A series celebrating vintage TV opens with a tribute to I Love Lucy, the groundbreaking sitcom that revolutionized the industry. A CBS comedy finds laughs in the workplace at a Hollywood branch of the DMV. FBI moves to Mondays, joined by the second season of Watson, where Sherlock Holmes is about to return from the presumed dead.
Everett Collection
TV We Love
Love vintage TV? If you’re reading this, you probably do. An eight-episode docuseries revisits the shows we grew up watching, either in eternal repeats or (depending on your age) in first run on prime time. The series opens with one of the all-time classics: the 1950s blockbuster comedy I Love Lucy, which, thanks to the vision of Lucille Ball‘s husband, co-star and producer Desi Arnaz, changed the way TV was made, setting the template for profitable repeats and syndication. The Lucy tribute explores the show’s radio roots, Ball’s insistence that the TV series feature her Cuban-born husband, the uproar over Lucy’s on- and off-air pregnancy, and the couple’s influence as studio heads when they transformed the former RKO Studios (where they met) into the TV production powerhouse of Desilu. A bonus: timeless clips including the grape stomping, the chocolate factory, and my favorite: Vitameatavegamin. It’s so tasty. Future episodes explore iconic series from The Honeymooners and Dynasty to The Brady Bunch, The Love Boat, Happy Days, Cheers, and Touched by an Angel.

Thunderbolts*
Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes with Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster, and John Walker. After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission. Forced to confront the darkest corners of their pasts, will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite before it’s too late?

Bertrand Calmeau / CBS
DMV
While maybe not a classic for the ages, there are pleasures to be had in this droll workplace comedy set in a place few, if any, look forward to visiting: the Department of Motor Vehicles. The pilot episode introduces the ambivalent employees of an East Hollywood branch, where a whiteboard reads “It has been [X number of] tests since I nearly died.” Harriet Dyer (Colin from Accounts), who toiled at a car manufacturer in NBC’s too-short-lived American Auto, is now enduring calamitous driving tests as instructor Colette, who’s carrying a torch for hunky new employee Noa (Alex Tarrant) from New Zealand. She’s a constant source of amusement for co-workers Gregg (Saturday Night Live alum Tim Meadows) and Vic (Tony Cavalero). The only one not laughing is newly promoted manager Barbara (Molly Kearney, another SNL veteran), who feels the stress when two observers show up to assess whether the office deserves to stay open or become fully automated.

Bennett Raglin/CBS
FBI
The last remaining FBI series on the network’s schedule sets up shop on a new night for Season 8, with its New York headquarters still recovering from the domestic terror attack that ended last season, leaving Special Agent in Charge Isobel Castille (Alana de la Garza) fighting for her life. Assistant SAC Jubal Valentine (Jeremy Sisto) takes over for now as the team investigates the disappearance of a federal judge, who went missing while looking for his son on a secluded and lawless island on the city’s edge.

Colin Bentley/CBS
Watson
It doesn’t take a Sherlock to deduce this rule of TV: If you don’t see a body, never assume a character is truly departed. And so it is with this medical mystery drama, relocating from Sundays for its second season, with Robert Carlyle (Once Upon a Time) waiting in the wings as the fabled Sherlock Holmes, who was presumed killed in the rushing waters of Reichenbach Falls when the series began. The focus of the show, however, will still be on Dr. John Watson (Morris Chestnut), his loyal friend who now leads a team of young scientific sleuths at Pittsburgh’s Holmes Clinic. In the opener, they take on a case with serious personal ramifications when the mother of Watson’s boss and ex-wife Mary (Rochelle Aytes) accidentally poisons herself while suffering from a rare form of dementia.

Trae Patton/NBC
The Voice
The singing competition moves on from Blind Auditions to the Battle Rounds, and the coaches are leaning on some heavy hitters to serve as advisors to their newly formed teams. Snoop Dogg has enlisted Lizzo to mentor his team (which includes Toni Lorene, who sang Lizzo‘s “Cuz I Love You” in her audition), while Niall Horan brings on Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi, and Reba McEntire and Michael Bublé turn to two former Voice coaches (Nick Jonas and Kelsea Ballerini, respectively) to help the contestants prepare for their sing-offs. For the first time, the players pick their own battle partners, and as in the past, the coaches come armed with one steal and one save.
INSIDE MONDAY TV:
- Monday Night Football (7:15 pm/ET, ESPN): The Buffalo Bills face the Atlanta Falcons. An hour later, a game between the Chicago Bears and the Washington Commanders kicks off on ABC at 8:15 pm/ET.
- The Neighborhood (8/7c, CBS): There goes the neighborhood—but not until this eighth and final season is over. Until then, fans can still enjoy the shenanigans of the neighboring Johnson and Butler families.
- Celebrity Name That Tune (8/7c, Fox): House costars Omar Epps and Kal Penn go head-to-head, testing their musical knowledge. Followed by a gathering of former TV high-schoolers on Celebrity Weakest Link (9/8c), with Jane Lynch schooling Friday Night Lights alums Scott Porter and Aimee Targarden, 7th Heaven‘s Barry Watson and Beverley Mitchell, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air‘s Tatyana Ali (with her TV mom Daphne Reid), and 90210‘s Shenae Grimes and Matt Lanter.
- Studio C (8/7c, 5 pm/PT, BYUtv): Josh Peck joins the sketch comedy for its Season 21 premiere.
- Everybody Loves Raymond (9/8c, MeTV): The Emmy-winning comedy (1996-2005) joins the nostalgic prime-time lineup with back-to-back episodes airing Mondays through Fridays.
- Brilliant Minds (10/9c, NBC): Jane Krakowski (Ally McBeal, 30 Rock) guests as Dr. Wolf’s (Zachary Quinto) new patient, an unstable, wealthy woman fighting against her family’s conservatorship. His and Dr. Pierce’s (Tamberla Perry) diagnosis faces scrutiny because the family is among Bronx General’s biggest donors.
- Solar Opposites (streaming on Hulu): The animated comedy about aliens on Earth drops its 10-episode sixth and final season.