NFL Kickoff, New Edition of ‘The Paper,’ Patrick Brammall in ‘Last Seen’; Thriller, ‘Shards’ Finale

A sure sign that the summer TV season is over: the return of pro football to the primetime schedule. This year’s kickoff game is airing on Wednesday for only the second time in its quarter-century history to accommodate Thursday’s first-ever NFL game in Australia (streaming on Netflix). The game will feel like déjà vu to sports fans, a rematch of this year’s Super Bowl LX, pitting Sam Darnold and the championship Seattle Seahawks against Drake Maye and the New England Patriots. An NFL Kickoff Special begins at 7 pm/ET from Seattle’s Lumen Field, where a special halftime performance features Seattle’s own Soundgarden joined by Taylor Momsen and Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready.

The wry spinoff of The Office set at a struggling legacy newspaper in Toledo, Ohio, opens its second season on a rare moment of triumph, with the staff celebrating its victories at the Ohio Journalism Awards. Their party is, as you’d expect, short-lived, as idealistic Toledo Truth Teller editor-in-chief Ned (Domhnall Gleeson) and his mostly inexperienced and often inept newsroom once again face the realities of print journalism. (Example: A billboard touting their accomplishment somehow results in more canceled subscriptions.) Ned’s other challenges: keeping his workplace romance with ace reporter Mare (Chelsea Frei) a secret from everyone but those roving cameras and withstanding the scheming of narcissistic web editrix Esmeralda (Sabrina Impacciatore). All 10 episodes are available for binge-watching, though as is often the case, it’s more satisfying if you space them out.

Australian actor Patrick Brammall, who you might remember as the put-upon husband in Evil and more recently as Anne Hathaway‘s love interest in The Devil Wears Prada 2, is having a busy week. On Thursday, the final season of his hilarious romcom Colin from Accounts (co-starring his wife, Harriet Dyer) drops on Paramount+. He shows his dramatic range in this emotionally gripping six-part Aussie thriller, starring as Ian Ridley, a fallen detective-turned-emergency call dispatcher who’s never stopped looking for Maggie, his daughter who was kidnapped 11 years ago at age 3. When a child’s human remains are found following a storm, Ian’s obsession (which led to alcoholism) rekindles, and then he fields an emergency call from a panicked teenager he’s convinced is Mags. The series launches with two episodes.

If you’re seeking season-ending resolution or narrative coherence, look elsewhere. The Season 1 finale only adds more mysteries and violent mayhem to the glossy melodrama surrounding the privileged and overripe teens (using that term loosely) under siege by a serial killer in 1980s Los Angeles. Even a severed head in their prep school’s trophy case doesn’t stop the spoiled Debbie Schaffer (Hayes Warner) from hosting a Halloween party in her family’s mansion, where everyone’s a suspect when something unspeakable, though in this case undeniably satisfying, occurs in the opening scene. The season ends with the words, “And that’s when things really got crazy.” As if anything that’s happened previously makes any sense.

The Emmy-winning World War II drama from executive producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg is marking its 25th anniversary with a new documentary that explores the 10-part series’ cultural impact in its dramatization of the Greatest Generation’s wartime sacrifices from D-Day onward. Legacy features interviews with cast members including Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston, David Schwimmer, Michael Cudlitz, USMC Capt. Dale Dye (Ret.), and archival footage to commemorate the heroes of Easy Company. The special can also be streamed on HBO Max.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• MasterChef (8/7c, Fox): The two-part finale (wrapping September 16) opens with the top three cooks preparing a three-course menu reflecting their regional roots. Followed by a new episode of Nation’s Dumbest (9/8c), where the remaining contestants’ families are invited to watch what happens next.
• Alone (9/8c, History Channel): The grueling competition wraps its 13th season with the final survivalists fighting to make it to the end with the Arctic descending into near-total darkness.
• Save My Skin (10/9c, TLC): Among dermatologist Dr. Emma Craythorne’s cases in the Season 6 finale: a cancer patient whose treatment left her with facial scarring.
• The Ark (10/9c, Syfy): Ark One finds a ship in distress, while back on Homebase, shocking new information is discovered about their home planet.

ON THE STREAM:

• Ted Lasso (streaming on Apple TV): New Year’s Eve gives the women’s team a chance to let loose at a wild boat party hosted by Zelda (Tracey Ullman), and while ostracized coach Alice (Tanya Reynolds) nervously shows up, where’s Coach Ted (Jason Sudeikis)?
• NFL Play Action (streaming on Paramount+): Good Morning Football‘s Kyle Brandt hosts a weekly magazine-style series analyzing the top NFL stories of the week, with co-host Ally Love focusing on the intersection of sports with fashion, food, and entertainment.
• Reacher (streaming on Prime Video): Season 4’s penultimate episode reveals the secret within the damning photo, and the danger it poses to the public at large should the villains’ plot reach fruition. Good thing Reacher (Alan Ritchson) has something like 900 lives.
• Why Did I Get Married Again? (streaming on Netflix): The third film in Tyler Perry‘s Why Did I Get Married? rom-com franchise brings Empire‘s Taraji P. Henson into the fold as the mother of the groom at a destination wedding in fabulous Lake Como, where the attending couples all engage in some revealing soul-searching.
• Drawn Together (streaming on Prime Video): A Spanish-language thriller charts the relationship between an endangered heiress (Ester Expósito) and her extremely buff bodyguard (Hugo Diego García).