, each captained by the two lowest-ranked celebs left (for those keeping score, that would be Terrell Owens and Drew Scott). … Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) once again teams with fellow resident Claire (Antonia Thomas) on ABC’s The Good Doctor (10/9c), developing an experimental procedure that could help a young groom keep his leg. … CBS’s Scorpion (10/9) gets in the Halloween spirit, encountering a “ghost ship” while ghost-hunting aboard the Queen Mary.
