Matthew Broderick plays the villain Richard Sackler in yet another dramatization of the opioid crisis. “Painkiller” (Netflix, streaming) is a six-episode limited series based on the book of the same name by Barry Meier and a New Yorker article by Patrick Madden Keefe. Real victims introduce the story, but Taylor Kitsch plays a victim in the series, which plays out a little more slowly than the Michael Keaton-led 2021 series “Dopesick.” But Uzi Aduba is strong as a government investigator who goes after the big Pharma family.
Ashley Liao stars as an American sent to a Taiwanese cultural immersion program where romance is a byproduct in the romance “Love in Taipei” (Paramount+, streaming).
In the new animated “Mech Cadets” (Netflix, streaming) is set 50 years in the future where a teen breaks away from his janitorial job to become a robo-pilot.
The second season of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” (Paramount+, streaming) comes to an end.
Preseason football has Houston at New England (NFL, 7 p.m.) and Minnesota at Seattle (NFL, 10 p.m.).
“The Challenge: USA” (CBS, 10 p.m.), a longtime MTV mainstay, makes its migration to broadcast network television through some familiar faces participating from “Survivor,” “Big Brother” and “The Amazing Race.” T.J. Lavin hosts.
“Fight to Survive” (CW, 8 p.m.) is a new survival competition in prime time, one of two that starts tonight. The other is “Alone Australia” (History, 10:30 p.m.) is a spin-off of “Alone” (History, 9 p.m.) that takes the survivalist series down under in a competition set in remote Tasmania.