What’s On TV Tonight, Thu, Oct 29: 2026 WNBA Finals & Raiders of the Lost Ark

Published: October 22, 2026

Everything worth watching on Thursday, October 29, 2026, across 32 channels.

Thursday’s one live event is on cable, and everything else can wait

Thursday night belongs to the WNBA Finals on USA Network, the only thing on the dial that has to be watched as it happens. It starts at 8pm ET (5pm PT), and USA is already scheduling a postgame show for 10:30pm ET, which tells you how much of the evening the network expects the game to fill. If you care about basketball at all, this is the night. If you don’t, there is still a strong case for staying off the big networks.

The 8pm fight

Eight o’clock is crowded and mostly familiar. ABC has 9-1-1, NBC has The Traitors: New Blood, FOX has Hell’s Kitchen, and ION has “FBI: Captured”. CBS goes with Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, an episode subtitled “The Devil’s Interval and a British Stripper”, which is at least a title that commits. All of these air at 8pm ET/PT, 7pm Central.

Of that group, The Traitors: New Blood is the strongest network entry and NBC’s best case for the hour. But the real choice at this hour is between a live Finals game that happens once and a pile of series that will still be there on Friday. That is why the Finals take the pick, even with ABC and NBC both in the slot.

The 9pm hour is a Halloween mix

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit holds NBC’s 9pm slot with “Arcana”, and ABC follows 9-1-1 with 9-1-1: Nashville. Those are the dependable choices. The more interesting scheduling is on the cable side, where Halloween week is still doing the work. FX has American Horror Story: Devil of a Good Time. CBS offers Ghosts with “Halloween 6: The Mirror – Part One and Part Two” at 9:01pm ET/PT, the most seasonal title on a broadcast network all night.

Keep an eye on the stragglers too. FOX’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test starts at 9:02pm ET/PT, a minute-and-change offset that matters if you are flipping between channels.

The movies, and the ones worth the hour

For anyone who wants the evening off from series television, Paramount Network has Raiders of the Lost Ark at 9:30pm ET, and it is the best film on any channel tonight by a wide margin. It is a 1981 movie that does not need a recommendation, only a free two hours. Earlier, TCM has The Beguiled (1971) at 8pm ET and The Sentinel (1977) at 10pm, a tidy pair for anyone who likes older thrillers in order. TNT’s The Batman (2022) starts late, at 10:15pm ET.

On the lighter end, Hallmark Channel is in full Christmas mode already. Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper (2023) is at 8pm ET, and What If Christmas (2026) follows at 10pm. Hallmark Mystery has The Christmas Contest at 8pm and ‘Tis the Season to Be Irish at 10pm. The Christmas schedule is in earnest on October 29th, which says something about how early the season now starts.

Weaker options exist. FX’s The Mummy (2017) begins at 9:51pm ET and runs 150 minutes, so it clears midnight, and the one thing it has going for it is that it is on.

The short version

Watch the WNBA Finals live on USA at 8pm ET. If basketball is not your thing, put on Raiders of the Lost Ark at 9:30pm ET and ignore the rest.

What’s on tonight — Thursday, October 29, 2026