“Grey’s Anatomy”
Thursday 9pm, ABC
The doctors of Seattle Grace have spent the first few episodes of this seventh season dealing with the aftermath of last season’s shocking finale, when a gunman shot up a bunch of docs in the surgical wing. Tonight’s episode, shot in documentary style, is designed to bring closure to many of the characters’ lingering traumas, including McDreamy’s near-death experience, Bailey’s hostage situation, and Meredith’s miscarriage. Bonus: Adorable pop pixie Mandy Moore reprises her role from the shooting episode. The TV gossip mongers say this will be an episode chock full of Emmy reels.
“The Fairy Jobmother”
Thursday 11pm, Lifetime
Forget Halloween; what’s really scary is a nearly 10 percent national unemployment rate, and the uncertainty that things will get any better anytime soon. Since reality shows have tried to fix some of our other great social problems—addiction, terrible parents, finding Flavor Flav a date—we have this show, in which a British woman yells at chronically unemployed people to get off the dole. The Brit in question is Hayley Taylor, an international career specialist, and in addition to the patented English bullying (see: Cowell, Simon; Ramsay, Gordon; that mean woman from “Weakest Link”), she’ll presumably impart genuinely helpful tips on how to find gainful employment in these terrible economic times. Plus the shaming. Gotta have the shaming.
“The Walking Dead”
Sunday 10pm, AMC
I joke all the time that I can’t wait for the zombie apocalypse to wipe out a good chunk of awful, awful humanity. But when I read Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard’s outstanding comic-book series “The Walking Dead,” I rethink my fondness for the jerk-devouring abilities of the shambling undead. On Halloween AMC launches its new TV adaptation of the comic, a very grim and gritty tale about Sherriff Rick Grimes, who wakes up after weeks in a coma to discover that the entire world has become an all-you-can-eat human buffet. And if you think that’s grim, just wait until you see the horrible stuff that happens after Rick runs into a group of fellow survivors. If it’s anything like the brilliant, gripping source material—and with Frank Green Mile Darabont behind the wheel, it should be—this will be an instant classic.