Worth Watching: The ESPYS and a Dick Vitale Tribute, Junior Gets Frosh in ‘grown-ish,’ ‘Virgin River’

8/7c

It takes one to honor one, which explains why NBA great Stephen Curry is hosting this year’s prestigious sports awards program, broadcast live from L.A.’s Dolby Theatre. Mickey Guyton performs, as sports greats mingle with entertainment headliners to present the awards to today’s top athletes, with special honors providing memorable and emotional moments. Vitali Klitschko, former heavyweight boxing champion and mayor of Kyiv, receives the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, retired Army Command Sergeant Major Gretchen Evans will be honored with the Pat Tillman Award for Service, and legendary hall of fame broadcaster Dick Vitale gets this year’s Jimmy V Award for Perseverance.

Documentary Premiere

Awesome, baby! The irrepressible Dick Vitale is also the subject of a special documentary profile from ESPN Films. It’s only appropriate, considering that his career reflects the history of the network, having called ESPN’s very first college basketball game back in 1979. Since then, he has brought his vivid style to more than 1,000 games. Dicky V weaves the celebration of his life story through accounts of his grueling battle against melanoma, lymphoma and ulcerated lesions on his vocal cords, showing Vitale at the hospital and recovering at home. The documentary will also air on ESPN on Saturday at 4 pm/ET.

Season Premiere10/9c

We watched him grow up, if not entirely mature, over eight seasons of black-ish—and now Junior (Marcus Scribner) is off to college: sister Zoey’s (Yara Shahidi) alma mater, Cal U, naturally. The fifth season opens with the younger Andre’s first day on campus, and Zoey is back on campus to support her little bro, only to realize that she misses her undergrad days more than she’s willing to admit.

Season Premiere

The soapy romantic drama returns for a fourth season—already renewed for a fifth—with Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge) in a classic dilemma. She’s thrilled that she’s finally going to be a mother, but she can’t say if the child belongs to boyfriend Jack (Martin Henderson)—who was thisclose to proposing to her—or to her deceased husband, Mark (Daniel Gillies). In other town news, mayor Hope (Annette O’Toole) survived her car accident—which may not have been so accidental—but healing from her brain injury will bring new challenges for her and husband Doc (Tim Matheson). It’s been a year since the last season dropped, so if you need a refresher on other storylines left hanging, check this recap out.

• Animals Decoded (8/7c, Smithsonian Channel): Nature lovers will be fascinated by this new series which explores the various ways animals communicate with each other. In the opener, researchers reveal how wolves use body language to keep the pack united, then turn to chimps to show the incredible number of gestures they use to interact.
• Crank Yankers (8/7c and 8:30/7:30c, Comedy Central): Jimmy Kimmel, Tiffany Haddish, Ron Funches, Tracy Morgan, Heidi Gardner and Kevin Nealon are the comic voices behind this week’s prank puppet calls, including a call to a bakery to order body-positive gingerbread women.
• Wellington Paranormal (9/8c, The CW): Beware the blob! Officers Minogue (Mike Minogue) and O’Leary (Karen O’Leary) are on the case when a congealed mass of fat takes on a life of its own in the Wellington sewers. This New Zealand comedy is a scream.