What’s on SundanceTV tonight? Here is the full SundanceTV schedule for Tuesday, October 27, 2026, with times in Eastern Time (ET).

Sundance TV bets the whole night on one franchise

See also: What's on tonight across all channels | Wednesday's TV guide

Sundance TV has handed Tuesday to Law & Order, and the 8pm ET hour is the one to circle: “Bodies” is listed as Season 14, Episode 1, the start of a new season on a series with 523 episodes to its name. Three episodes run back to back from there, with “Bounty” at 9pm ET and “Patient Zero” at 10pm ET, so anyone who settles in at eight has a full evening without touching the remote.

It is also a cheap way to see how the show looked in the Sam Waterston and Chris Noth years, and a Season 14 premiere is a tidy place to join. The channel has been leaning on the series for a while: it airs eight days in our window, and twice today, so this is a fixture and not an event.

The competition is real. Dancing with the Stars is on ABC at 8pm ET and NCIS is on CBS in the same slot, so this is the choice for viewers who want self-contained cases over a dance floor or a team drama.

The late slot is the surprise. At 11pm ET the channel switches to First Blood, the 1982 action thriller directed by Ted Kotcheff, with Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna and Brian Dennehy. It runs two hours, and it is the better reason to stay up than a fourth hour of procedural would have been.

Earlier in the day, The A-Team fills the overnight and morning hours and Law & Order takes over at noon. None of that needs a detour.


Also on TV tonight at 8pm ET

  • ABC: Dancing with the Stars
  • NBC: NBA Basketball
  • CBS: NCIS
  • FOX: 2026 World Series
  • PBS: Finding Your Roots
  • The CW: WWE NXT
  • ION: Chicago Fire
  • TCM: Arsenic and Old Lace
  • AMC: A Nightmare on Elm Street (from 7pm ET)
  • FX: Independence Day (from 6pm ET)

Every channel tonight, side by side · Movies on TV this week · Tomorrow’s TV


Frequently asked questions

What’s on SundanceTV tonight?

On Tuesday, October 27, 2026, SundanceTV shows Law & Order at 8pm ET, Law & Order at 9pm ET and Law & Order at 10pm ET.

Is there a movie on SundanceTV tonight?

Yes: First Blood (1982) at 11pm ET.

What’s on SundanceTV late tonight?

After 11pm ET, SundanceTV has First Blood at 11pm ET.

What time does SundanceTV’s evening start?

The evening schedule starts with Law & Order at 6pm ET.

Law & Order on weekdays, a film festival at weekends

SundanceTV spends its weekdays on network reruns and its weekends on films. In the two weeks we tracked, crime and action series made up most of the weekday schedule, led by long runs of Law & Order, while films took 67% of weekend airtime against 20% on weekdays.

It is not a channel of fixed habits. Nothing ran on most days of the window, and only 40% of airtime went to titles that came back on three or more days. What it has instead is a taste: older American television in the daytime, and a film library that leans on 1970s and 1980s genre cinema. It runs about 18 programmes on a typical day, and about 21 films a week.

How a SundanceTV day runs

The early morning is classic TV. Night Court tends to start around 5am, The A-Team around 6am and The Andy Griffith Show around 8am, each in multi-episode blocks on the days they appear. The Andy Griffith Show aired 57 times on six days, so when it is on, it is on for the morning.

Afternoons go to procedurals. Law & Order is the channel’s most-aired title, with 71 airings on eight of the 15 days, usually starting around 4pm, and NCIS follows on other days from about 5pm.

Primetime, 8pm to 11pm ET, follows one of two patterns. On some nights Law & Order simply carries on, starting around 7pm and running through the evening; it was the most common primetime title, with 22 evening airings. On others the channel switches to films, usually one starting around 7:30pm or 8pm and another at 10pm. Late in the evening another title, Archive X: Unexplained Phenomena Sneak Peak, appeared at 10pm on several days.

At the weekend the series largely disappear and films take over from morning to night.

The film library

The films are where SundanceTV shows its personality. Across the window it ran Abbott and Costello monster comedies (Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein from 1948 and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy from 1955), Mel Brooks parodies (Young Frankenstein from 1974 and High Anxiety from 1977), Don Knotts comedies (The Ghost and Mr. Chicken and The Shakiest Gun in the West), and a long list of 1980s favorites, from Real Genius (1985) to Road House (1989).

The window fell in the run-up to Halloween, and much of the evening film slate was horror: The Shining (1980), Cujo (1983), Christine (1983), Silver Bullet (1985), Fright Night (1985), The Lost Boys (1987), Pet Sematary (1989) and Misery (1990). That emphasis is seasonal. The year-round habit is the era rather than the genre: films from the 1970s through the 1990s, played once or twice each.

Popular shows on SundanceTV

Law & Order is the channel’s workhorse, by a distance its most-aired title and its most common primetime show.

The Andy Griffith Show is a sitcom that began in 1960 and ran for eight seasons and 249 episodes, with Andy Griffith, Ron Howard, Don Knotts and Frances Bavier. It is a morning fixture here when it runs.

The A-Team is an action-adventure series that began in 1983 and ran for five seasons, with George Peppard, Dirk Benedict, Dwight Schultz and Mr. T. It fills early mornings, usually from around 6am.

Night Court is a sitcom that began in 1984 and ran for nine seasons, with Harry Anderson and John Larroquette. It is the first block of the day, from around 5am.

Road House is the film SundanceTV returned to most, with four airings in the window. It is a 1989 action film directed by Rowdy Herrington, starring Patrick Swayze, Kelly Lynch and Sam Elliott, and it tends to land at 7:30pm.

How to watch SundanceTV

SundanceTV is a cable channel, so it is not free over the air with an antenna. Without cable, it is on AMC+, which carries its shows on demand along with a live SundanceTV feed, and it is included in several of the live TV streaming services.

Channels like SundanceTV

  • IFC is built the same way: classic network reruns in long blocks on weekdays, a film-heavy weekend, and nothing that runs every day.
  • USA Network is where to go for crime procedurals without the films, with one series running in very long blocks.
  • ION fills its schedule almost entirely with procedural and action reruns, and shows hardly any films.
  • TCM is the choice for older films, all day, with almost nothing repeated.
  • AMC gives about nine-tenths of its airtime to films, so it suits anyone who only watches SundanceTV at the weekend.

Who it’s for

SundanceTV suits people who grew up with 1980s films and network TV, and anyone who likes Law & Order on in the background for an afternoon. The weekend film slate is the best reason to tune in, especially if you like your comedies and horror from before 1995. If you want new scripted series, the two weeks we tracked had very little.

What’s on SundanceTV most nights?

Either Law & Order running from around 7pm ET, or a pair of films, usually one around 7:30pm or 8pm and another at 10pm.

Does SundanceTV show movies?

Yes, about 21 a week in the window we measured, and they take about two-thirds of the weekend. Most come from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

How can I watch SundanceTV without cable?

AMC+ carries SundanceTV on demand and as a live feed, and several live TV streaming services include the channel.

When is Law & Order on SundanceTV?

On the days it airs, usually from mid-afternoon, around 4pm ET, often running on into the evening.