What to Watch Sunday, September 13: High Value Target, Dead City Finale & Cowboys-Giants

Sunday is officially where September television starts feeling serious. TNT launches High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam with a two-episode premiere, The Walking Dead: Dead City closes Season 3, and Food Network apparently looked at the calendar, ignored the fact that Halloween is still seven weeks away and decided Halloween Wars starts now.

Sports will dominate much of the day, though. The 2026 U.S. Open crowns its men's champion this afternoon, Week 1 of the NFL finally gives us the traditional wall of Sunday games, and Dallas Cowboys-New York Giants takes over Sunday Night Football. PBS also has another full mystery block with The Marlow Murder Club and Marble Hall Murders, while Lioness reaches its penultimate Season 3 episode on Paramount+.

TV Cave Top Pick: High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam

We already gave this one its own TV Cave feature earlier this week, and now it's finally here.

High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam premieres tonight at 9 PM ET on TNT, with the first two episodes airing back-to-back. Joel Kinnaman stars as CIA analyst John Nixon, the first American officer to positively identify and interrogate Saddam Hussein after his capture in December 2003, while Waleed Zuaiter plays Hussein.

The eight-episode limited series isn't simply recreating the hunt for one of the world's most wanted men. Its more interesting angle comes after the capture, when Nixon begins questioning Hussein and finds that what he is hearing doesn't always line up neatly with the assumptions that helped drive the United States into Iraq. That gives the drama room to examine intelligence, political decision-making and the consequences that followed rather than treating the story as a straightforward manhunt thriller.

The rollout is unusual, too. Episodes 1 and 2 air tonight, Episode 3 follows tomorrow at 9 PM, and TNT will continue using Sunday and Monday nights before the October 4 finale. So yes, we're back to remembering which show has decided one night per week simply isn't enough.

That makes High Value Target our TV Cave Top Pick. After watching the screener earlier this month, this is one we've been waiting for everyone else to finally see.

Sunday, September 13 TV Schedule

Time (ET)	Show	Network/Streaming	Tonight
Streaming	Lioness	Paramount+	Season 3, Episode 7; penultimate episode
Streaming	The Walking Dead: Dead City	AMC+	Season 3 finale, “Tenebrae”
1:00 PM	2026 U.S. Open	ESPN2	Men's Championship pre-show
1:00 PM	Ravens at Colts	CBS	NFL Week 1
1:00 PM	Bills at Texans	CBS	NFL Week 1
1:00 PM	Browns at Jaguars	CBS	NFL Week 1
1:00 PM	Jets at Titans	CBS	NFL Week 1
1:00 PM	Falcons at Steelers	FOX	NFL Week 1
1:00 PM	Bears at Panthers	FOX	NFL Week 1
1:00 PM	Buccaneers at Bengals	FOX	NFL Week 1
1:00 PM	Saints at Lions	FOX	NFL Week 1
2:00 PM	2026 U.S. Open	ESPN2	Men's Championship
4:25 PM	Cardinals at Chargers	CBS	NFL Week 1
4:25 PM	Packers at Vikings	CBS	NFC North opener
4:25 PM	Dolphins at Raiders	FOX	NFL Week 1
4:25 PM	Commanders at Eagles	FOX	NFC East opener
7:00 PM	Padres at Giants	Peacock	Sunday Night Baseball
8:00 PM	The Marlow Murder Club	PBS	S3E2, “The Queen of Poisons, Part Two”
8:20 PM	Cowboys at Giants	NBC / Peacock	Sunday Night Football
9:00 PM	High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam	TNT	Two-episode limited-series premiere
9:00 PM	The Walking Dead: Dead City	AMC	Season 3 finale, “Tenebrae”
9:00 PM	Marble Hall Murders	PBS	Episode 2
9:00 PM	Halloween Wars	Food Network	Season 16 two-hour premiere
10:00 PM	A Tale of Two Cities	MGM+	Episode 2, “Malunion”

Dead City Reaches Its Season 3 Finale

Maggie and Negan have reached the end of another trip through Manhattan, and considering how this relationship works, we're guessing nobody is leaving with a cute souvenir T-shirt.

The Walking Dead: Dead City closes Season 3 tonight at 9 PM ET on AMC with Episode 8, “Tenebrae.” AMC+ subscribers get streaming access to the finale as well.

The finale follows last week's “Hourglass” and brings an eight-episode season that pushed Maggie and Negan back into each other's orbit toward its final confrontation. Season 3 has continued expanding the power struggle surrounding New York while digging into the damage these characters have been carrying since long before either of them ever reached Manhattan.

And because this is The Walking Dead, “season finale” does not necessarily translate to “everybody gets closure and goes home emotionally healthy.” At this point, we would probably become concerned if it did.

Cowboys-Giants Own Sunday Night

The NFL's strange opening week — Wednesday football! Australia! — finally becomes recognizably normal today with 12 Sunday afternoon games followed by Cowboys-Giants at 8:20 PM ET on NBC and Peacock.

Tonight's NFC East matchup at MetLife Stadium marks John Harbaugh's first regular-season game as Giants head coach. New York enters another season hoping quarterback Jaxson Dart and receiver Malik Nabers can finally pull the offense forward after consecutive four-win seasons, while Dallas is trying to break out of its own two-year stretch of seven-win finishes.

The teams split their meetings last season. Dallas won a wild 40-37 overtime game before New York took the season finale 34-17 with the Cowboys resting several starters.

NBC's September Sunday Night Football schedule continues next week with Indianapolis visiting Kansas City and the Rams heading to Denver on September 27.

Halloween Wars Is Already Back Because Apparently September 13 Is Halloween Now

Food Network has decided we're done pretending summer exists.

Halloween Wars returns for Season 16 tonight at 9 PM ET with a two-hour premiere, and this year's “Back From the Dead” theme is literal in at least one respect: every team consists of competitors who have already been on the show. Some are former champions trying to win again, while others are returning for redemption.

Jonathan Bennett returns as host alongside judges Shinmin Li and Andrew Fuller. Seven teams combining pumpkin carvers, cake artists and sugar specialists compete for the $30,000 prize, beginning tonight with head-to-head battles followed by a second round that sends one team home.

New episodes stream the following day on HBO Max. Halloween Baking Championship joins the party tomorrow night, because Food Network apparently needs the entire country carving pumpkins before we have officially reached fall.

Lioness Is One Week Away From Its Finale

Lioness releases Season 3, Episode 7 today on Paramount+, putting Zoe Saldaña's Joe and the team one episode away from another season finale.

Paramount+ confirmed before the season that Season 3 consists of eight episodes, with today's installment followed by the finale on Sunday, September 20.

The season has steadily tightened the conspiracy around Joe, Kaitlyn and Westfield, with last week's “Sugar Land” pushing the team deeper into the hidden network they have been attempting to uncover. With only two episodes remaining, we're officially at the point where every suspicious glance and mysteriously disappearing name starts looking important.

PBS Keeps Sunday Mystery Night Going

Judith, Becks and Suzie continue The Marlow Murder Club Season 3 tonight at 8 PM ET on PBS with “The Queen of Poisons, Part Two.”

The trio is still investigating the mayor's death after last week's premiere, but uncovering more secrets among the suspects isn't making the answer any clearer. The second half of the mystery brings the case to its conclusion before a new two-part story begins next week.

Then at 9 PM, Marble Hall Murders continues with Episode 2. Atticus Pünd begins interrogating the Chalfont family while Susan's investigation into Eliot Crace's manuscript leads her toward evidence suggesting that the fictional murder may have roots in an actual one. So PBS is basically offering two straight hours of British people discovering that wealthy families have been keeping terrible secrets. Sunday traditions matter.

The U.S. Open Crowns Its Men's Champion

Two weeks of tennis at Flushing Meadows end today with the 2026 U.S. Open Men's Championship at 2 PM ET on ESPN2.

ESPN's coverage begins with the championship pre-show at 1 PM, followed by the final at 2. The match officially closes this year's tournament after Saturday's women's championship and men's doubles final. For sports fans, that creates quite the Sunday-afternoon remote situation. Eight NFL games kick off at 1 PM, and then the U.S. Open final starts an hour later.

Somebody somewhere is about to discover how many screens their living room can physically hold.

A Tale of Two Cities Continues on MGM+

A Tale of Two Cities continues its four-part run at 10 PM ET on MGM+ with Episode 2, “Malunion.” Lucie and Charles travel to Paris looking for her long-missing father, while Charles' past begins complicating their growing connection. Back in London, Sydney Carton remains another increasingly important presence in Lucie's life as the political unrest in France continues building around them.

The limited series reaches its halfway point tonight, with Episodes 3 and 4 scheduled for September 20 and September 27.

That gives Sunday a surprisingly strong scripted lineup even with the NFL swallowing most of the day. We've got spies on Paramount+, British murder mysteries on PBS, zombies on AMC, Dickens on MGM+ and Joel Kinnaman interrogating Saddam Hussein on TNT.

And somehow Food Network is already making haunted cakes.

September TV is officially doing the most.