What’s Worth Watching: ‘Dancing With the Stars’,’The Big Bang Theory’, ‘Scorpion’ and more for Monday, October 3

Dancing With the Stars (8/7c, ABC): Most every season, there’s at least one unexpected breakout personality from a Dancing cast, and in the fall’s early going, it may just be the smallest of the stars making the biggest impression. Little Women reality star Terra Jolé has won many viewers over with her upbeat attitude, never more evident than in her glorious waltz with partner Sasha Farber. This week, the cast’s biggest challenge may be trying not to be upstaged by acrobats, aerialists and other performers from the Cirque du Soleil troupe, as each couple dances a routine inspired by one of the company’s spectacular shows. Seems a bit early in the season’s run to try something this ambitious, but at least a few, including Jolé, might well rise to the occasion.

The Big Bang Theory (8/7c, CBS): Breaking Bad‘s Dean Norris returns as the Air Force colonel keeping the guys on a tight schedule for their government project, a deadline that inspires Sheldon (Jim Parson) to try an energy drink. If there’s anyone that doesn’t need a stimulant …

Scorpion (9/8c, CBS): Double the excitement as the third season kicks off with a two-hour premiere, sending the team in search of hackers who have commandeered U.S. military aircraft, warships—and in the second hour, a nuclear submarine—with U.S. cities as potential targets.

The Real World: Two documentaries of note: HBO’s Class Divide (8/7c) uses a New York City neighborhood, living in the shadow of the iconic tourist attraction High Line, to illuminate the nation’s economic disparity as symbolized by a newly gentrified community. … PBS’s Independent Lens revisits a pivotal moment in TV political journalism in Best of Enemies (9/8c, check local listings at pbs.org), which looks back to the volatile year of 1968, when ABC News hired two commentators of extremely divergent political views—leftist novelist Gore Vidal and conservative firebrand William F. Buckley Jr.—to spar during coverage of the Republican and Democratic nominating conventions. Their vitriolic banter was shocking then, but can be seen as a precursor of the non-stop punditry on display all over contemporary TV news.