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TV picks: ‘Freddy Krueger’ on ‘The Goldbergs,’ Jon Dorenbos talks magic on ‘Real Sports,’ and more

What's new or noteworthy in the coming week of television.

Kiernan Shipka stars as a teenager who's half-witch, half mortal in Netflix's "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina"
Kiernan Shipka stars as a teenager who's half-witch, half mortal in Netflix's "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina"Read moreCourtesy of Netflix
    by Ellen Gray | Columnist
    Published 

The Simpsons. Happy (almost) Halloween, and welcome to "Treehouse of Horror XXIX." 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 21, Fox.

Doctor Who. The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and her companions travel to 1955 Montgomery, Ala., where they meet a seamstress named Rosa Parks (Vinette Robinson). And, yes, it does sound as if could have been an episode of Timeless. 8 p.m. Sunday, BBC America.

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. Former Philadelphia Eagle Jon Dorenbos, whose NFL career was ended by the  discovery of an aortic aneurysm, talks with Gumbel about his other vocation  — as a professional magician — and about the role magic's played in his life. 10 p.m. Tuesday,  Oct. 23, HBO.

The Goldbergs. The show's Jenkintown-raised creator, Adam F. Goldberg, checks another item off his 1980-something bucket list as Robert Englund — the original Freddy Krueger of A Nightmare on Elm Street — guest stars in an episode titled "Mr. Knifey Hands." 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24,  ABC.

Bodyguard. Richard Madden (Game of Thrones) stars as a war veteran working as a protection officer for a British Cabinet minister (Keeley Hawes, The Durrells in Corfu) in a thriller that's already a hit in Britain. Don't forget to breathe while watching — every one of the six episodes contains enough drama to fuel most shows for an entire season. Wednesday, Oct. 24, Netflix.

Legacies. Vampire shows can't really be killed, right? — they just retitle. The latest drama from Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries, The Originals) is set at the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted, where Klaus Mikaelson's daughter, Hope (Danielle Rose Russell, The Originals), is among the students. 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, CW.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Mad Men's Kiernan Shipka shines in this highly bingeable, darker-than-TGIF adaptation of the comic book series about a teenage witch named Sabrina who lives with her aunts (Miranda Otto and Lucy Davis). Will she decide to leave her high school boyfriend Harvey (Ross Lynch) behind to become a bride of Satan — I did say darker, right? —  or will she resist the power of the Beast while still getting to cast cool spells? There's more than a dash of Harry Potter and maybe a drop or two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this cauldron, and if we can't have another season of Stranger Things in time for Halloween, this is the next best thing. Friday, Netflix.