1. Blue Bloods
Friday, 10 p.m., CBS
Very few TV stars have had a career as stellar as Tom Selleck’s. And “Blue Bloods” showed him in a new light, as Frank Reagan, the well-meaning patriarch of a family of Irish cops. As the show launches its fifth season, Frank’s son Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and his partner, Detective Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez), escort confiscated drugs to a remote location for incineration, their convoy is attacked and Baez is seriously injured, leaving Danny to track down the drug cartel responsible. Meanwhile, Frank must carefully navigate personal and political waters when an exemplary lieutenant’s actions cause controversy for the NYPD. Co-starring Len Cariou and Bridget Moynahan.
2. The Blacklist
Monday, 10 p.m., NBC
James Spader’s face has been in every subway station this summer, promoting the return of “The Blacklist” on NBC. Let’s see if it lives up to the hype. We pick up where we left off with Red (Spader) continuing to battle the villain Berlin (Peter Stormare) — and facing a new threat from a man named Lord Baltimore. An important person comes back from the past into Red’s world. Meanwhile, Liz (Megan Boone) tries to move forward with her life after her showdown with Tom (Ryan Eggold). Diego Klattenhoff and Harry Lennix will have some lines. Mary-Louise Parker (“Weeds”) is a guest star.
3. The Good Wife
Sunday, 9:30 p.m., CBS
Julianna Margulies won an Emmy award in August for last season’s episodes, the best in the series’ history. “The Good Wife” became part of the conversation again, and now the show must keep up the momentum. The sixth-season opener has a shocker early on that will reverberate, it seems, for many episodes. Meanwhile, Alicia (Margulies) pooh-poohs Eli’s (Alan Cumming) attempt to get her to run for office — Illinois state’s attorney. Not surprisingly, her husband-in-name-only (Chris Noth) doesn’t want to run either. But in TV, those early refusals so often lead to campaign story lines that air during November sweeps. In other news, Diane (Christine Baranski) has many stipulations before she joins the firm of Florrick, Agos (Matt Czuchry).
4. Scandal
Thursday, 9 p.m., ABC
There’s a new time slot for the juicy Shonda Rhimes glamazon drama. Where did we leave off last season? Well, the President’s (Tony Goldwyn) son died onstage during a campaign speech: nasty. Mama Pope (Khandi Alexander) was returned to her underground bunker by her husband, Rowan (Joe Morton), after blowing up a church and trying to teach her daughter a lesson on not getting involved with married men. Which finally sunk in. Olivia (Kerry Washington) boarded a private jet with her alterna-squeeze, Jake (Scott Foley), and headed to parts unknown. How will the Gladiators go on without her? Will Mellie (Bellamy Young) completely crack up now that her son is gone? Will Olivia return to Washington by Episode 2? The answers to these questions may already be on Twitter.
5. Modern Family
Wednesday, 9 p.m., ABC
If any series can afford to rest on its laurels, it’s “Modern Family.” The five-years-running Emmy champ has been written off by lesser foes, usually those who can’t close the deal with the gold statuette. When we open Season 6, Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) have come up from their honeymoon. Cam is still in a state of bliss; Mitch is ready for reality. Like a true Latin spitfire, Gloria (Sofia Vergara) is on the warpath with Jay (Ed O’Neill) because he looks like an old barcalounger. She decides to give him a taste of his own fashion medicine. Co-starring Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell, also an Emmy winner this year, for his role as Phil Dunphy.
6. Sleepy Hollow
Monday, 9 p.m., Fox
Picking up after the cataclysmic events of the Season 1 finale, Ichabod (Tom Mison) finds himself buried alive; Abbie (Nicole Beharie) is trapped in purgatory; Ichabod’s wife, Katrina (Katia Winter), has been kidnapped by the Headless Horseman; Capt. Frank Irving (Orlando Jones) is behind bars; and Abbie’s sister, Jenny (Lyndie Greenwood), is in a horrific car crash. These events were due, in large part, to the revelation that Henry Parrish (John Noble) is Ichabod and Katrina’s son, and the Second Horseman of the Apocalypse. Now, with Henry’s emergence as the Horseman of War, alongside the Headless Horseman, Sleepy Hollow is on the precipice of destruction.
7. The Voice
Monday and Tuesday, 8 p.m., NBC
Gwen Stefani joins “The Voice” as a judge after having raised a family and seeing younger artists become stars by posting a video on YouTube. She is joined by Pharrell Williams. This is the kind of talent show where the judges are more famous than the past winners — and they like it that way. Adam Levine has expanded his career into movies and Blake Shelton became Barbra Streisand’s most unlikely duet partners on her new album.
8. NCIS
Tuesday, 8 p.m., CBS
Here’s a show with one of the most loyal audiences a series can have. In the 12th-season premiere, Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and Tim McGee (Sean Murray) travel to Russia to safely escort home an NCIS computer engineer connected to classified intel, but their mission is compromised and they are forced to go off the grid while hunted by a Russian mercenary group. Meanwhile, the team in DC frantically uses every asset and interagency contact they have in an attempt to locate their missing team members. Co-starring Rocky Carroll, Michael Weatherly, David McCallum and Brian Dietzen.