Basic instinct
Alan Cumming may be "Cabaret's" most magnetic emcee, but no amount of fancy footwork can save his new drama, "Instinct." He plays a psychology professor who reluctantly revisits his days as a CIA operative to help a New York police officer (Bojana Novakovic) solve crimes. Neither would make the cover of Sleuth Magazine (it takes her way too long to figure out he's gay), and even casual viewers of CBS procedurals will spot the killer in the premiere well before these junior detectives do.
7 p.m. Sun., WCCO, Ch. 4
Memory play
Feature film director Rebecca Miller is known for coaxing great performances out of her hubby, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Oscar nominee Greta Gerwig, but she's also adept at drawing real emotions out of her dad in "Arthur Miller: Writer." The documentary covers the late playwright's classics — "Death of a Salesman," "A View From the Bridge," "The Crucible" — but the real draw here is the father-daughter chats that don't shy away from the legend's darkest chapters, including the 1962 death of his second wife, Marilyn Monroe.
7 p.m. Mon., HBO
False alarm
If you think the title for this "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff is uninspiring, wait until you watch "Station 19." Set in a Seattle firehouse, the new series burns brightly during rescue scenes, but the snuggling and office politics back at the station fail to ignite. The only true heroes in the first episode are "Grey's" Ellen Pompeo and Chandra Wilson, whose cameos are clearly a favor to executive producer Shonda Rhimes.
8 p.m. Thu., KSTP, Ch. 5
Neal Justin
