Halloween-themed programming includes “A Very Wicked Halloween: Celebrating 15 Years on Broadway” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-G). The special glances back at the Tony Award-winning musical based on characters from “The Wizard of Oz.” Original cast members Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel reminisce.
Both Fox procedurals work the holiday into their plots. Halloween fear proves contagious on “The Resident” (8 p.m., TV-14). And the squad answers a number of peculiar calls at haunted houses and other creepy locations on “9-1-1” (9 p.m., TV-14). Ghosts loom large on “Magnum P.I.” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14) when a tycoon receives a mysterious note from a former lover, presumed dead for 30 years. “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” (9 p.m., CW, TV-14) returns to the Salem witch trials.
Even the couples on “Dancing With the Stars” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) put the accent on the ghoulish.
— Fans of vintage frights might check out the Decades Channel, now airing “Dark Shadows” at midnight. The original “Shadows” ran on ABC from 1967-71 and attracted horror fans who wouldn’t be caught dead watching “As the World Turns.”
Like many soaps, it featured performers of a certain vintage. Joan Bennett, who co-starred with Cary Grant in the 1936 romantic comedy “Wedding Present,” appeared on “Dark Shadows,” and was later immortalized in the 1977 slasher/horror classic “Suspiria,” directed by Dario Argento.
— Speaking of vintage horrors, the Smithsonian series “The Lost Tapes” (9 p.m.) recalls the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal that consumed the media in 1998.
An ongoing series airing irregularly, “The Lost Tapes” glances back at historical events in chronological fashion, presenting old news footage in order to re-create the sense of a breaking story. Next Monday, “The Lost Tapes” will offer a profile of Malcolm X as covered in the media of his time.
— “Frontline” (9 p.m., PBS, check local listings) presents the two-night documentary “The Facebook Dilemma.” It begins with “old” footage of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in his Harvard dorm and follows the company’s spectacular rise as it captured an audience of college students, then its first 100 million users and so on, becoming a virtual nation state with little regard for the rules, laws and traditions that bound old media.
“Dilemma” shows how Facebook’s power and problematic nature became apparent during the Arab Spring of 2011. Inspired by an uprising in Tunisia, Wael Ghonim, an Egyptian activist (and Google employee), created a Facebook page calling for the overthrow of the Egyptian government. A mere 18 days later, the president resigned. After this heady moment, Facebook was flooded with disinformation and an acceleration of angry rhetoric and fake inflammatory posts whose popularity was encouraged by Facebook’s own algorithms and its policy of promoting passionate user engagement.
Voices like Ghonim and others from the Middle East advised and begged Facebook to better manage itself and monitor content. But the company faced pressures to keep its staff lean and maximize profits as it prepared for a Wall Street public offering.
Similar pressures to maximize profits forced Facebook to waffle on its promises to protect user privacy from third parties and advertisers.
Tomorrow night’s “Dilemma” looks at foreign use of social media to weaponize online tribalism, manipulate users and “hack” political discourse.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— The knockouts begin on “The Voice” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
— A well-connected documentarian takes a road trip to find “real” Americans in the 2018 film “Outside the Bubble: On the Road With Alexandra Pelosi” (8 p.m., HBO, TV-14).
— A patient’s weight loss may preclude surgery on “The Good Doctor” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
— The “Independent Lens” documentary “Wildland” (10 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) follows an Oregon firefighting crew over the course of a wildfire season.
CULT CHOICE
A “new” version of “Halloween” recently opened No. 1 at the box office. Was it the 40th anniversary of the original? Or the 20th anniversary of the 1998 shocker “Halloween H20: 20 Years Later” (9:05 p.m., AMC, TV-14)?
SERIES NOTES
Jokers are wild on “The Neighborhood” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … Oliver faces a challenge behind bars on “Arrow” (8 p.m., CW, TV-14) … Damon Wayans guest-stars as Jake’s father on “Happy Together” (8:30 p.m., CBS, TV-14) … Jury selection proves crucial on “Bull” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
LATE NIGHT
Kerry Washington and Taylor Mac are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Rami Malek, Chrissy Metz and John Prine on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC).
Amanda Peet, Jake Shears and Jon Theodore visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Carey Mulligan and Jenna Fischer are on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” (12:35 a.m., CBS).
(Kevin McDonough can be reached at [email protected].)
