— Fans of drama with epic sweep, glorious scenery and great emotional stakes should sample “The Promised Life,” streaming today on Acorn.
While Acorn is best known for British television like “Doc Martin” and “Midsomer Murders,” it also streams other foreign fare. That is one of the features that distinguishes Acorn from BritBox, a competing streaming service that limits itself to series from the U.K.
“A Place to Call Home,” one of Acorn’s most popular and addictive melodramas, hails from Australia.
“The Promised Life” was produced for Italian television giant RAI.
Luisa Ranieri (“Letters to Juliet”) stars as Carmela Carrizzo, a proud and downright voluptuous Sicilian mother who tires of the savage cruelties of her homeland’s near-feudal system and decides to embark for America.
Set in 1920, it follows Carmela’s saga as she faces multiple tragedies while she and her family are smuggled north to Naples, where they earn enough to pay for passage to a promised land filled with its own dark surprises.
— On the opposite side of the television spectrum, the Canadian comedy “Letterkenny” streams its seventh season exclusively on Hulu. The strenuously low-key and lowbrow comedy puts the accent on bodily functions and pop-culture puns.
The season kicks off with an extended riff on flatulence before concentrating on the deadpan humor of a farmer call-in show on the local public access channel.
Viewers of a certain age may recall humor of a similar Canadian vein on the “Great White North” segments on “SCTV.” They remain memorable because they were only a few minutes long. Twenty-one-minute-long dollops of “Letterkenny” can seem like an eternity.
— On broadcast television, it’s interesting to note that the police procedural “9-1-1” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
has become the most successful series of the night, drawing the most viewers in the age 18-49 category, beating “The Voice” and doubling the audience for “Dancing With the Stars” in that demographic.
Its success is further proof that the production team of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk rule the TV roost. Viewers can choose between the relatively mainstream “9-1-1,” the gory “American Horror Story: 1984” on FX and “The Politician” on Netflix. Their series “Pose” was a recent winner at the Emmy awards as well.
While “9-1-1” finds its audience growing, the new NBC drama “Bluff City Law” (10 p.m., TV-14) has lost viewers every successive week. Not even the return of Jimmy Smits has interested viewers in a fairly predictable legal procedural set in Memphis for no apparent reason.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— The blind auditions conclude on “The Voice” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
— “Dancing With the Stars” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) features a plug for the parent company’s theme park.
— The Nationals host the Cardinals in game three of the NLCS (8 p.m., TBS).
— The Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers meet in NFL action (8 p.m., ESPN).
— A field trip may have tainted a case on “All Rise” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-PG).
— Struggle and assimilation loom large on the season finale of “The Terror” (9 p.m., AMC, TV-14).
— New memories rattle Malcolm on “Prodigal Son” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
— Mel Gibson directed the violent 2006 Mayan epic “Apocalypto” (9:30 p.m., BBC America, TV-MA).
— “Retro Report on PBS” (9 p.m., check local listings) glances back at LSD, garbage barges and fake news from the moon.
— A social media influencer seeks emancipation from a controlling father on “Bull” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— A patient proves unable to feel pain on “The Good Doctor” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
— A journalist uncovers an FBI surveillance program in Illinois on the “POV” (10 p.m., PBS, check local listings) documentary “The Feeling of Being Watched.”
— The gang regroups after Mexico on the season finale of “Lodge 49” (10 p.m., AMC, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
— A covert spy (Naomi Watts) has her cover blown as part of a top-level plot to hurt her husband (Sean Penn) in the 2010 drama “Fair Game” (10:30 p.m., TMC, TV-14). Based on the true story of Valerie Plame and Joseph Wilson, who was attacked for questioning the rationale for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Wilson died on Sept. 27.
SERIES NOTES
Calvin sees another side of Dave on “The Neighborhood” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … Spencer seems torn on “All American” (8 p.m., CW, TV-PG) … Abishola hits the pause button on “Bob Hearts Abishola” (8:30 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … Martial law descends on “Black Lightning” (9 p.m., CW, TV-14).
LATE NIGHT
Nikki Glaser appears on “Conan” (11 p.m., TBS, r) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Gwen Stefani, Ben Platt and Zac Brown Band on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC, r) … Anthony Anderson, Jared Harris, Smokey Robinson and Christian Finnegan sit down on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” (12:35, CBS, r).
