‘Night Court’ Blossoms With Bialik, Combing Through Diddy’s Dark Past, ‘Rookie’s Vigilante Problem, Immigrant Stories

That big bang you hear in the quirky sitcom courtroom signals a reunion between Big Bang Theory costars Melissa Rauch (Judge Abby Stone) and Mayim Bialik, the latter guest-starring as a wacky bizarro version of herself. The set-up brings Bialik into the courtroom of longtime Blossom superfan Abby, a connection that soon goes obsessively awry. (Another nostalgic TV connection: Bialik played the daughter of John Larroquette, currently reprising his role as now-public defender Dan Fielding, on The John Larroquette Show in the 1990s, his follow-up series to the original Night Court.)

A tell-all documentary sifts through Sean “Diddy” Combs’ turbulent past to chart his rise and also the dark forces that led to imprisonment on multiple charges of sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and racketeering. Among those weighing in are a former bodyguard, a childhood friend and a label associate who was eyewitness to Combs’ notorious sex parties.

Former rookie turned training officer John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) learns to curb his protective impulses when Jaurez (Lisseth Chavez) embarks on “Plainclothes Day,” during which the rookie officer takes lead on patrol and Nolan is supposed to observe, staying otherwise silent and invisible. Not easy when a vigilante is on the loose in L.A., calling himself “The Watcher” and crossing the line into attempted murder. Elsewhere, newbies Penn (Deric Augustine) and Ridley (Patrick Keleher) reveal new details about the backstories that have made their first days on the job such a challenge.

You might be surprised to see conservative figures like the former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and his wife, former Ambassador Callista Gingrich, extolling the histories of renowned U.S. immigrants when the very subject of immigration is such a hot-button topic. Newt explains: “Immigration has become such a loaded political issue that we often lose sight of the fact that, as a country, we’ve significantly benefited from the hard work and creativity of generations of immigrants who legally migrated to our country.” A documentary special two years in the making profiles nine public figures who emigrated to the U.S., including household names like Henry Kissinger, Albert Einstein, and actress/inventor Hedy Lamarr as well as Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred, and Maria Daume, an adopted Russian American who became the first female graduate of the Marine’s School of Infantry.

INSIDE TUESDAY TV:

• St. Denis Medical (8/7c, NBC): The hospital comedy returns from holiday break with Scandal’s Guillermo Diaz as a prison inmate admitted to the ER with a bitter rival (James Earl), unimpressed by naïve nurse Matt’s (Mekki Leeper) attempts to play peacekeeper. The biggest laughs come from cocky surgeon Bruce’s (Josh Lawson) unexpected fear of needles during the annual blood drive.
• Will Trent (8/7, ABC): The second half of the Season 3 opener exposes corruption within Atlanta’s law and political system. But what everyone wants to know: When will scruffy Will (Ramón Rodríguez) once again don one of his signature three-piece suits? Followed by High Potential (9/8c), with Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) and the team investigating foul play in the death of a baseball sportscaster.
• Finding Your Roots (8/7c, PBS): Host Henry Louis Gates, Jr. finds secrets to family histories in Italy while revealing the genealogy of The View cohost Joy Behar and The Sopranos alum Michael Imperioli.
• Doc (9/8c, Fox): You can’t keep a brilliant doctor down, and Dr. Amy Larsen (Molly Parker) is a very impatient patient as she recovers from the car accident that wiped out the last eight years of her memory. So it’s hardly a surprise when she keeps making her “second opinion” known in her hospital roomie’s medical case.
• Moonshiners: Master Distillers (9/8c, Discovery): A seventh season of the backwoods competition pits legal and not-so-legal distillers in a brewing contest with challenges including turning beer into liquor and making “prison shine.”
• FBI True (streaming on Paramount+): The docuseries’ sixth season (12 episodes available for binge-watching) includes accounts of cases including the search for the killer of designer Gianni Versace and the disappearance of Yale PhD student Annie Le.