Every big franchise with big sequels eventually gets a big expensive series as well and “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” (Amazon Prime, 9 p.m.) is certainly that — the most expensive TV series ever made by some accounts. And yet the saga of that takes place millennia before the J.R.R. Tolkien we know, back when the rings were forged by elves and men. Elves lived a long time, which means a couple of them, Robert Aramayo’s Elrond and Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel, have been seen previously in Peter Jackson’s movie series. But a lot of the rest of the young cast are newcomers. After the first two episodes becoming available tonight, the remaining episodes will premiere on the next half dozen Fridays.
The new animated sci-fi series “Pantheon” (AMC+, streaming) is based on a set of stories by Ken Liu about a bullied teen who might be getting help from her deceased father, brought back by a new method. Daniel Dae Kim, Katie Chang, Aaron Eckhart, Taylor Schilling, Ron Livingston and William Hurt provide voices.
The new romantic film “Love in the Villa” (Netflix, streaming) has one of the oldest plots: Two singles are double booked into the same Italian villa. Kat Graham and Tom Hopper star.
A new hour-long stand-up comedy special premieres, “Sam Morrill: Same Time Tomorrow” (Netflix, streaming).
College football begins its Thursday night run with prime time games of West Virginia at Pittsburgh (ESPN, 7 p.m.), Central Michigan at Oklahoma State (Fox Sports 1, 7 p.m.), Penn State at Purdue (Fox, 8 p.m.), Louisiana Tech at Missouri (ESPNU, 8 p.m.), Alabama A&M at UAB (CBS Sports, 8 p.m.) and Cal Poly at Fresno State (Fox Sports 1, 10:30 p.m.).