They were wise to cast Allison Tolman in the supernatural head-scratcher “Emergence” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
She’s back in uniform as Jo Evans, a divorced police chief who lives with her daughter, Bree (Ashley Aufderheide), at her ailing dad Ed’s (Clancy Brown) house. Look for Donald Faison (“Scrubs”) as Jo’s patient ex-husband.
Things get wacky right off the bat when a local plane crash plunges Evans’ Long Island precinct into darkness. While reporting to a plane crash at the beach, Jo discovers a strange girl (Alexa Skye Swinton) suffering from memory loss, but with no signs of injury from the plane crash. Then again, it’s not entirely clear she came off the plane.
Swinton isn’t the first adorable imp cast as a scary, mysterious stranger, but she is a memorable one. Jo takes the amnesiac child under her wing and gives her the name Piper. Piper quickly bonds with Bree.
Jo’s mother-hen instincts go on high alert when thuggish agents pretending to be from the federal government arrive at the crash site. Over the course of the pilot, several heavies attempt to make off with Piper, and the episode concludes with a creepy, cryptic hint as to her origins, identity and motives. Or maybe not.
For all of her down-to-earth believability, Tolman’s Jo has a way of chattering away like Ellen DeGeneres when she gets nervous. But she’s got a lot to be nervous about!
I’m not entirely hooked on this show’s conspiracy malarkey. But I’ll watch Allison Tolman in just about anything — just to make sure she gets home al l right.
— ABC’s nostalgia comedy spin-off universe expands as “Mixed-ish” (9 p.m., TV-PG) offers an expanded view of Bow’s upbringing as a multiracial child of hippie parents in the 1980s.
Arica Himmel stars as the young Bow Johnson, who feels adrift in the suburbs after the feds shut down the groovy commune where she was raised. Of course she feels weird. It’s not only a sterile suburb, but an ABC/Disney version of one, a place that seems like a set for a musical about suburbia.
Look for Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Bow’s hippie dad and Tika Sumpter as Mom, who must have had her eyebrows plucked since leaving the yurt. Both look like they walked off the set of a theme park. Call it HippieLand.
For all of the efforts to mine humor from notions of diversity, “Mixed-ish” feels like a slick construct. Hippies like Bow’s parents used to reject such efforts as “plastic,” and well, Disneyfied.
TONIGHT’S SEASON PREMIERES
— Ziva’s mixed message on “NCIS” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— New rules and new faces pose problems on “The Resident” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
— Darlene juggles two lovers on “The Conners” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
— Mike and Rio play host on “Bless This Mess” (8:30 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
— A restaurant rocked on “FBI” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— Jack meets Rebecca’s folks on “This Is Us” (9 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— With Lucious on the lam, the Lyons seem adrift on “Empire” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
— Pops has a big announcement on “Blackish” (9:30 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
— Hannah’s mistake ends Pride’s vacation on “NCIS: New Orleans” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— Max adjusts to the baby’s birth on “New Amsterdam” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Blind auditions on “The Voice” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
— An “Outlaw” sound challenges Nashville on “Country Music” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings).
— Bob Whitmore (Beau Bridges) asserts his authority on “Greenleaf” (10 P.M., OWN, TV-14).
— “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel” (10 p.m., HBO, TV-PG) looks at girls and baseball, and Richie Incognito’s return to the NFL.
CULT CHOICE
— Running back-turned-actor Jim Brown, Diahann Carroll and Ernest Borgnine star in the 1968 thriller “The Split” (4:30 p.m., TCM, TV-14), about an attempt to rob an NFL stadium during a game.
SERIES NOTES
A special commemoration on “Pandora” (8 p.m., CW, TV-PG) … Salem’s lot revisited on “Mysteries Decoded” (9 p.m., CW, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Anna Faris and Gavin Matts appear on “Conan” (11 p.m., TBS, TV-14) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Demi Moore, Justin Hartley and Mark Ronson on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC).
