“Sanctuary” (9 p.m., Syfy) returns for its fourth season with a trip back in time. And along the way, we revisit some comforting constants of the sci-fi genre as well as familiar faces and oft-told tales.

The ageless Magnus (Amanda Tapping) returns to her old stomping grounds — the late Victorian era — in pursuit of rogue genius Adam Worth (Ian Tracey), who revisits the past with advanced medicine to cure the daughter he lost more than a century before. As Magnus and even the most casual buff already know, this is a highly dangerous move. Any change in the past has the potential to alter events, often with catastrophic results. And what trip to Victorian London is complete without a subplot involving Jack the Ripper? I’ve never been much of a fan of this popular Canadian series, but tonight’s season opener of “Sanctuary” is better than most.

• A year after the Chilean mine disaster and rescue, “17 Days Buried Alive” (9 p.m., MSNBC) recalls the desperate two-plus weeks between the initial accident and the moment when contact was made with their rescuers. It would take more than 60 days to extract the miners, but this initial period passed in complete darkness. In “Buried,” some of the miners reveal for the very first time just what was going through their minds as hope gave way to despair.

• “Dateline” (8 p.m., NBC) profiles James Arthur Ray, the self-help author charged with manslaughter in the deaths of three people at his “healing” sweat lodge in Sedona, Ariz.

• Kelly Ripa moonlights as a bridal consultant in “Say Yes to the Dress” (8 p.m., TLC). Now in its seventh season, “Yes” combines elements of a fashion show, a bride’s story and family drama all in the pursuit of celebrating shopping and consumerism as a means to expressing or channeling emotions. And along the way it’s a product placement for a certain New York bridal shop.

Tonight’s other highlights

• Michael takes an unusual chance on “A Gifted Man” (7 p.m., CBS).

• Garden State gastronomy on “Kitchen Nightmares” (7 p.m., Fox).

• A lovesick cook (Dudley Moore) sells his soul to the devil (Peter Cook) for the sake of a waitress (Eleanor Bron) in “Bedazzled” (7 p.m., Fox Movie Channel) the 1967 comedy update of the Faust legend.

• A murder victim is stashed in a high-end sports car on “CSI: NY” (8 p.m., CBS).

• A bullied boy’s tormentors die mysteriously on “Fringe” (8 p.m., Fox).

• Stranded in the high desert with a mutinous mule on “Man, Woman, Wild” (8 p.m., Discovery).

• A shaggy Briton (Hugh Grant) and an American beauty (Andie MacDowell) take a circuitous route to the altar in the 1994 romantic comedy “Four Weddings and a Funeral” (8 p.m., OWN).

• An accused burglar’s past proves revealing on “Blue Bloods” (9 p.m., CBS).

Cult choice

A waitress (Claire Brennen) abandons her apron for the circus sideshow in the 1967 shocker “She Freak” (1 a.m. Saturday, TCM).