Jeopardy! Masters, ‘Dance Moms’ Reunion, Going Behind the Music, Tudor Sleuthing with ‘Shardlake’

Season Premiere

8/7c

While the syndicated daily version of TV’s greatest quiz show has thankfully shed the yoke of non-stop tournaments, six of the game’s greatest players return for a second season of prime-time contests, with the winner taking home $500,000 and 2024’s Masters title. Last year’s champ, James Holzhauer, faces returning Jeopardy! Masters players Matt Amodio, Mattea Roach and “wildcard” pick Amy Schneider, joined by Yogesh Raut and Victoria Groce. After tonight’s game, Masters returns on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays through the grand finale on Wednesday, May 22.

Special

8/7c

Their disgraced former leader Abby Lee Miller is nowhere to be seen, but her shadow looms large over a two-hour reunion of fan-favorite Dance Moms alums and their mothers, dishing on the highs and lows of the reality show’s eight-season run, which ended in 2019. JoJo Siwa (currently a judge on So You Think You Can Dance) returns with fellow dance veterans Paige and Brooke Hyland, Kendall Vertes, Kalani Hilliker and Chloë Lukasiak. Their moms also weigh in on having survived Miller’s colorful reign of terror. Followed by Dance Moms: Epic Showdowns (10/9c), a compilation show hosted by Christi Lukasiak featuring the show’s most memorable dance battles—and unforgettable meltdowns.

Season Premiere

The iconic music docuseries returns with three new installments and remastered episodes featuring the late Sinéad O’Connor, The Notorious B.I.G., Milli Vanilli, Ice-T, Bobby Brown and 50 Cent. The new subjects include second-generation rock royalty Wolfgang Van Halen, country music star Trace Adkins and R&B trio Bell Biv DeVoe, who rode to success after New Edition folded and survived infighting, financial setbacks, addiction and mental health issues. In other words, perfect fodder for Behind the Music.

Series Premiere

One of the best literary mystery series finally finds its way to TV in an adaptation of the Tudor-era novels by C.J. Sansom (who died Saturday at 71). The four-episode season dramatizes Dissolution, the first volume. The protagonist: principled lawyer Matthew Shardlake (Arthur Hughes), a social outcast who’s considered a “crookback” because of his scoliosis. He’s charged by King Henry VIII’s powerful advisor Thomas Cromwell (Game of Thrones’ Sean Bean) to investigate a murder at a rural monastery that the royal government wants dissolved and closed. The monks greet Shardlake with understandable suspicion, and the lawyer isn’t sure he can trust his assigned companion Jack Barak (Anthony Boyle, on a roll with high-profile roles in Masters of the Air and Manhunt), who he suspects is spying for Cromwell.

Special

10/9c

Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts sits with Brittney Griner, the two-time Olympic gold medalist and nine-time WNBA All-Star, for her first exclusive prime-time interview since her 10-month ordeal of being detained in a Russian prison. Griner discusses the emotional toll of her incarceration and shares the few personal possessions that helped sustain her until her release in December 2022. The special also features interviews with Griner’s lawyer wife Cherelle Griner, who fought for Brittney’s release, presidential envoy of hostage affairs Roger Carstens and Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• Chicago Fire (9/8c, NBC): Most fans would likely say it’s about time: Severide (Taylor Kinney) steps up as ranking offer at 51. The episode is sandwiched by Chicago Med (8/7c), where Maggie (Marlyne Barrett) embarks on a new romance, and Chicago P.D. (10/9c), with Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) becoming obsessed with a missing-persons cold case connected to a young girl’s plea for help.
• Abbott Elementary (9/8c, ABC): Ava (Jenelle James) hosting a book club? The mind reels. Elsewhere, two teachers’ double date goes awry when they encounter some familiar faces. Followed by The Connors, now airing at 9:30/8:30c, with Dan’s (John Goodman) magazine assignment for Hardware magazine stirring Ben’s (Jay R. Ferguson) passion for writing, and Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) unable to stop herself from getting involved in Louise’s (Katey Sagal) campaign for the school board.
• Supermarket Stakeout (9/8c, Food Network): No grocery cart is safe in this competition, back for a new season with host Alex Guarnaschelli guiding chefs in cook-offs that consist of ingredients they can snag from shoppers leaving a grocery store. The season leads to a four-week tournament featuring past judges.
• The Amazing Race (9:30/8:30c, CBS): A new locale for the long-running travel competition: Barbados, where the teams visit Rihanna’s childhood home.
• Chucky (10/9c, Syfy and USA Network): Jake (Zackary Arthur) faces all sorts of perils in his quest to find Caroline (Carina London Battrick) in the Season 3 finale of the twisted horror comedy.

ON THE STREAM:

• Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar (streaming on Netflix): From India, director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s lavish eight-part epic depicts a battle for control of an elite house of courtesans, playing out against the nation’s violent revolution for independence from British rule.
• Rather (streaming on Netflix): Legendary and often controversial TV news anchor Dan Rather’s turbulent 60-plus-year career is the subject of director/producer Frank Marshall’s documentary profile.
• Acapulco (streaming on Apple TV+): The sunny comedy’s third season opens in 1985, with younger Maximo (Enrique Arrizon) focused on rising to the top at the Las Colinas resort, whatever it takes, as present-day older Maximo (Eugenio Derbez) tells his story.