TV Talk: PBS loads up on Sunday dramas, biographies and nature series

So far the pandemic doesn’t seem to have slowed the PBS production pipeline with a wealth of “Masterpiece” dramas and the usual array of news, documentary and nature programming on tap.

PBS’s venerable “Frontline” offers its every-four-years look at the presidential contenders in “The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden” (9 p.m. Sept. 22, WQED-TV).

Other “Frontline” episodes explore “America’s Police Problem” (9 p.m. Sept. 15), about race and policing, and “America Unprotected: The Medical Supply Crisis” (10 p.m. Oct. 6), about the scramble for medical supplies as the pandemic set in.

The “Great Performances” series “Now Hear This” (9 p.m. Fridays, Sept. 18- Oct. 2) continues to detail how great classical music pieces by Haydn, Schubert and Mozart came to be written. And “Fiddler: Miracle of Miracles” (9 p.m. Nov. 13) chronicles the impact of “Fiddler on the Roof” across time.

PBS offers a full roster of dramas including the return of “Last Tango in Halifax” (8 p.m. Sundays Sept. 20- Oct. 11), the debut of contemporary light drama “The Trouble with Maggie Cole” (8 p.m. Sundays Oct. 18- Nov. 22) starring Dawn French (“The vicar of Dibley”) and national crisis thriller “COBRA” (10 p.m. Sundays, Oct. 4-Nov. 8).

“Masterpiece” debuts “Van Der Valk” (9 p.m. Sundays, Sept. 13-27), which is based on Nicolas Freeling’s novels and a previous 1972-92 series about a cynical Dutch detective who solves crimes in 21st century Amsterdam.

“Masterpiece” also introduces “Flesh and Blood” (9 p.m. Sundays, Oct. 4-25), about three siblings who grow suspicious when their recently widowed mother (Francesca Annis) declares she’s found a new man (Stephen Rea), and “Roadkill” (9 p.m. Sundays, Nov. 1-22), a political thriller about a scheming British government minister (Hugh Laurie, “House”).

“American Masters” looks back at the impact of gossip-driven commentator Walter Winchell (9 p.m. Oct. 20) and contends with the life story and controversial legacy of “Little House on the Prairie” author Laura Ingalls Wilder (9 p.m. Dec. 29).

PBS preps the party for “A Swingin’ Sesame Street Celebration: 50 Years and Counting” (9 p.m. Oct. 30) even though the first-run home of “Sesame Street” episodes is now HBO.

“Nature” revisits the “Australian Bushfire Rescue” (8 p.m. Oct. 28) of koalas, kangaroos and wombats while “NOVA” looks at the aftermath of the April 2019 cathedral fire in “Saving Notre Dame” (9 p.m. Nov. 25).

Upcoming PBS programs also chronicle the “Rise of Nazis” (9 p.m. Tuesdays, Nov. 10-24) in 1930s Germany and “Monstrum: The History of Zombies” (10 p.m. Oct. 30).