What to Watch Thursday, September 24: ‘A Different World,’ ‘American Horror Story: 13’ & ‘Strange New Worlds’

Thursday is loaded, especially on streaming. Netflix takes viewers back to Hillman College with the long-awaited A Different World, while American Horror Story launches its 13th installment with a three-episode event. Paramount+ also has the Season 4 finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, plus the complete first season of Team Moms: Baseball.

Broadcast isn't exactly sitting this one out. Gordon Ramsay starts Season 25 of Hell's Kitchen, Special Forces: World's Toughest Test heads into the Malaysian jungle for Season 5, and NBC has another two-hour helping of The Traitors: New Blood. CBS also expanded tonight's Big Brother live eviction to two hours. Whew, Thursday. Nobody asked you to show off this hard.

TV Cave Top Pick: A Different World

We're going back to Hillman. A Different World premieres today on Netflix, with Maleah Joi Moon leading the new generation as Deborah Wayne, the youngest daughter of Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert. Deborah arrives at her parents' HBCU alma mater trying to build an identity that isn't defined by two people who are basically Hillman royalty.

The sequel also has some serious connective tissue to the original series, with Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Hardison returning as Whitley and Dwayne and Debbie Allen involved behind the camera. Reviving a show this beloved is always risky — especially one that meant so much to Black television and HBCU representation — but returning to Hillman with a new generation instead of simply trying to recreate the old one gives this revival a real reason to exist.

Thursday, September 24 TV Schedule

Time (ET)	Show	Network/Streaming	Tonight
Streaming	A Different World	Netflix	Series premiere
Streaming	Star Trek: Strange New Worlds	Paramount+	Season 4 finale, “Tomorrow's Enterprise”
Streaming	Team Moms: Baseball	Paramount+	Series premiere; all 8 episodes
Streaming	Shaque: Trust No One	Netflix	Seven-episode series premiere
Streaming	Delusion	Netflix	Series premiere
Streaming	My Sad Dead	Netflix	Series premiere
Streaming	The Real Rooneys	Hulu	Reality/docuseries premiere
Streaming	Go Deep: The DeSean Jackson Story	Prime Video	Documentary premiere
8:00 PM	The Traitors: New Blood	NBC	Episodes 3 & 4; two-hour event
8:00 PM	Hell's Kitchen	FOX	Season 25 premiere
8:00 PM	Big Brother	CBS	Expanded two-hour live eviction
9:00 PM	American Horror Story: 13	FX / Hulu	Three-episode season premiere
9:00 PM	Special Forces: World's Toughest Test	FOX	Season 5 premiere

American Horror Story Goes Big for Season 13

American Horror Story: 13 premieres at 9 PM ET on FX, Hulu and Hulu on Disney+, and this isn't a normal one-episode launch. The first three episodes arrive tonight, beginning a 13-episode season that will continue weekly through an appropriately timed October 29 finale.

The bigger draw is the ridiculous collection of familiar faces coming back. Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates and more return for a season that reconnects with earlier AHS stories, including Coven and Apocalypse. Season 13 basically looked at the franchise's history and said, “Girl, bring everybody back.”

Strange New Worlds Reaches Its Season 4 Finale

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds wraps Season 4 today on Paramount+ with Episode 10, “Tomorrow's Enterprise.” A time ripple damages the Enterprise and forces younger and older versions of Uhura to work together to repair the timeline, giving the season one final time-bending problem before the credits roll.

Paramount+ confirms the episode runs just over an hour, and Season 5 is already on the way, so this isn't goodbye to Pike and the crew. Still, after a season that has bounced through wildly different genres and put La'An through an actual fantasy adventure last week, expecting this finale to simply behave itself would probably be foolish.

Thursday may have the most genuinely competitive lineup of the week so far. A Different World has nostalgia and a new generation, AHS is bringing half its history back from the dead, Strange New Worlds has a finale, and broadcast television has The Traitors, Big Brother, Hell's Kitchen and Special Forces all fighting for the same evening. Good luck choosing one screen.