It’s a big night on HBO with three worthy series back for new seasons at different spots in their flowering.
“The Comeback” (HBO, 10 p.m.) is the most unexpected — a return of Lisa Kudrow’s dotty, overly self-promoting actress of desperation Valerie Cherish, back with nearly all of the same cast nine years after the first season, pursuing success in a much more crowded reality show field.
The story of an actress who allows her every day to be filmed as a way to promote her work isn’t a reality show, though; it’s just about one. Every word is scripted, despite its dialogue of half thoughts and halts and starts. Because it also pokes fun at the kind of people who work at HBO, it may be the most meta work on the network since the original “Curb Your Enthusiasm” movie.
It returns alongside the comeback of an equally funny comedy that hardly anybody saw last year, the scathing “Getting On” (HBO, 10:30 p.m.), a thoroughly Americanized version of a British series about a gerontology ward run by an absolutely crazed doctor more intent on her perverse research. Laurie Metcalf’s performance, along with her role in the network sitcom “The McCarthys” make her TV’s comedy powerhouse of the season. She does some amazing stuff.
But the rest of the cast, led by Alex Borstein and Niecy Nash, is very good as well and there seems to be a wealth of guest stars who want to get in on what will only gain more stature as it goes along. In the first episode that includes Betty Buckley, Jean Smart and Alia Shawkat.
“The Newsroom” (HBO, 9 p.m.) has taken more bruises than a series this well-intentioned deserves. But Aaron Sorkin’s talky take on cable news operations and specific recent stories are a good backdrop for a very versatile cast in a season that seems to have settled down and grown in its ability to thread a few strong stories together. One is the sale of the network, another is the impending wedding of the battling old lovers played by Jeff Daniels and Emily Mortimer and the other, obvious from the first episode, is a kind of whistle-blowing/Ed Snowden thing involving Dev Patel’s character. “The Newsroom” also gets some sympathy for it being their final season.
Similarly maddening, ambitious and talkative is the series from playwright David Hare, “Worricker,” first introduced on “Masterpiece Contemporary” (PBS, 9 p.m.) with “Page Eight.” Here the former British spy Johnny Worricker, so smoothly played by Bill Nighy, is in exile on a Caribbean island that is also overrun with shady New Jersey businessmen hiding their money from ill-gotten means (prison contractors). It’s a heady bunch that includes Christopher Walken and Winina Wyder; others who pop up include Helena Bonham Carter, Rupert Graves and, very briefly, Ralph Feins as the British Prime Minister, somehow connected to this international intrigue. As with Sorkin, Hare’s dialogue fits in every characters mouth equally and his political intent may occasionally overrun the dramatic curve. But “Turks and Caicos,” the first of two consecutive “Worricker” episodes, is mostly deliciously enjoyable.
Guaranteed of being better than the “Family Guy” crossover episode that began the season, “The Simpsons” (Fox, 8 p.m.) has a crossover episode with Matt Groening’s other long-running (but now defunct) cartoon, “Futurama.” It already sounds like the episode where The Flintstones met The Jetsons.
Shocking things are happening midseason on “Homeland” (Showtime, 9 p.m.) but Saul’s kidnapping is one of the most worrisome.
There’s never a relaxing episode of “The Walking Dead” (AMC, 9 p.m.).
A documentary about the worldwide travels of the production of “Richard III” by Kevin Spacey and director Sam Mendes, “Now: In the Wings on World Stage” (Ovation, 8 p.m.) is an interesting look at the inner workings of a huge undertaking of a classic text but somewhere in the middle of it you wish you could just see the production itself.
Tired of being a househusband, Tim Daly’s character is reactivated as an NSA spy on “Madam Secretary” (CBS, 8 p.m.).
It’s Julianna Marguiles vs. Michael J. Fox again in court on “The Good Wife” (CBS, 9 p.m.).
Alison’s estranged mother comes to visit on “The Affair” (Showtime, 10 p.m.) and Noah tries reigning in his daughter. Who has time for a tryst?
It may sound like a medical procedure but the 2014 MTV EMAs (MTV, 7 p.m.) is actually the European Music Awards. Nicki Minaj is the host, so she may be on her phone half the time. Ariana Grande, Calvin Harris and Ed Sheeran are among the performers.
A special holiday episode of “Extra Virgin” (Cooking, 8 p.m.) follows Debi Mazar and her family going upstate to cook a bird. There’s a Thanksgiving theme, too, on “Guys Grocery Games” (Food, 8 p.m.).
Another holiday, further on down the road, is the focus of a new competition, “The Holiday Baking Championship” (Food Network, 9 p.m.) in which winning bakers not only get tasty results, but a $50,000 prize. Bobby Deen (Paula’s son) hosts.
And there’s a movie that seems very similar to this in “A Cookie Cutter Christmas” (Hallmark, 8 p.m.).
What’s more fearsome, “Alaska: The Last Frontier” (Discovery, 8 p.m.) or “90 Day Fiance” (TLC, 8 p.m.)?
Emma sees a bit of herself in The Snow Queen on “Once Upon a Time” (ABC, 8 p.m.).
A new season starts for “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” (Bravo, 8 p.m.), though Nene isn’t in Georgia; she’s going to Vegas to be in a Cirque du Soleil show.
John’s parents come to visit on a new “Mulaney” (Fox, 9:30 p.m.).
Sunday Night Football has Chicago at Green Bay (NBC, 8:30 p.m.). Earlier NFL action includes Cowboys vs. Jaguars (Fox, 1 p.m.) from London, Titans at Ravens (CBS, 1 p.m.) and Giants at Seahawks (Fox, 4:25 p.m.).
The 25th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is marked, of all places, on Turner Classic Movies with the double feature of “Berlin Express” (8 p.m.) and “The Man Between” (9:45 p.m.).
Basketball today has Philadelphia at Toronto (NBA, 7 p.m.). In hockey, it’s Toronto at Ottawa (NHL, 6 p.m.).
Sunday Talk
ABC: Analysts Donna Brazile, Greta Van Susteren. CBS: Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush. NBC: Gov. Scott Walker, Rep.-elect Gwen Graham, Sen.,-elect Mike Rounds, former Rep. Eric Cantor. Fox News: Senators elect Shelley Moore Capito and Cory Gardner.