Effective as a realistic military drama — and frightening in passages where soldiers in vulnerable positions are under fire from streets and rooftops — The Long Road Home has the added benefit of being based on the true, nonfiction book (by ABC’s Martha Raddatz) about a deadly ambush in Baghdad’s Sadr City district on April 4, 2004. The eight-hour drama matches the time the soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division were under fire. And, as good military dramas do these days, the story is told from the perspective of the soldiers and their anxious families back in Fort Hood, Texas.

Related: Read More MCN Reviews

Eight U.S. soldiers were killed and 65 wounded on “Black Sunday.” It started out as a banal mission escorting Iraqi sewage trucks and escalated to the point where two convoys of rescuers and the original task force were involved in raging gunfights in too-lightly-armored vehicles. Sadr City was supposedly the safest place in Iraq, and the war was considered basically over.

The production — on sets built in and around Fort Hood — is first rate with attention to detail in every frame. Notable performances are turned in by Jeremy Sisto as Staff Sgt. Robert Miltenberger, who headed to Iraq with strong premonitions that he would die there; Michael Kelly as Lt. Col. Gary Volesky, the incoming battalion commander who idealistically had believed “people are going to see amazing things from us” in their peacekeeping mission; and Jason Ritter as Capt. Troy Denomy, who led one of the rescue convoys. Kate Bosworth stands out as Gina Denomy, at home with a newborn, coping with her husband’s absence.

The series premiere of Kevin (Probably) Saves the World goes down on ABC on Tuesday (Oct. 3), and showrunners Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas say the drama has something you don’t see much of in TV series: Hopefulness. They note how TV news, amidst the hurricanes wreaking their havoc, is full of stories about people helping each other. But Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, about a self-absorbed guy who’s visited by a celestial being and learns to put others first, suggests people can pitch in outside of cataclysmic events.

“You can be helpful in people’s lives on a daily basis,” Butters said. “You don’t have to wait for a hurricane to hit.”

Jason Ritter, son of the late John Ritter, plays Kevin. He believes people are more inclined to act favorably when they’re being watched. “Whether or not you think that there’s a god or you think you’re possibly on some kind of candid prank TV show,” he said, “if you think someone is watching, you may act differently.”

It’s also a new season of Once Upon a Time, which is going through something of a makeover as the show shifts from Storybrooke to Seattle. It starts on ABC on Friday (Oct. 6). New to the cast is Gabrielle Anwar, who we enjoyed as Michael’s fetching explosives ace on Burn Notice. Anwar said she was drawn to Once Upon a Time because her 13-year-old daughter is obsessed with the series.

“I was called by my agent, and my daughter happened to be standing beside me,” said Anwar. “She heard the name of the show and starting saying, ‘Hook! Hook!’ over and over again.”

(Colin O’Donoghue plays Captain Hook on Once.)

Anwar’s 23-year-old daughter also has fallen for the show. “I’m sort of cornered,” Anwar said. “I may be here for the rest of my life.”

And Jeff Zucker sounds as though he’d be happy atop CNN for the rest of his life. Last week was the Giants of Broadcasting lunch, which saw the induction of Zucker, CNN president; Jeff Fager, 60 Minutes executive producer; and Andrea Mitchell, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent, among others. Also inducted was Barbara Eden, star of I Dream of Jeannie.

Zucker used most of his speech to say CNN was unbowed by the pushback it’s gotten from the White House. The network will continue to “hold the administration’s feet to the fire,” he said.

He quipped that he showed up for the luncheon at Gotham Hall in Manhattan to see Eden. He noted how he was born in 1965, the same year I Dream of Jeannie went on the air.

“I’m not afraid to admit I spent my entire childhood dreaming of Jeannie,” Zucker said.