What to Watch on TV: One Day at a Time, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Black-ish
Welcome to a new week and another round of What to Watch on TV for the week of October 4th! We’ll be sharing our picks for what to watch this week, from marathons to big guest spots, and significant episodes of TV to look forward to while stuck inside.
This week’s picks include network debuts of One Day at a Time and Swamp Thing, Black-ish’s Election special, and more.
Update: Due to a last-minute NFL scheduling change, One Day at a Time will not be airing on CBS on Monday, October 5, as initially scheduled. Therefore, it has been removed from our What to Watch on TV column this week.
Here are our recommendations for what to watch on TV this week:
Flesh and Blood – Sunday, October 4
A widowed mother finds love again which sets off suspicions among her 3 adult children and they uncover if the new man in her life is all he says he is. Flesh and Blood debuts Sunday, October 4 at 9/8c on PBS.
Series Description: The lives of three siblings (Claudie Blakley, Russell Tovey, Lydia Leonard) are disrupted when their recently widowed mother (Francesca Annis) declares she’s in love with a new man (Stephen Rea). The older woman’s budding romance provokes suspicion among her adult children and their inquisitive next-door neighbor (Imelda Staunton), and a detective (David Bamber) investigates whether an unfortunate incident was an accident or a heinous crime.
Black-ish – Sunday, October 4
Dre, Bow, and company impart some wisdom and knowledge to Junior as he heads to his first time in the polls in a hybrid live-action and animation hour. The Election special also brings familiar (animated) faces throughout the special. Black-ish returns Sunday, October 4 at 10/9c on ABC.
Episode Description: Junior is excited for his first time voting but discovers he has been purged from the voter polls so he does a deep dive into why – trying to understand the systems in place for voter registration; In a special animated episode, Dre’s colleague Stevens (Peter Mackenzie) makes an ill-advised decision to run for Congress, so Dre enlists his family’s help and campaigns against him but gets caught up with fundraising and private interest groups.
Swamp Thing – Tuesday, October 6
After concluding its run on DC Universe, the monster series will be heading to The CW, joining the likes of Stargirl and other DCTV veterans, as the series follows a CDC investigator as she looks into a local Louisiana samp. Swamp Thing debuts Tuesday, October 6 at 8/7c on The CW.
Episode Description: While looking into an epidemic in her Louisiana hometown, CDC investigator Abby Arcane discovers that the local swamps hold numerous secrets after her partner seemingly dies and transforms into Swamp Thing.
Books of Blood – Wednesday, October 7
Hulu is bringing Clive Barker’s horror anthology to the small screen as the film adaptation follows the 3 stories interwoven throughout space and time. Books of Blood debuts Wednesday, October 7 on Hulu.
Movie Description: Based on Clive Barker’s acclaimed and influential horror anthology BOOKS OF BLOOD, this feature takes audiences on a journey into uncharted and forbidden territory through three uncanny tales tangled in space and time.
Coroner – Wednesday, October 7
The CW’s latest Canadian acquisition returns for a new season of mysteries as city coroner, Jenny, assists in the investigation. Coroner returns Wednesday, October 7 at 9/8c on the CW.
The Outpost – Thursday, October 8
Life on the outskirts returns and picks up where it left off as Zed forces the humans to work and tensions continue to rise. The Outpost returns Thursday, October 8 at 9/8c on the CW.
Episode Description: Zed (Reece Ritchie) forces humans to work a mining camp as Talon (Jessica Green) struggles to keep peace. A sassy genius invades Janzo’s (Anand Desai-Barochia) lab. A dark Priestess unites the Blackbloods.
The Haunting of Bly Manor – Friday, October 9
Mike Flanagan is ready to tell another haunting tale, this time taking on Henry James’ stories of horror with some familiar faces in new places. The Haunting of Bly Manor drops Friday, October 9 on Netflix.
Series Description: From The Haunting of Hill House creator Mike Flanagan and producer Trevor Macy comes THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR, the next highly anticipated chapter of The Haunting anthology series, set in 1980s England. After an au pair’s tragic death, Henry Wingrave (Henry Thomas) hires a young American nanny (Victoria Pedretti) to care for his orphaned niece and nephew (Amelie Bea Smith, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) who reside at Bly Manor with the estate’s chef Owen (Rahul Kohli), groundskeeper Jamie (Amelia Eve) and housekeeper, Mrs. Grose (T’Nia Miller). But all is not as it seems at the manor, and centuries of dark secrets of love and loss are waiting to be unearthed in this chilling gothic romance. At Bly Manor, dead doesn’t mean gone.
Deaf U Season 1 – Friday, October 9
A new series follows the lives of a group of deaf students at a university as they navigate life, school, love, and everything in between. Deaf U season 1 drops Friday, October 9 on Netflix.
Series Description: A coming-of-age documentary series following a tight-knit group of deaf students at Gallaudet University, a renowned private college for the deaf and hard of hearing, in Washington, D.C. As the group of friends navigate the high, lows, and hookups of college life together, their stories offer an unprecedented, unfiltered, and often unexpected look inside the Deaf community.
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Those are our picks for the week! What are you planning to watch? Share in the comments below!
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Brianna Martinez
Brianna spends her time away from briefs, legal research, and pleadings, watching TV and writing about it. She generally has a lot of feelings about TV, which you can read about here and on Twitter.