What’s On: Ann Curry’s ‘We’ll Meet Again,’ WGNA’s ‘Bellevue,’ Return of ‘Detour,’ ‘Bellevue,’ ‘Quad,’ and More

We'll Meet Again - Ann Curry
PBS
We'll Meet Again - Ann Curry

We’ll Meet Again (8/7c, PBS): Ann Curry returns to TV for a docu-series that plays to her strength in telling stories with an emotional and personal core. Each episode features people whose lives were impacted by historical events and their desire to reconnect with someone from that time. In the opener, we meet two people in their 80s: Reiko, a Japanese-American woman who spent part of her childhood in an internment camp in the 1940s, and who’s looking for the classmate who stood up for her against the prejudice of the times; and Roger, a German Jew who fled with his family in 1938 and found sanctuary in the Shanghai Ghetto, who hopes to meet a child born of the family that befriended him in those dark hours. The reunions are, as expected, tear-jerkers.

Bellevue (10/9c, WGN America): Having scrapped all of its original programming, including the acclaimed Underground, the channel is now looking to less expensive acquisitions from abroad to boost its profile. First up: a dreary eight-part crime drama from Canada’s CBC that’s all gnarly edge with little else to commend it. Anna Paquin stars as a troubled (what else) detective in a rural burg that is rocked by the disappearance of a transgender teen and hockey star. Could this be connected to a 20-year-old murder case? And who’s taunting our heroine with creepy mind games? Not sure it’s worth the effort to find out.

Back for More: It’s a banner day of shows returning for new seasons. A sampling: BET’s The Quad (10/9c) is back in session for a second season, with Georgia A&M president Dr. Eva Fletcher (Anika Noni Rose) hoping to raise money to keep the university independent. … TBS’s The Detour (10:30/9:30c) sends the embattled Parker family off to small-town Alaska to seek refuge in the third season of the raucous comedy. … FX’s Baskets (10/9c) opens its third season with the hopeless Baskets clan in hapless business together, operating the Baskets Family Rodeo. … Comedy Central’s Drunk History (10/9c) wobbles into a fifth season with stories of historic heroines: Tiffany Haddish narrating the story of museum curator Rose Valland (Busy Phillips), who saved art treasures from the Nazis, Paget Brewster introducing us to Revolutionary War martyr Deborah Sampson (Evan Rachel Wood), and Amber Ruffin saluting American Red Cross founder Clara Barton (Mandy Moore). Followed by the third-season premiere of costume-drama parody on Another Period (10:30/9:30c), with sisters Lillian (Natasha Leggero) and Beatrice (Riki Lindhome) still seeking fame commensurate with their decadent fortune.

Inside Tuesday TV: Kudos to NBC’s This Is Us (9/8c) for its ensemble cast win at the SAG Awards. Not much information about this week’s episode, except that Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) are contemplating their future, while fans no doubt get misty-eyed knowing how short-lived that future will be. … PBS’s essential documentary series Frontline (9/8c, check local listings at pbs.org) delivers a powerful two-hour special, Exodus: The Journey Continues, profiling refugees and migrants caught in a political vise as borders in the U.S. and Europe tighten. … Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern (9/8c) chows down in the host’s adopted home state of Minnesota, with bear pastrami, duck stew and muskrat with gravy among the items on the menu.