Michael Keaton takes on the opioid crisis in Hulu’s Dopesick

Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Wednesday, October 13. All times are Eastern.

Top pick

Dopesick (Hulu, 12:01 a.m., series premiere): Based on Beth Macy’s best-selling book of the same name, this gloomy limited series centers on the rise of OxyContin, and how it triggered the worst opioid epidemic in the country. The story moves from the boardrooms of Purdue Pharma, owned and run by the Sackler family, to DEA hallways to a small mining community in Virginia. The cast includes Michael Keaton, Michael Stuhlbarg, Kaitlyn Dever, Rosario Dawson, Will Poulter, Peter Sarsgaard, and John Hoogenakker. Look for Danette Chavez’s review on the site today.

Regular coverage

Legends Of Tomorrow (The CW, 8 p.m., season-seven premiere): The show returns for season seven with the premiere, “The Bullet Blondes,” wherein the Legends find themselves in 1925 Odessa, Texas, in the company of FBI’s first director, J. Edgar Hoover. Jarrod Jones will be recapping the series weekly, taking over for Allison Shoemaker.

Wild cards

The Sinner (USA, 10 p.m., season-four premiere): “Over the course of four seasons, The Sinner has slowly transitioned from a show of weirdo character studies and conspiracy wormholes with some elements of a procedural mystery, to a procedural mystery with some weirdo character studies and the occasional conspiracy. That shift in emphasis isn’t a major one, but it’s significant enough that the new season feels almost more akin to detective-show comfort food than the unsettling crime drama of years past.

Some of that may simply be familiarity: Viewers are well-acquainted by now with Bill Pullman’s haunted (and now retired) detective Harry Ambrose, who travels to a small island community for an extended vacation with new girlfriend Sonya (Jessica Hecht), only to get pulled into investigating the strange disappearance of a woman (Alice Kremelberg) he thinks he witnesses vanish in the night. But some of it is also intentional. This looks to be the most straightforward season yet, a missing person case more interested in dishing out steady helpings of clues than characters. Meaning, those interested in going down a fun rabbit hole of whodunnit theatrics should be well-served, even if you may find yourself nostalgic for the oddball intrigue of, say, Carrie Coon worshipping a giant boulder in season two.” [Alex McLevy]

Just Beyond (Disney+, 3:01 a.m.): Inspired by author R.L. Stine’s work and created by Seth Grahame-Smith, this eight-episode anthology tells thought-provoking stories of a world beyond imagination. Each episode features new characters who go on a surprising journey of self-discovery that may or may not include witches, ghosts, aliens, and parallel universes. The show stars McKenna Grace, Nasim Pedrad, Riki Lindhome, Tim Heideker, Gabriel Bateman, Henry Thomas, and Parvesh Cheena.