Tonight's TV Hot List: Monday, Oct. 11, 2010

Chuck
8/7c NBC
A Led Zeppelin song once offered astute commentary (with ample screaming) on the woes of having a communication breakdown. It's always the same, as Chuck and Sarah will find out tonight. Fine-tuned communication crumbles between the spying love birds when they journey to a Latin American nation with Ellie and Awesome. While there, Chuck and Sarah work on improving their communication skills, and they reconnect with Premier Goya (Armand Assante, reprising his role). But danger always seems to follow Goya, and he must be rescued from peril yet again. Back home in Burbank, Morgan takes the deep plunge into a forbidden romance. Tia Texada and Mekenna Melvin guest star. — Dean Maurer
Giuliana & Bill
8/7c Style
It's no secret that Giuliana and Bill Rancic have been trying to get pregnant for awhile, but with no luck. It's also no secret that Giuliana underwent in vitro fertilization treatments last spring and how that turned out. On tonight's candid third-season premiere, the happily wedded duo discuss IVF treatments and go through with them. The Rancics are open about their fears and possible disappointment, but know that it's worth the risk to start a family. — Tim Holland
Monday Night Football
8:30/7:30c ESPN
In a made-for-ESPN convergence of early-season headliners, Brett Favre and ex-Patriot receiver Randy Moss lead the Vikings against colorful coach Rex Ryan's red-hot New York Jets. Nobody moves the ratings needle like Favre, who turned 41 yesterday, and Minnesota's reacquisition of Moss means a second matchup in three weeks with training-camp holdout Darrelle Revis and the Jets secondary, which limited Moss to two grabs (one a highlight-film TD) in beating New England in Week 2. On the home sideline, Mark Sanchez is emerging as a far more efficient QB than in his "Hard Knocks" days on HBO, throwing 8 TDs and no interceptions (Favre already has 6 INTs, one shy of his 2009 total). — Roger Leister
Reviving Ophelia
9/8c Lifetime
Jane Kaczmarek and Kim Dickens star in this original 2010 drama about two sisters raising their very different teenage daughters. While one sister tangles with her rebellious daughter, Kelli (Carleigh Beverly), the other is raising an outwardly perfect child, Elizabeth (Rebecca Williams), who is suffering abuse at the hands of her boyfriend. Based on the novel by Mary Pipher. — Rhoda Charles
Carlos
9/8c Sundance
This acclaimed three-part portrait of the infamous assassin known as Carlos the Jackal begins with the young Marxist from Venezuela making his mark in London in the early 1970s as a ruthless bomber. Carlos, who was born Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, is played by Edgar Ramirez, and is depicted as a playboy, a terrorist, mercenary, profiteer, hijacker, bon vivant, revolutionary...and an anti-Semite. Writer-director Olivier Assayas's film was originally produced for French TV. — Ray Stackhouse
God in America
9/8c PBS
America's evolution into a pluralistic society hasn't come easy. This well-done history, which uses reenactments and expert interviews, explores religion's role in America and how the concept of religious liberty came to be. It begins in the 1600s with Puritan leader John Winthrop bringing sedition charges against Anne Hutchinson, who claimed to have had a revelation from God, telling her, "Your opinions being different from the word of God may seduce simple souls who resort unto you." — Jeff Gemmill
Hawaii Five-0
10/9c CBS
Taryn Manning joins the cast of the newly minted crime series as Mary Ann McGarrett, Steve's estranged sister, who moves to Hawaii from the mainland. As for tonight's case, Five-0 searches for a violent convict (Balthazar Getty) who escapes from prison and kidnaps a young couple on vacation in Waikiki, in an effort to recover money stolen from him. — Tim Holland