Ted Danson Is ‘a Man on the Inside,’ ‘Based on a True Story’ Returns, a ‘Grey’s Heat Wave, Humans Take on Hamsters

Cheers and The Good Place alum Ted Danson is in top form in this poignant eight-episode comedy as Charles, a widowed professor who’s adrift until he answers an ad from a private eye (the wry Lilah Richcreek Estrada) looking for someone to go undercover at a posh San Francisco retirement home and expose a jewel thief. The mystery angle takes a back seat to poignant comedy as Charles becomes attached to his new acquaintances, a who’s who of seasoned character actors including Sally Struthers, Margaret Avery, Stephen McKinley Henderson, L.A. Law’s Susan Ruttan, John Getz, and Lori Tan Chinn. As Didi, the facility’s warmly efficient and overwhelmed administrator, Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Stephanie Beatriz oversees these golden girls and guys with compassion, and while she suspects something’s up with Charles’s cover story, she (and we) can’t help but succumb to his charms.

After their misadventures last season in true-crime podcasting (in cahoots with an actual serial killer), Ava and Nathan Bartlett (played to frazzled perfection by Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina) return for Season 2 of the addictive comedy thriller as new parents of infant Jack. They’ve sent Westside Ripper Matt (Tom Bateman) away, but not for good, and when he returns on the arm of Ava’s sister Tory (Liana Liberato), just as a new wave of murders terrorizes L.A.’s West Side, the farcical intrigue kicks back into high gear. Melissa Fumero (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) joins the cast as Drew, a mom who bonds with Ava while also revealing a special interest in the killings.

Winter may be coming (if not already here) for many of us, but in Seattle, the doctors at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital are contending with a heat wave in the long-running medical drama’s fall finale. (Climate alert, anyone?) While the staff deals with a surge of overheated patients, pregnant Jo (Camilla Luddington) and intern Lucas (Niko Terho) head out to fetch ice at a convenience store when their errand takes a dangerous twist.

Who’s the more impressive mammal species, humans or those furry little caged rodents? Saturday Night Live cut-up Sarah Sherman hosts with football commentator Kyle Brandt as a whimsical game show pits teams of humans against hamsters in challenges that are sized proportionally with contestants working their way through mazes, obstacles and many, many snacks. Yes, there is a wheel. The eight-episode season is available for an instant binge, with episodes airing on Magnolia Network at 8/7c starting Friday.

The Yule Log: CBS airs a rare original TV-movie as a holiday attraction, with the offbeat comedy Nugget Is Dead? A Christmas Story (8/7c), from the creators of the hilarious Paramount+ sitcom Colin from Accounts. This romp likewise centers on a canine not in his prime, in this case Nugget, who falls perilously ill as Christmas approaches, causing Steph Stool (Vic Zerbst) to scrap the lavish plans she made with her boyfriend and return to her chaotic family on the Australian coast.

More traditionally, Hallmark Mystery presents A Novel Noël (8/7c), starring Julie Gonzalo as a big-city book editor who takes over a small-town bookstore for December, butting heads with the owners’ hunky son (Brendan Penny). Streaming on BET+, A Wesley South African Christmas sends the Wesley family to Durban, South Africa to keep Todd (Terayle Hill) company over the holidays when his international business venture takes longer than he expected to close. Food Network’s Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking (8/7c) welcomes Harry Potter alum Warwick Davis (Professor Filius Flitwick and the goblin Griphook) as guest judge. The Roku Channel’s The Great American Baking Show: Celebrity Holiday special is back for a third time, with Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith judging the efforts of celebrity bakers Anthony Anderson, Rob Riggle, Loni Love, Vanessa Bayer, and Curb Your Enthusiasm’s irrepressible Susie Essman.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• 9-1-1 (8/7c, ABC): Fall finale time, with the 118 rescuing victims in danger of drowning in their cars after a major pipe explosion. Followed by Doctor Odyssey (9/8c), where the theme of the week is “Quackers,” welcoming rubber ducky enthusiasts aboard, but Avery (Philippa Soo) is more concerned with what used to be known as the metaphorical “rabbit test.”
• Law & Order (8/7c, NBC): More fall finales (which means we won’t see new episodes until the new year), starting with Lt. Brady (Maura Tierney) heading back to her old precinct to investigate dirty cops after the murder of a narcotics officer. Followed by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (9/8c), where Carisi (Peter Scanavino) is caught in a hostage situation, and Found (10/9c), with the team’s search for a mentally ill missing mother triggering Margaret’s (Kelli Williams) memories of her long-vanished son.

ON THE STREAM:

• The Day of the Jackal (streaming on Peacock): The assassin known as the Jackal (Eddie Redmayne) is trapped in Hungary, the prisoner of a Budapest farmer, while MI6 agent Bianca (Lashana Lynch) continues her manhunt as the back half of the international thriller begins.
• Alien: Romulus (streaming on Hulu): The sci-fi horror franchise returns to its roots with a claustrophobic summer hit, set on a seemingly abandoned space station, making its streaming debut.
• Cruel Intentions (streaming on Hulu): Guilty pleasure alert: A steamy new version of the 1999 cult film (inspired by Dangerous Liaisons) devotes eight episodes, available as a binge, to the scheming of step-siblings Caroline (Sarah Catherine Hook) and Lucius (Zac Burgess) at an elite Washington, D.C., university, where the U.S. Vice President’s daughter, Annie (Savannah Lee Smith), becomes their pawn in power games within the Greek system.
• The Sex Lives of College Girls (streaming on Max): A lighter but no less naughty romp of undergraduate hijinks returns for a third season.
• Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter (streaming on Viaplay): A lush Swedish fantasy series depicts the forbidden friendship of Ronja (Kerstin Linden), born into a medieval band of forest thieves, and Birk (Jack Bergenholtz Henriksson), son of an archrival robber.