Back to School With ‘Abbott,’ Finales of ‘Slow Horses’ and ‘Bad Monkey,’ Diddy’s Secret Life, ‘Lost Monster Files’

Abbott Elementary

Did those adorable Philly elementary-school teachers Janine (Quinta Brunson) and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) take their relationship to the next level after last season’s kiss at the end-of-the-school-year party cliffhanger? Our lips are sealed—for now. More than love is in the air as Season 4 opens with the school in an uproar over the nearby construction of a golf course, sapping water and gas resources and stirring up the bug population. Can you spell g-e-n-t-r-i-f-i-c-a-t-i-o-n? If that weren’t enough, the district’s HR rep is making a rare and unwelcome visit.

Slow Horses

The spy dramedy’s thrilling Season 4 finale finds agent River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) face to face with his nemesis for yet another shocking reveal, while Slough House puts itself in the crosshairs of a Terminator-like assassin. Dual action climaxes keep the pulse racing.

Bad Monkey

Another terrifically entertaining series reaches its endpoint in the finale of Bill Lawrence’s adaptation of Carl Hiaasen’s comedy thriller. The tension escalates, and the body count rises, as Yancy (Vince Vaughn) stays behind on the island of Andros to see justice done to arch-villains Nick (Rob Delaney) and Eve (Meredith Hagner). An inner voice keeps telling Yancy to “let it go,” but will he listen? Elsewhere during a frightful storm, the Dragon Queen’s (Jodie Turner-Smith) confrontation with Eve takes a mystical turn. A plea to Apple TV+: Please say you’ll be adapting Hiaasen’s other Yancy novel, Razor Girl.

20/20

In The Secret Life of Diddy, the newsmagazine digs into the allegations against rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs that led to his arrest last month on charges including sex trafficking and racketeering. Among those interviewed: musician/actor Ray J, Lizzette Martinez, an abuse survivor who relates an incident with Diddy, and Tiffany Red, a friend of Diddy’s ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, who was shown in a notorious video being physically assaulted by Diddy.

Lost Monster Files

Everyone’s getting into the creepy Halloween spirit this month—including Discovery, which reaches back a half-century to dig into the files of the late cryptozoologist Ivan Sanderson, who dedicated his career to researching legendary and unknown species. His study of unexplained creatures is fodder for a team of experts including a former CIA officer and FBI agent, a cryptozoologist following in Sanderson’s footsteps, a field scientist and wildlife trackers. Their first case involves animal mutilations in the Smoky Mountains that bear a resemblance to the legend of the Chupacabra from the Southwest. Could the beast be migrating?

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• The Golden Bachelorette (8/7c, ABC): Joan’s latest group date involves Chippendales dancers, so we hope her suitors are super body confident.
• Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (8/7c, Turner Classic Movies): A night of vintage horror comedy featuring “Star of the Month” Bela Lugosi leads off with 1948’s first pairing of the comedy duo and Universal’s iconic monsters. Lugosi reprises his signature role of Count Dracula, while Glenn Strange takes on Frankenstein’s monster, in whose head a scientist schemes to swap Costello’s befuddled brain.
• Inside the NFL (9/8c, The CW): The first significant schedule change of the new season: the NFL panel series swaps places with the British drama Joan, now sentenced to Fridays after just one episode.
• American Pickers (9/8c, History Channel): With a salute to the late Frank Fritz, the reality series launches its 26th season with Mike Wolfe angling to buy a billboard from the site of Evel Knievel’s 1974 Snake Canyon jump.
• Expedition Unknown (9/8c, Discovery): Josh Gates resumes his global travels, opening Season 14 with a trip to Petra, Jordan to dig for clues about an ancient kingdom.
• Bargain Block New Orleans (9/8c, HGTV): Renovation experts Keith Bynum and Evan Thomas work hard in the Big Easy to restore dilapidated homes on a historic block of the Crescent City.
• The Summit (9:30/8:30c, CBS): Following a new episode of Survivor (8/7c), the climb continues in New Zealand, with the Mountain’s Keeper forcing the climbers to make a tough choice during a challenge involving a terrifyingly unstable bridge.
• House of Villains (10/9c, E!): As if you needed a reminder that reality TV’s most polarizing players rarely fade away, Season 2 of the elimination series, hosted by Joel McHale, features notable pot-stirrers including Survivor’s Season 1 winner Richard Hatch, The Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Teresa Guidice, The Bachelor’s Victoria Larson, The Challenge’s Wes Bergmann, RuPaul’s Drag Race’s Kandy Muse and, making a return appearance, Flavor of Love’s Tiffany “New York” Pollard.
• Wild West Chronicles (10/9c, INSP): The latest tale from Bat Masterson (Jack Elliott): How Wells Fargo detectives tracked down stagecoach robber Black Bart.

ON THE STREAM:

• Starting 5 (streaming on Netflix): The streamer’s latest sports series gets up close and personal with five NBA stars, following LeBron James, Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler, Anthony Edwards and Domantas Sabonis through the 2023-24 season over 10 episodes.
• La Máquina (streaming on Hulu): Y tu mamá también stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna reunite for Hulu’s first Spanish-language original series, a six-part boxing drama (available as a binge) about a boxer whose comeback is complicated by threats from a criminal organization.
• More international fare on Apple TV+ with new episodes of the Spanish-language drama Midnight Family, in which paramedic-by-night Marigaby (Renata Vaca) faces consequences when her medical school learns she’s been breaking the rules; and the German-language dark comedy Where’s Wanda?, with the Klatts bugging another home in their suburban neighborhood looking for traces of their missing daughter, only to discover a possible sex-trafficking operation.