After a wait of nearly three years, the hit supernatural comedy-mystery from the Addams Family universe returns for a long-awaited second season, with Emmy nominee Jenna Ortega’s mastery of deadpan derision undimmed by time. As the delightfully dour Wednesday Addams, she returns for a new term at Nevermore Academy to experience one of her worst nightmares: popularity. (In Wicked terms, she’s the anti-Glinda with Elphaba’s fashion sense.) Lauded for her heroic actions in Season 1, Wednesday sneers at autograph seekers: “I only sign my name in blood. I never said it was my own blood.” With Tim Burton directing the first and last episodes of this four-episode half-season (the remainder drops Sept. 3), Steve Buscemi joins the fun as the chipper new principal, who’s much more indulgent of Wednesday’s moods and mordant whims. A mysterious stalker, deadly eye-plucking crows and a portent of doom for one of her classmates are among the dilemmas causing Wednesday to shed black tears: “Psychic exhaustion” is how her mother Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) explains it. Also enrolled at Nevermore this season: her younger brother Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez), a social outcast seeking a ghoul-friend to call his own.

The buddy comedy that asks if a manchild (The Studio‘s Seth Rogen) and a married-with-kids woman (Rose Byrne) can be best platonic buddies returns for a second season with fraught new complications. Chief among them is brewmaster Will’s (Rogen) relocation from L.A. to San Diego and his impending marriage to food-conglomerate CEO Jenna (Rachel Rosenbloom), who understandably feels intimidated by Will and Sylvia’s (Byrne) friendship. In the first of two episodes, party planner Sylvia takes on the betrothed couple’s engagement party, where things don’t exactly go smoothly. To assuage the ensuing awkwardness, Sylvia and her incredibly indulgent husband Charlie (Luke Macfarlane), who’s revealed to be a top-tier Jeopardy! nerd, invite Will and Jenna to their home for a grown-up couples’ dinner party. What could go wrong?

The dishy period drama that deserves Bridgerton-level buzz ends its turbulent second season with bombshell upon bombshell, as Theo the Duke of Tintagel (Guy Remmers) and his unhappy bride Nan (Kristine Froseth) host a ball to mark the end of the social season, each planning to make a game-changing announcement. But with so many twists to process — Guy’s (Matthew Broome) drunken marriage to Paloma (Grace Ambrose), Lizzy’s (Aubri Ibrag) no-longer-secret tryst with Theo — this masked ball promises to be a scandalous night to remember.

Everything old is ewww again when the Paddy’s gang revisits a Season 1 classic from 2005 that saw the cradle-robbing Dee and Dennis (Kaitlin Olson and Glenn Howerton) going to the prom with two underage patrons. Two decades later, Tammy and Trey (Jaimie Alexander and Robert Adamson, reprising their roles) return to Paddy’s, this time to bust their own kid for illegally imbibing. Not having matured an iota in the interim, in denial that they’ve grown that much older, Dee and Dennis interfere in the couple’s lives again, with the usual disastrous consequences.

We never doubted that Ken Jennings could carry Matt Damon all the way to $1 million for his charity. Can anyone else match their success this season? Two pairs of costars from hit series give it a shot, when Community‘s Joel McHale and Jim Rash take the hot seats, followed by Emmy-nominated Severance actors Tramell Tillman and Zach Cherry. Next up: a new episode of Match Game (10/9c), with host Martin Short welcoming a panel including the irrepressible Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and comic scene-stealers Andrea Martin, Thomas Lennon, Ego Nwodim, Pete Holmes and Jackie Tohn.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• Family Law (8/7c, The CW): Half-siblings Abby (Jewel Staite) and Daniel (Zach Smadu) take on a new client: a tennis star who wishes to be un-adopted. The catch: Turns out the client was never truly adopted. Followed by a repeat of the pilot episode of the enjoyable Good Cop/Bad Cop (9/8c).
• Expedition Unknown (9/8c, Discovery): In the season finale, Josh Gates travels to Turkey and an ancient dig site where he finds evidence of tribal skull rituals.
• Pompeii: The New Dig (10/9c, PBS): A new episode from the headline-making archaeological dig in Pompeii reveals more astonishing discoveries in the volcanic ruins, including a woman with pearl earrings and a private spa and gym.
• Forged in Fire (10/9c, History Channel): In the first episode of a three-part Champion’s Cup challenge, three winning smiths return for a shot at further glory.
• The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (streaming on Disney+): The award-winning animated coming-of-age comedy returns for a tuneful third season.