The much-maligned second season of “True Detective” (HBO, 9 p.m.) reaches its finale tonight with a 90 minute episode. Though the narrative has been dense and challenging, and its noir language a degree too hardboiled, it’s been another dazzling visual treat, twirling over the snaking Los Angeles highways, and mesmerizing with its performances by damaged trio of outcast cops, which may well be down to a duo by now).
I always liked the modernist touches of California politics, from corrupt suburban towns and casinos to a land grab associated with the proposed coastal bullet train. There have also been some pretty spectacular shootout scenes and a woozy party where the politically powerful preyed on women.
I have full faith in creator Nic Pizzolatto in bringing this intense saga to an end.
A celebration of National Parks on the verge of its 100th anniversary brings breathtaking views of Yosemite and Redwoods, and then to the Channel Islands and lesser known places like the Mineral Canyon and Indian Creek Canyon in the series narrated by Redford Redford.
To help herald the final season, coming up on January, “Masterpiece” (PBS, 9 p.m., check local listings) presents “Downton Abbey Rediscovered.” While the production values for the main show are impeccable, these interview shows are usually slipshod.
Fresh blood is still being served on “Bachelor in Paradise” (ABC, 8 p.m.).
A car hits a medical student on a bike on “Save My Life: Boston Trauma” (ABC, 10 p.m.).
Ratings dropped 50 percent between weeks one and two of “I Am Cait” (E!, 8 p.m.). Here comes week three.
Eph disguises himself to get out of the city which means the wig is off on “The Strain” (FX, 10 p.m.).
Having already investigated life, here’s “Project Afterlife” (Destination America, 10 p.m.).
The young actor Robert Walker is featured all day on Turner Classic Movies, in “Bataan” (6 a.m.), “Vengeance Valley” (8 a.m.), “Skipper Surprised His Wife” (9:45 a.m.), “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo” (11:30 a.m.), “Her Highness and the Bellboy” (2 p.m.), “Song of Love” (4 p.m.), “The Clock” (6:15 p.m.), “Strangers on a Train” (8 p.m.), “See Here, Private Hargrove” (10 p.m.), “What Next, Corporal Hargrove” (midnight), “The Beginning or the End” (1:45 a.m.) and “Madam Curie” (3:45 a.m.).
A rumbling of football begins with the NFL Hall of Fame Game of Pittsburgh vs. Minnesota (NBC, 8 p.m.).
Sunday night baseball has Dodgers at Pirates (ESPN, 8 p.m.).
WNBA action includes Phoenix at Chicago (ESPN, 2 p.m.) and Connecticut at Washington (NBA, 4 p.m.) A timely sport: Beach Volleyball (NBC, 4:30 p.m.).
Among NASCAR races, I do like the name of the Cheez-It 355 (NBC Sports, 2 p.m.).
Canadian football has Winnipeg at Hamilton (ESPNews, 5 p.m.).
ABC: Donald Trump, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich, Rick Perry, Sen. Cory Booker. CBS: Trump, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson, NAACP president Cornell William Brooks. NBC: Trump, Kasich, Sens. Marco Rubio, Claire McCaskill, Martin Luther King III, Andrew Young. CNN: Trump, Fiorina, Kasich. Fox News: Rand Paul.