“Check, Please!,” 8 p.m. Friday, WTTW-Ch. 11: This fizzy and fun foodie series returns. On this season opener, which is hosted as usual by master sommelier Alpana Singh, three Chicago diners recommend their favorite places, including a Northwest Side temple of “encased meats,” Hot Doug’s, where the exotic dogs sound divine and the french fries cooked in duck fat look yummy enough to be almost worth the hardened arteries.
“Little Einsteins,” prime-time premiere 6 p.m. Sunday, Disney Channel, future daily airings at 7 a.m.: A charming addition to the growing roster of shows for preschoolers, “Little Einsteins” has a gentle tone and a welcome educational focus. The premiere episode features four animated young friends attempting to rescue a baton lost by classical-music loving Leo; as they hunt for the missing conductor’s accessory, they hum along to the music of Grieg and learn about the animals in Edward Hicks’ iconic painting, “Peaceable Kingdom.” The TV staff’s in-house focus group of one discerning 3-year-old gave “Little Einsteins” the highest possible rating: “Can I watch it again?”
“Kids in Crisis,” 8 p.m. Sunday, MSNBC: It’s one thing to decry child abuse — as we all should — but it’s another to see children being removed from their home in the middle of the night, when the evidence of parental abuse is ambivalent at best. MSNBC anchor (and former Chicago newsman) Lester Holt narrates this one-hour documentary on the travails of an Indianapolis family, the Pitcocks, whose complicated journey through the state’s social services system is depicted over the course of months and years. For those who think cable news rarely covers serious topics in depth, this eye-opening documentary is a worthy rejoinder.
“John H. Johnson: The Man and His Vision,” 10:35 p.m. Sunday, WLS-Ch. 7: The life and achievements of Johnson, the publisher of Jet and Ebony magazines and the chairman of Chicago’s legendary Johnson Publications, are examined in this special. ABC-Ch. 7 news anchor Cheryl Burton interviews Linda Johnson Rice, the current CEO of the firm founded by her father, and other Channel 7 reporters and anchors file reports about the recently deceased Johnson’s many accomplishments and business ventures.
“The Hunt for the BTK Killer,” 8 p.m. Sunday, WBBM-Ch. 2: Bread and butter for true-crime aficionados, this made-for-TV movie admits it alters some of the facts. But it’s based on a book by Wichita resident Robert Beattie and features Gregg Henry as notorious killer Dennis Rader, captured after 10 murders and a 30-year hunt. (One dissenting note — do we really need more killing on network TV?)
“Blood Simple,” 7:15 p.m. Saturday, IFC: If you’ve never seen this chilling, bleakly funny, early Coen Brothers entry, now’s your chance. Or, if you have seen it, just revisit its sly, seductive mix of film noir and verbal and visual poetry. Frances McDormand, who’d go on to win an Oscar for the Coens’ “Fargo,” is more sensual and complex in this one, a not altogether sympathetic character. And M. Emmet Walsh, as a scrappy, unrepentantly amoral private eye, gives one of the more unusual performances of the 1980s.
And one show not to watch:
“Hot Properties,” 8:30 p.m. Friday, WLS-Ch. 7: We’re dutifully listing this one because it is the premiere of a new series, on ABC no less. But don’t take this as a recommendation. This shameless, decidedly unfunny look at women in a Manhattan real estate office is mostly an excuse for stale, transparent, cutesy sex jokes, the sort of self-degrading stuff few self-respecting women would tolerate. For the record, the characters include Ava (Gail O’Grady), hiding her age from her new 25-year-old husband; Chloe (Nicole Sullivan), a self-help junkie who rarely makes it to a second date; and Lola (Sof’a Vergara), a divorcee coming off a 10-year marriage to a man she didn’t know was gay, hence her new mission to sharpen her “gay-dar.” Yipes.