Molly Parker Is ‘Doc,’ ‘Will Trent’ and ‘Rookie’ Join ‘High Potential,’ Finding More Celebrities’ Roots

In most ways a conventional hospital drama, Doc (adapting a series from Italian TV) is most notable as a character study of a specific doctor: Amy Larsen (a compelling Molly Parker), a brilliant internist with a toxic attitude who gets an abrupt new start when a car accident wipes out the last eight years of her memory. During that time, she lost a child, got divorced and alienated nearly everyone except the handsome resident (Jon Ecker) with whom she’s been secretly cavorting. That’s a loaded plate of melodramatic angst, even without the resentful new chief of internal medicine (Scott Wolf) who has his own reasons for sabotaging her comeback. Parker deftly defines the pre- and post-accident Amy, making it easy to root for the reformed and humbled (though still, naturally, gifted) doc as she earnestly labors to rebuild bridges in her life and career. It’s OK to say “awww.”

Leading off ABC’s new Tuesday lineup, the quirky crime drama opens its third season with an episode directed by series star Ramón Rodríguez, whose character of GBI Agent Will has gone into exile for several months in rural Tennessee with his constant Chihuahua companion, Betty Maria White Trent. Before long, he’s called back into duty when a friend from his troubled past is implicated in a police shooting that exposes more corruption amid Atlanta’s law enforcement system. Everyone’s furious at Will for his sudden exit, but they’ll get over it. The episode also provides an update on Will’s soulmate Angie (Erika Christensen), the disgraced detective he reluctantly arrested in the Season 2 cliffhanger, while introducing Jane the Virgin’s Gina Rodriguez (no relation) as D.A. Marion Alba, who has to be convinced this scruffy dude is, as he says, a “pathologically scrupulous person.”

Sandwiched between Will Trent and The Rookie, this freshman fall hit is only likely to grow, in large part thanks to the winning personality of Kaitlin Olson as Morgan, a hot mess of a single mom whose high IQ and awesome powers of observation make her invaluable to the LAPD. The winter premiere, involving an assault victim who was investigating the murder of her boyfriend, could benefit with a few more suspects. But watching Morgan’s chemistry with Tom (JD Pardo), a smitten janitor, is pure delight.

The veteran on ABC’s crime blotter, the police drama opens its seventh season with Officer Nolan (Nathan Fillion), now a training officer himself, back on duty after taking a bullet in last year’s finale. Second-guessing himself while taking aim at an armed robber, he continues his mentorship of Juarez (Lisseth Chavez) while ex-couple Chen (Melissa O’Neil) and Bradford (Eric Winter) each take on a new rookie: the naïve “Virgin” Seth Ridley (Patrick Keleher) and the cocky “Ringer” Miles Penn (Deric Augustine), who spent two years as a Texas cop and has a lot to unlearn and relearn.

The absorbing genealogical series returns for its 11th season of pruning fascinating facts from celebrities’ family trees. First up: Emmy winner Amanda Seyfried (The Dropout) and Tony winner Lea Salonga (Miss Saigon), who both have roots going back centuries in Germany. Seyfried is shocked to learn that her immigrant third-great-grandfather was a victim of murder, while Salonga gains insight on relatives caught in the turmoil of the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World War II.

INSIDE TUESDAY TV:

• Deal or No Deal Island (8/7c, NBC): Guilty pleasure alert: Joe Manganiello returns to host a second season of the hybrid game show, with reality “royalty” including Big Brother and Survivor winners Will Kirby and Parvati Shallow among the cast.
• Kitchen Nightmares: Road to Super Bowl LIX (8/7c, Fox): Gordon Ramsay comes to the rescue of struggling restaurants in the Big Easy of New Orleans as Super Bowl LIX approaches, with an oyster bar in the French Quarter as his first challenge.
• Lucy Worsley Investigates (9/8c, PBS): The British historian returns with insights into pivotal moments in U.K. history, starting with a study of the unsolved Jack the Ripper murders, one of the first instances of the media fueling a fascination in true crime.
• Wildcard Kitchen (9/8c, Food Network): All bets are off when host Eric Adjepong welcomes chefs Jet Tila and brothers Bryan and Michael Voltaggio for the Season 2 premiere of his after-hours underground poker game in the test kitchen.
• Frontline: Maui’s Deadly Firestorm (10/9c, PBS): The esteemed documentary series investigates the deadly 2023 wildfire that destroyed the Hawaiian town of Lahaina, exposing the missed warnings and botched response that led to environmental disaster.
• The Irrational (10/9c, NBC): When a medical emergency sidelines Alec (Jesse L. Martin) during his search for a missing tennis star, Marisa (Maahra Hill) and Rose (Karen David) take over the hunt.
• Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action (streaming on Netflix): A two-part documentary explores the darker side of the late talk-show host’s unhinged circus of bad behavior.
• Gabriel Iglesias: Legend of Fluffy (streaming on Netflix): The comedian’s fourth stand-up special celebrates his 27th year in comedy with riffs on turbulent dates and plane rides.