It’s not quite the new TV season for scripted broadcast shows. But it is the new season for the big fall reality shows. So here’s “The Voice” (NBC, 8 p.m.), positioned as a giant for the network – with three prime time shows this week.
It’s also the best part of the show, where the star judges – who are way bigger than an talent they’ll ever find – do their thing with their swivel chairs, choosing singers based on how they sound rather than how they look.
“The Voice” proves that it is the camaraderie of the judges panel that is paramount – so the spotlight won’t come off much from Adam Levine, Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green and Blake Shelton.
As such, they use it to introduce a “preview” of the new fall sitcom “The New Normal” (NBC, 10 p.m.), which looks exactly like the pilot episode. It’s about a same sex couple played by Justin Bartha (who looks just like Paul Ryan) and Andrew Rannells who enlist a young single mom to be a surrogate for their new baby. Like a lot of Ryan Murphy productions, it’s got a lot of energy and sharp humor at first, and some terrific characters including the young woman, played by Georgia King and especially her bigoted high society mother played by Ellen Barkin. Nene Leakes is in there somehow as well, though I liked best the brainy kid played by Bebe Wood.
That a Utah station has already protested the show plays into Murphy’s hands; in reality, there’s something vaguely old fashioned about the show, especially in the stereotypes of the gay men, who like the one in another new fall sitcom “Partners,” are of the over the top variety. And what’s normal about Murphy shows, from “Nip/Tuck” to “Glee” to “American Horror Story” is that what looks exceedingly promising at first degenerates into something former fans quickly start hating, as the producers continue trying to push remaining viewers with plot twists that border on contempt.
It’s a big night for reality shows ending too, with the two hour “Bachelor Pad” (ABC, 8 p.m.) both naming a winner and including a contestants-tell-all.
Two of the three summer Gordon Ramsay series wrap up. On the 10th finale of “Hell’s Kitchen” (Fox, 8 p.m.), it’s between Christina Wilson, 32, of Philadelphia, and Justin Antiorio, 29, of Lyndhurst, N.J. The winner gets a job at Ramsay’s Las Vegas steakhouse.
The finalists on his “MasterChef” (Fox, 9 p.m.) may be more interesting. It’s between Christine Ha, 33, a blind graduate student from Houston Texas and Josh Marks, 24, a U.S. Army contract specialist from Jackson, Miss. The prize there is $250,000 and a cookbook contract.
In one of the most ambitious broadcasts on public television, Wagner’s complete Ring cycle runs each night all week through “Great Performances at the Met” (PBS, 9 p.m., check local listings). While the individual four operas will run Tuesday through Friday, tonight will set the stage with the difficulties faced by director Robert Lepage and the Metropolitan Opera in planning the event, and its 45-ton set, in a film by Susan Froemke titled “Wagner’s Dream.”
It’s Cincinnati at Baltimore (ESPN, 8 p.m.) on Monday Night Football season premiere that’s a double header. It’s followed by San Diego at Raiders (ESPN, 10:15 p.m.).
The first half of the first season finale comes for “Perception” (TNT, 10 p.m.).
“Making a Model: 28th Elite Model Look” (Style, 8 p.m.) follows women competing to be the new face of Elite Modeling, as part of the network’s week-long coverage of Fashion Week.
Along these lines, the third season of “All on the Line with Joe Zee” (Sundance, 9 p.m.) puts the Elle creative director in contact with designers who desperately need his help. First up are a pair of designers for the preppy meets hipster line Unruly Heir, who look for all the world like the guys from “How to Make it In America.” Zee is the most incisive, encouraging and brutally honest fashion experts on TV. He puts on an entertaining show, but he feels he has to pull in some celebrities, too, including Mario Lopez.
Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs of “2 Broke Girls” host the half hour “CBS Fall Preview” (CBS, 8:30 p.m.), perhaps to soften the blow about their unexciting upcoming new shows.
Sydney’s the destination on “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations” (Travel, 9 p.m.).
“NewNowNext Vote with Wanda Sykes” (Logo, 10 p.m.), the comedienne talks about current politics and issues with a panel tht includes Barney Frank, Obama campaign chairman Joe Solmonese and Jimmy LaSalvia of the conservative GoProud.
Meghan’s not getting along with her clique on “Bad Girls Club” (Oxygen, 9 p.m.).
The work of choreographer Jack Cole gets the spotlight on Turner Classic movies, with “Tonight and Every Night” (8 p.m.), “On the Riviera” (10 p.m.), “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (11:45 p.m.), “Les Girls” (1:30 a.m.), and “River of No Return” (3:30 a.m.).
The best known work of Michael Clarke Duncan, who died last week at 54, was “The Green Mile” (AMC, 7 p.m.), which gets another replay.
Delayed a day by Saturday’s rain the men’s final of the U.S. Open (CBS, 4 p.m.) between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic comes right at a time when new daytime shows were set to premiere.
Daytime Talk
Kelly & Michael: Blake Shelton, Josh Radnor. The View: Jessica Simpson, Sheryl Crow. The Talk: Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Stafford, Melody Thomas Scott, Katherine Kelly Lang. Ellen DeGeneres: Pink, Patrick Dempsey, Gabrielle Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Kyla Ross.
Late Talk
David Letterman: Kathy Griffin, Michael Somerville, Josh Turner (rerun). Jay Leno: Sylveser Stallone, Missy Franklin, Dwight Yoakam (rerun). Jimmy Kimmel: Lea Michele, Simon Bird, the Avett Brothers. Jimmy Fallon: Blake Shelton, Andrew Rannells, Tavi Gevinson, David Byrne & St. Vincent. Craig Ferguson: Ben Stein. Tavis Smiley: Keanu Reeves. Carson Daly: Jake Johnson, the Glitch Mob, the Ting Tings (rerun). Jon Stewart: Michael Steele (rerun). Stephen Colbert: Jon Huntsman (rerun). Conan O’Brien: Kelsey Grammer, the Head and the Heart. Chelsea Handler: Nina Dobrev, Michael Yo, Lauren Lapkus, Ross Mathews.