Networks long ago have given up on Fridays as a major day of their programming schedule. Nonetheless, they have been using it for genre shows. It also adds, eventually, the critical hit “Crazy Ex Girlfriend” later this fall, opposite the family comedies and newsmagazines. We’ve been sailing a daily look at what’s coming in the fall TV season. Here’s what’s happening on Fridays.
NEW SHOWS
“The Exorcist” (Fox, 9 p.m., tonight) is a better than expected return to the scary movie of 1973. The new version from Jeremy Slater occurs about the same time but takes on another story about a possession. Gene Davis stars as a Chicago mother worried about demons in her house so has called a couple of priests, one who doubts what’s happening, the other who has had a very bad experience in this area. As in the original, the scariness is implied for long stretches until the demon acts out. With Ben Daniels, Alfonso Herrera and Alan Ruck.
“MacGyver” (CBS, 8 p.m., starts tonight). Speaking of reboots, here’s one of the old corny series that starred Richard Dean Anderson as a government agent who can make weapons out of detritus from your pockets. The new version seems more based on the parody “MacGruber,” with a too young-looking Lucas Till as the title character leading a mindless action trifle.
RETURNING SHOWS
“Hell’s Kitchen” (Fox, 8 p.m., tonight), “Last Man Standing” (ABC, 8 p.m., tonight), “The Vampire Diaries” (The CW, 8 p.m., Oct. 21) “Dr. Ken” (ABC, 8:30 p.m., tonight), “Dateline” (NBC, 9 p.m., tonight), “Hawaii Five-O” (CBS, 9 p.m., tonight), “Shark Tank” (ABC, 9 p.m., tonight), “Crazy Ex Girlfriend” (The CW, 9 p.m., Oct. 21), “Blue Bloods” (CBS, 10 p.m., tonight).
OF NOTE ON CABLE
“High Maintenance” (HBO, 11 p.m., Sept. 16). The splendid online series has made an easy transition to premium cable, where Ben Sinclair’s job as a bicycling pot delivery man gives him entry into any number of unexpected New York City stories.
“Quarry” (Cinemax, 10 p.m., Sept. 9) a better than usual period action series based on the novels, about a Vietnam Vet in the 70s who is recruited by mobsters to become a contract killer. The Memphis setting adds a lot to the visuals, but also the music.
“Van Helsing” (Syfy, 10 p.m., tonight) is a new futuristic vampire series starring Kelly Overton, who was in another cable vampire series, “True Blood.” Here she wakes up after a three year sleep with the power to cure vampirism with a bite.
“Wolf Creek” (PopTV, 10 p.m., Oct 14). The Australian villain is the same from the original horror film, John Jarratt, but the hero is the daughter of the American victims, Lucy Fry, in the six-episode update.