What to Watch in October

There's a huge amount of worthwhile TV out there nowadays, so it can be hard to choose what to watch. But who better to recommend shows than the person who programs them? Lisa Tipton, WTTW’s Head of Programming and Pledge, constructs the WTTW schedule by searching through offerings from many different sources which include the national PBS network, the BBC, and independent filmmakers to put together a varied and engaging broadcast schedule. Each month, she recommends a few shows that she thinks you should watch.

Find all the ways to watch WTTW here. Many of the below shows are available to stream or will be once they premiere, especially by WTTW Passport members. 

Election Programming

The presidential election is just over a month away, and we have shows examining it from numerous angles. 

Tuesday, October 1 offers a focus on the vice president, with an American Experience documentary at 7:00 pm exploring the history of the role and its evolution from a joke to an influential position that can set up its holder for a run for president. (Learn more in an interview with the filmmaker.) That's followed at 8:00 pm by PBS News' simulcast of the CBS debate between J.D. Vance and Tim Walz, the two major party vice presidential candidates. 

A week later, on Tuesday, October 8 at 9:00 pm, Frontline offers its own look at Walz and Vance in The VP Choice. Frontline returns on Tuesday, October 29 at 9:00 pm with American Voices 2024, which revisits voters from the previous presidential election, in 2020, to see how their views have changed.

Voces also offers perspectives on the election in Latino Vote 2024 on Tuesday, October 22 at 9:00 pm, which looks at the priorities of Latino voters in battleground states and California and Florida. Our Texas, Our Vote adds in another large state with a prominent Latino population, on Monday, October 28 at 9:00 pm.

NOVA: Solar System

Wednesdays at 8:00 pm starting October 2

This five-part NOVA series proves that there is still so much to surprise us about our solar system, from hot ice and carbon dioxide snow to monsoons of liquid methane and planet-spanning dust storms.

Chicago Stories

The new season of Chicago Stories continues on Fridays at 8:00 pm with documentaries on beloved Amusement Parks like Riverview (October 4), the Puerto Rican revolutionaries known as Young Lords of Lincoln Park (October 11), Hugh Hefner and The Making of Playboy (October 18), and the destruction following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in When the West Side Burned (October 25). Each is also followed by an encore from the previous season. 

Don't miss exciting bonus content for each documentary at wttw.com/chicagostories.

New Cooking Seasons

Saturdays already have new seasons of Cook's Country, America's Test Kitchen, and Pati's Mexican Table. Now we're adding in a new season of Sara's Weeknight Meals at 11:30 am and Lidia's Kitchen at 1:00 pm, starting October 5. There's also a new series starting that same day at 11:00 am: Milk Street's My Family Recipe, in which the professionals of Milk Street help people recreate lost or forgotten family recipes made by grandmas, mothers, aunts, fathers, and more.

Visit wttw.com/food for recipes from these and more shows, in addition to stories about restaurants and food in and around Chicago. 

Dramas and Mysteries

It's the season of dramas and mysteries, as we finally get new seasons of both Father Brown at 7:00 pm and Death in Paradise at 8:00 pm beginning Saturday, October 5. They're joined by the new series Madame Blanc Mysteries, in which a recently widowed British antiques dealer goes to France to investigate her husband's death with the help of a cabdriver, at 9:00 pm starting October 19.

Sundays see the continuation of our line-up of Ridley, Moonflower Murders, and Van der Valk until October 27, when The Marlow Murder Club, an adaptation of a book by the creator of Death in Paradise, debuts at 8:00 pm. It's followed that day at 9:00 pm by Wolf Hall, which we're bringing back in anticipation of the upcoming adaptation of Hilary Mantel's third novel about Henry VIII's fixer Thomas Cromwell, The Mirror and the Light. You can catch up on these shows with our recaps.