Set against the backdrop of 2007’s NBA betting scandal, “Inside Game” ups the ante with an engaging ensemble headed by Will Sasso, Scott Wolf and Eric Mabius.

Buddies since childhood, bookie James “Baba” Battista (Sasso), NBA referee Tim Donaghy (Mabius) and charismatic, drug-dealing Tommy Martino (Wolf) find themselves living the dream in Philadelphia when they hatch a wagering scheme leveraged by insider information provided through Donaghy’s locker room proximity to coaches and injured players.

With greed precipitously raising the stakes as the FBI closes in through an unrelated mob investigation, it’s inevitable that the can’t-miss proposition soon begins spiraling out of control, leading to the conviction of all three.

The script by TV writer Andy Callahan (“Taken,” “Lethal Weapon”) and direction by Randall Batinkoff efficiently checks off the requisite true crime drama tropes, but the smart money is on the strong performances of the cast, particularly Sasso’s brow-mopping, pill-popping mastermind.

Also impressive is Betsy Beutler as his fiercely protective wife, who wields her South Philly accent like a take-no-prisoners weapon, and veteran character actor Michael O’Keefe as Donaghy’s critical dad.

Although the film dutifully follows a familiar path to the courtroom, along the way, it serves as a solid demonstration of the fissures that can form when the bonds of friendship are tested against those of familial loyalty.

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Recent scandals exposing celebrities who paid their children’s way into prestigious universities serve as a timely point of departure for Adam and Jaye Fenderson’s conventionally informative documentary “Unlikely.”

Narrated by Jaye Fenderson, a former admissions officer at Columbia University, the film dissects how higher education obstructs equal opportunity by obscenely favoring wealthy applicants with legacy links to the school or the means to ensure future donations. Private universities repudiate students from underprivileged backgrounds and actively deny them access to maintain their rankings and attract “desirable” candidates.

“We don’t go to high-end schools,” responds a resigned Juan, the child of Mexican immigrants from a low-income community in Los Angeles, when asked about college prospects for those like him who lack the resources (financial and otherwise) to succeed at Ivy League institutions.

There’s no riveting style, invigorating technique or atypical narrative devices on display; standard talking-head interviews and simple animated clips suffice as the well-researched piece follows a handful of people of color from across the U.S. who’ve failed to complete their degrees since the system refuses to factor in the additional socioeconomic hurdles on their plate. Hard data coupled with human-interest stories unmask the nationwide rigged operation.

Akron, Ohio’s homegrown idol LeBron James and former Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz briefly appear on camera to promote their initiatives and foundations that attempt to bridge the inequality gap. The codirectors, unconcerned with visual ornamentation, disseminate facts clearly in an undertaking that’s scholarly adept yet disappoints artistically. More digestible than a thick academic study, “Unlikely” was obviously designed as an issue-driven program without cinematic aspirations. That’s likely for the best.

“I am a man who paints. Nothing more, nothing less,” repeats L.S. Lowry (Timothy Spall), a suffering artist thwarted by his elderly mother Elizabeth (Vanessa Redgrave), throughout the gripping, gorgeously acted biopic “Mrs. Lowry & Son.” It’s a haunting mantra that speaks volumes about a self-effacing talent who became one of England’s most famous contemporary painters.

Based on the stage and radio play by scripter Martyn Hesford, this 1934-set film spends a swatch of time with Lowry and his domineering, widowed mum, who, with vivid dysfunction, share a modest home in working-class Lancashire, England.

Although it occasionally escapes its theatrical roots, the movie largely takes place in Elizabeth’s bedroom. That’s where Lowry shares meals and chats with the forlorn and manipulative woman, who never misses a chance to blithely degrade, browbeat or discourage her middle-aged son. Her constant jabs at Lowry’s artwork — gloomy but distinctive urban landscapes — are like stakes to his heart, endured with a grim patience learned over a lifetime.

If often sad and unsettling, the film is also livelier and less oppressive than it may sound thanks to the fine writing, deft direction by Adrian Noble, and the superb, if painful interplay between Redgrave and Spall (who played another well-known English painter in 2014’s “Mr. Turner”).

A present-day visit to the Lowry, a museum in Salford Quays, England, which houses much of Lowry’s work, provides a fitting coda.

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SERIES

Superstore Amy (America Ferrera) amps up the store’s Halloween spirit to impress the new district manager, but her haunted house terrifies Glenn (Mark McKinney) in this new episode of the workplace comedy. 8 p.m. NBC

Grey’s Anatomy In a new Halloween episode, Alex (Justin Chambers) is feeling optimistic that he can impress investors at Pac-Gen North, until he hears about skeletons being unearthed at the construction site. Also, Teddy (Kim Raver) tries to create original trick-or-treat costumes. 8 p.m. ABC

Perfect Harmony Arthur (Bradley Whitford) helps Ginny (Anna Camp) conquer her inferiority complex as she tries to take on a new management role at work. Meanwhile, Dwayne (Geno Segers) bows out of a long-established Halloween tradition, prompting Wayne (Will Greenberg) to fear that he and his lifelong buddy are starting to grow apart. Tymberlee Hill and Rizwan Manji also star in this new episode of the musical comedy. 8:30 p.m. NBC

Mysteries Decoded The season finale heads to New Orleans to investigate whether a vampire has attained immortality. 9 p.m. The CW

Ghost Adventures In a two-hour Halloween special episode, Zak Bagans and his team take their cameras to the Rhode Island farmhouse that provided the narrative backdrop for the horror movie “The Conjuring.” 9 p.m. Travel

Will & Grace When Grace (Debra Messing) admits she’s not sure who the father of her baby is, Karen (Megan Mullally) orchestrates a “Mamma Mia!” situation where all the potential baby daddies are invited. Eric McCormack and Sean Hayes also star. 9:30 p.m. NBC

SPECIALS

The 13 Scariest Movies of All Time Host Dean Cain counts down some of the scariest thrillers ever made in this new one-hour special. Guests include Elizabeth Stanton, Garrett Clayton, Darrin Butters & Ezra Weiss, Jackie Fabulous, Brandon Rogers, Noah Matthews, Katherine Murray, Ron Pearson, Mikalah Gordon and Neel Ghosh & Sheridan Pierce. 8 p.m. CW

Top 10 Most Terrifying Places A countdown of the spookiest locations on Earth, from a ghostly pirate hideout to a castle in England. 8 p.m. Travel

HALLOWEEN MOVIES

House on Haunted Hill (1959) 8:15 a.m. TCM

The Cabin in the Woods (2011) 8:45 a.m. IFC

Halloween (1978) 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. AMC; 8 p.m. HBO

Paranormal Activity (2007) 12:45 p.m. IFC

Carrie (1976) 2:45 p.m. IFC

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) 3 p.m. Epix

Interview With the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) 3:30 p.m. BBC America

Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge (2001) 3:35 p.m. Disney

Shaun of the Dead (2004) 3:43 p.m. Encore

The Omen (2006) 7:07 p.m. Encore

Get Out (2017) 7:30 and 11:39 p.m. FX

The Village (2004) 7:35 p.m. Showtime

Ghost Ship (2002) 8 p.m. BBC America

The Scream Team (2002) 8 p.m. Disney XD

Rosemary’s Baby (1968) 8 p.m. Epix

It (2017) 8 p.m. TBS

House of Usher (1960) 8 p.m. TCM

Halloweentown (1998) 8:20 p.m. Disney

Boo! A Madea Halloween (2016) 8:30 p.m. Syfy

Hocus Pocus (1993) 8:50 p.m. Freeform

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) 9 p.m. AMC

Trick ’r Treat (2007) 9:15 p.m. IFC

Hell Fest (2018) 9:30 p.m. Showtime

The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) 9:30 p.m. TCM

Thirteen Ghosts (2001) 10 p.m. BBC America

The Amityville Horror (1979) 10:20 p.m. Epix

Halloween II (2009) 11 p.m. AMC

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TALK SHOWS

CBS This Morning A Utah childrens hospital celebrates Halloween. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS

Today Halloween on the plaza; the science of fright. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC

KTLA Morning News (N) 7 a.m. KTLA

Good Morning America Celebrating Halloween; the O’Jays perform. (N) 7 a.m. KABC

Good Day L.A. Rachael Ray; chef Gretchen Shoemaker; Harry Shearer as character Derek Smalls of “Spinal Tap.” (N) 7 a.m. KTTV

Live With Kelly and Ryan Jimmy Fallon, Drew and Jonathan Scott, Josh Groban, Liza Koshy, Kal Penn. (N) 9 a.m. KABC

The View Jordin Sparks; Dr. Mehmet Oz; “Beetlejuice.” (N) 10 a.m. KABC

Rachael Ray Rachael’s husband, John Cusimano; chef Anne Burrell. (N) 10 a.m. KTTV

The Wendy Williams Show Wayne Brady (“Let’s Make a Deal”); Circo Hermanos Vazquez performs. (N) 11 a.m. KTTV

The Talk The fifth Rocktober Lip Sync War; Kelly Osbourne. (N) 1 p.m. KCBS

The Dr. Oz Show Whether an adoptee is actually a teenager or a 30-year-old woman; Casey Anthony’s parents. (N) 1 p.m. KTTV

The Kelly Clarkson Show Kate Flannery; the Kingdom Choir performs; Lindsey Stirling performs with Kelly. (N) 2 p.m. KNBC

Dr. Phil A man’s alcoholism has caused him to injure himself. (N) 3 p.m. KCBS

The Ellen DeGeneres Show Jason Momoa (“See”); Tiffany Haddish and Andy Lassner. (N) 3 p.m. KNBC

The Doctors Medical records and doctors suggest a woman’s mother intentionally kept her sick. (N) 3 p.m. KCOP

Amanpour and Company (N) midnight KVCR; 11 p.m. KCET; 1 a.m. KLCS

The Daily Show With Trevor Noah Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton. (N) 11 p.m. Comedy Central

Conan Ewan McGregor (“Doctor Sleep”). (N) 11 p.m. TBS

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Kristen Stewart; Gaten Matarazzo; Pete Lee. (N) 11:34 p.m. KNBC

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi; Rob Corddry. (N) 11:35 p.m. KCBS

Jimmy Kimmel Live! Antonio Banderas; Natalia Reyes; Big Boi; Sleepy Brown. (N) 11:35 p.m. KABC

The Late Late Show With James Corden Jason Momoa; Alfre Woodard; Hollywood Vampires perform. (N) 12:37 a.m. KCBS

Late Night With Seth Meyers Timothée Chalamet; Cynthia Erivo; Miranda Lambert performs. (N) 12:37 a.m. KNBC

Nightline (N) 12:37 a.m. KABC

A Little Late With Lilly Singh David Arquette; Justin Willman. (N) 1:38 a.m. KNBC

SPORTS

NBA Basketball The Miami Heat visit the Atlanta Hawks, 4 p.m. TNT; the Denver Nuggets visit the New Orleans Pelicans, 6:30 p.m. TNT; the Clippers host the San Antonio Spurs, 7:30 p.m. FS Prime

NFL Football The San Francisco 49ers visit the Arizona Cardinals, 5 p.m. Fox

For more sports on TV, see the Sports section.

Get into your jammies and hop aboard the Polar Express for a train ride to the North Pole and back — without leaving Southern California. For the first time, the theatrical ride based on the holiday children’s book and movie is coming to the L.A. area.

Tickets are on sale now for rides starting Nov. 14 at two local routes: the Fillmore & Western Railway Co. in Fillmore (Ventura County) and Nov. 30 on the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris (Inland Empire). Rides continue through Dec. 29.

It costs $45 to $85 for adults, and $40 to $80 for children 2 to 11 years old, depending on what class of service you choose.

The ride takes about an hour and features events from the story, such as the hot chocolate served by dancing chefs, and Santa’s appearance at the end of the journey.

During the ride, kids and guests read along from the book “The Polar Express” by Chris Van Allsburg, who will appear for book signings on Dec. 4 (Fillmore) and Dec. 5 (Perris). Each passenger receives a sleigh bell and golden ticket to take home (read the book to find out why).

The ride event is organized by Rail Events Productions and licensed by Warner Bros. The show ran at 48 locations in the U.S., Canada and Britain in 2018.

Info: The Polar Express Train Ride

Stocks on Wall Street rose broadly Wednesday, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 index to a new record high for the second time this week, as investors welcomed the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates again.

The nation’s central bank also indicated that it won’t lower rates further in the coming months unless the economic outlook worsens. The Fed has been using its power to cut short-term interest rates in a bid to shore up the economy amid the costly effects of the U.S.-China trade war.

Stocks wobbled shortly after the Fed’s announcement, which had been widely anticipated by traders. The market then rallied into the close, led by gains in technology and healthcare stocks. Bond yields fell.

“The rate cut was expected, and also the market had been expecting a change in the language regarding another rate cut this year,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “The Fed just basically upped the bar for another rate cut by suggesting that the economy is in a good place.”

The S&P 500 index rose 9.88 points, or 0.3%, to 3,046.77, beating the record high it set Monday.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 115.27, or 0.4%, to 27,186.69. The Nasdaq composite rose 27.12 points, or 0.3%, to 8,303.98.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 4.23 points, or 0.3%, to 1,572.85.

In addition to the interest rate news Wednesday, the Commerce Department said the U.S. economy slowed to a modest growth rate of 1.9% in the July-through-September quarter. That surpassed economists’ forecasts for even weaker growth, however.

The report indicated that consumer spending downshifted and businesses continued to trim their investments in response to uncertainty caused by the trade war and a weakening global economy.

Technology and healthcare companies drove much of the market’s broad gains Wednesday. Microsoft rose 1.3%. Johnson & Johnson climbed 2.9%.

Energy stocks took the heaviest losses. Chevron slid 1.5%. Helmerich & Payne fell 4.3%. The sector dropped 2.1%, lowering its gains for the year to just 1.1%. That’s the smallest gain of all the sectors in the S&P 500.

Several big banks helped drag down financial sector stocks as bond yields declined. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dropped to 1.77% from 1.83%. The yield is a benchmark for interest rates that banks charge for mortgages and other loans. JPMorgan shares fell 0.6%. Bank of America slid 1.4%.

Investors also continued to focus on a steady flow of corporate earnings.

Apple, Facebook and Lyft climbed in after-hours trading after reporting quarterly results that beat Wall Street’s forecasts. Twitter slumped after the social media company announced it is banning political ads from its service.

Mattel surged 13.8% after the toy maker breezed past Wall Street’s third-quarter profit forecasts on strong sales of its Barbie and Hot Wheels brands. The company also put investors at ease when it said that it hasn’t seen any impact from tariff increases on toys imported from China ahead of the Dec. 15 deadline.

General Electric jumped 11.5% after the industrial conglomerate raised its projections for a key measure of profitability despite the trade war and ongoing problems with Boeing’s 737 Max, whose engines GE helps make.

Molson Coors Brewing fell 3.1% after announcing a restructuring plan as it faces declining beer sales. The company is laying off 500 workers worldwide as it streamlines operations in a bid to bring new products to market more quickly, such as the canned wine and hard coffee it introduced this year.

Benchmark crude oil fell 48 cents to settle at $55.06 a barrel. Brent crude oil, the international standard, dropped 98 cents to close at $60.61 a barrel.

In other commodities trading, wholesale gasoline fell 3 cents to $1.66 a gallon. Heating oil declined 5 cents to $1.91 a gallon. Natural gas rose 5 cents to $2.69 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold rose $5.80 to $1,493.20 an ounce. Silver rose 4 cents to $17.82 an ounce. Copper fell 1 cent to $2.68 a pound.

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The United Auto Workers union says it has reached a tentative contract agreement with Ford after three days of intense bargaining.

The union said the deal was reached Wednesday night but didn’t give details.

It said the deal still needs approval from committees of national union leaders and local officials who will meet Friday in Detroit. Then it will be sent to Ford’s 55,000 union workers for a ratification vote.

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The agreement is likely to mirror the pact approved by General Motors workers after a 40-day strike.

The GM contract has a mix of pay raises and lump-sum checks, a quicker path to full wages for new hires and assurances that temporary workers can become full-time. It also includes $7.7 billion in investments at U.S. factories.

UAW Vice President Rory Gamble, the chief negotiator with Ford, said bargainers were talking during the GM strike. Negotiations resumed in earnest Monday.

The union’s “pattern bargaining strategy” won unspecified salary and benefits gains with Ford and secured more than $6 billion in product investments in American facilities, Gamble said in a statement. The investments will create or keep more than 8,500 jobs, but no precise number of new jobs was given.

Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said he shifted resources from the solar company he bought three years ago to save his electric-car company from bankruptcy while it was ramping up production of the Model 3.

Musk made the admission as part of a lawsuit filed by Tesla investors over the company’s 2016 buyout of SolarCity, a solar-panel installer. Disgruntled shareholders contend Tesla directors rolled over when Musk pushed to buy the renewable-energy company. Musk was SolarCity’s chairman and largest shareholder at the time and his cousin was the chief executive officer.

“If I did not take everyone off of solar and focus them on the Model 3 program to the detriment of solar, then Tesla would have gone bankrupt,’’ Musk said in a June pre-trial deposition made public in state court in Delaware. “So I took everyone from solar, and said: ‘instead of working on solar, you need to work on the Model 3 program.’ And as a result, solar suffered, as you would expect.”

Pension funds opposing the SolarCity buyout say in court papers Musk should have told them Tesla was in no condition in 2016 to buy a $2-billion company and that it would be forced to rely on that firm’s manpower to keep Tesla afloat.

Tesla now has roughly 400,000 solar customers, one of the U.S.’s biggest renewable-energy portfolios. But Walmart Inc. sued Tesla in August, saying the company’s rooftop panel systems caused fires at their stores and warehouses. Tesla has also reached out to homeowners across the U.S. to tell them their solar systems need preventative maintenance.

Tesla’s rooftop solar business increased for the first time in a year, the company said during its most recent earnings report Oct. 23. Tesla deployed 43 megawatts of solar in the third quarter, a 48% jump from the previous three months.

In its earnings report last week, the electric-car maker said it earned $1.86 a share, surprising Wall Street. Musk delivered several positive updates: The company’s new factory in China is on track and the Model Y crossover SUV will launch earlier than expected. Tesla shares, which had languished for much of 2019, closed Tuesday at $316.22 and are down just 3.5% for the year.

Musk acknowledged in the June 1 deposition — unsealed Friday — that he probably wouldn’t support the SolarCity acquisition again given the stress Tesla faced from the Model 3 push.

“At the time I thought it made strategic sense for Tesla and SolarCity to combine. Hindsight is 20/20,” he said. “And if I could wind back the clock, you know, I would say probably would have let SolarCity execute by itself; would have let Tesla execute by itself.”

“But I just didn’t realize how difficult it would be to do the Model 3 program,” Musk added. “And so that was just a big distraction and sort of offset a lot of things by more than a year, year and a half maybe.”

To deal with that internal stress, Musk said scores of SolarCity employees — from engineering, management, sales and service — were transferred to the Model 3, the first electric car Tesla sought to produce in high volume. Some of the SolarCity workers were deployed to Tesla’s retail stores and delivered cars to customers, according to Musk’s deposition.

Tesla delivered a record 97,000 vehicles in the third quarter and the company’s surprise profit gives the company some breathing room. Executives have begun talking up the energy side of its business again.

On Friday, Musk held a conference call focused on “Version 3” of the company’s solar roof product, which was first revealed three years ago. “It’s been quite hard,” Musk said. “Roofs need to last a long time. When you add electrification to the roof, it’s a fair bit of complexity.”

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The 48-year-old Musk, who has had his share of run-ins with lawyers over the years, got particularly combative with Randy Baron, a California-based lawyer for Tesla shareholders challenging the wisdom of the SolarCity acquisition. They’ve sued the company’s board in Delaware Chancery Court.

At one point, Musk calls Baron “reprehensible” because the lawyer — according to the Tesla CEO — questioned whether SolarCity was a viable entity and the validity of sustainable energy as a whole.

“You seem like a very, very bad person. Just a bad human being,” Musk said in the deposition. “And I hope you come to regret your actions in the future, but you probably won’t. And that’s sad.”

When Baron questioned whether Musk’s push for the SolarCity deal amounted to a bailout, the executive snapped again and told he lawyer he was “a shameful person.”

“To bail out SolarCity was good for the world, you’re telling us?” Baron asked. “Advancing solar is absolutely good for the world,” Musk shot back. “Do you just think about money? What is your purpose in life?”

At another point in the deposition, Musk defended the SolarCity acquisition and accused Baron and other investors’ lawyers of “barking up the wrong tree.”

“SolarCity would have done just fine by itself and Tesla would have done just fine by itself, but in the long-term, they are better together. And that is what the future will show. That is why I think you should stop wasting your time now.”

The case is set for trial before Delaware Chancery Judge Joseph Slights III in March 2020, according to Tesla’s securities filings. Slights will hear the case without a jury.

Here’s a look at what roughly $800,000 buys right now in the coastal cities of San Diego, Oceanside and Chula Vista in San Diego County.

SAN DIEGO: Wrapped in stained-wood shingles, this charming 93-year-old Craftsman sits up above the street on a grassy, elevated lot.

Address: 4167 Ingalls St., San Diego, 92103

Listed for: $814,900 for two bedrooms, two bathrooms in 928 square feet (3,374-square-foot lot)

Features: Living room with brick fireplace; kitchen with breakfast bar; master suite with deck access; fenced backyard with freshly planted grass

About the area: In the 92103 ZIP Code, based on 11 sales, the median price for single-family homes in September was $860,000, down 0.2% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

OCEANSIDE: Bright splashes of color and a variety of outdoor spaces keep things interesting in this Southwestern-style ranch on half an acre.

Address: 1427 Avocado Road, Oceanside, 92054

Listed for: $780,000 for three bedrooms, two bathrooms in 1,586 square feet (23,958-square-foot lot)

Features: Skylit living room; multicolored common spaces; scenic dining area; trellis-topped brick patios

About the area: In the 92054 ZIP Code, based on 19 sales, the median price for single-family homes in September was $670,000, up 8.9% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

CHULA VISTA: This Spanish-style construction of stucco and clay tile is complemented by a guest casita and outdoor spaces with arched openings.

Address: 7 Bonita Road, Chula Vista, 91910

Listed for: $759,999 for five bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms in 3,200 square feet (7,500-square-foot lot)

Features: Travertine floors; remodeled kitchen; second-story covered balcony; back patio with hot tub

About the area: In the 91910 ZIP Code, based on 36 sales, the median price for single-family homes in September was $588,000, up 12.3% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

SAN DIEGO: This turnkey two-story in the Del Sur community features stacked-stone accents, tile finishes and verdant landscaping in the front and back.

Address: 8453 Kern Crescent, San Diego, 92127

Listed for: $799,999 for three bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms in 1,930 square feet (2,970-square-foot lot)

Features: Open floor plan; granite kitchen; upgraded appliances; front-facing balcony

About the area: In the 92127 ZIP Code, based on 54 sales, the median price for single-family homes in September was $1.116 million, up 0.1% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

OCEANSIDE: It’s all about the views in this scenic home in Spinnaker Ridge, and a balcony off the remodeled master suite takes full advantage.

Address: 5014 Viewridge Way, Oceanside, 92056

Listed for: $799,000 for four bedrooms, three bathrooms in 2,251 square feet (6,762-square-foot lot)

Features: Two-story living spaces; column-lined dining room; kitchen with wine fridge; master suite with custom bathroom

About the area: In the 92056 ZIP Code, based on 66 sales, the median sales price for single-family homes in September was $566,000, down 1.5% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

CHULA VISTA: Past a yellow exterior with plantation shutters, this two-story home with a pool and spa opens to powder blue living spaces with travertine floors.

Address: 345 Corte Trova, Chula Vista, 91914

Listed for: $785,000 for five bedrooms, four bathrooms in 3,058 square feet (6,196-square-foot lot)

Features: Open floor plan; spacious master suite; second-story deck; fenced backyard with palm trees

About the area: In the 91914 ZIP Code, based on nine sales, the median price for single-family homes in September was $758,000, down 22.7% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

On a recent afternoon, Candace Bushnell and I were sitting at the poolside bar of the Beverly Hills Hotel. It had been 25 years since she had submitted her first “Sex and the City” column to the New York Observer, the weekly broadsheet where I was an editor. In that quarter century, during which Candace and I remained close friends, the column became a book, which became the wildly popular HBO series (running from 1998 to 2004 and winning several Emmys for its stars), which was followed by two movies, “Sex and the City” in 2008 (worldwide box office $415 million) and “Sex and the City 2” in 2010 ($294 million).

Candace was wearing a gray pinstriped, men’s-style vintage Tuleh jacket, flowered linen shirt, white silk trousers and leather Gucci slippers lined with lambswool. She ordered scrambled eggs and a pink Frosé cocktail. Tan, whippet-thin and preternaturally optimistic, Candace swivels between impish and WASPish — the “New England stiff upper lip” she was raised with in Connecticut sharing time with the crooked smile that made her a Meg Ryan doppelgänger and It-Girl of demimonde Manhattan in the 1990s.

This summer, Grove Press published Candace’s most recent book, her eighth, “Is There Still Sex in the City?” — part memoir, part dating guide for women over 50. Candace is developing the book into a TV series with Paramount Television and Anonymous Content; she is cowriting the pilot and will serve as executive producer. If she was a sensation in her 30s, Candace has become a franchise at 60.

“When I first got the column, the first thing I thought was, ‘This will be my big break,’” she said of her 34-year-old self. “I felt like I had been practicing for that moment for years. And when something like that happens to a woman, people tend to think, ‘Oh, it’s a random thing, and you just kind of got lucky.’ No. I’d been working professionally in journalism since I was 19. And one of the continual frustrations of being me at that time was the incredible sexism. Those were real #MeToo times. I find out now there are men out there who actively tried to sabotage my career. One even told me so. That’s one of the things that I really remember, is how the men behaved, and how as a woman you had to negotiate all of this. You’re trying to make a living against a backdrop where the negotiations are not straightforward. They’re always muddied by sexism.”

Candace’s initial title for her new book had been “Middle-Aged Madness.” In 2011 her husband, former New York City Ballet principal ballet dancer Charles Askegard, asked her for a divorce. (They had married in 2002, in a union chronicled in the “Vows” column of the New York Times.) “I felt like the system had defeated me,” she writes in the book. “Not only could I lose my home but I was about to become one more of the millions of middle-aged women who would get divorced that year. Who would have to get back out there, to once again look for a man who doesn’t exist.”

Candace wrote most of the book in her home in Sag Harbor, Long Island. (She also has an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.) Over those two years, her father died and her best friend, publicist Jeanine Pepler, committed suicide. During that time she also started dating Jim Coleman, a tall and strapping real estate advisor whom she met the old-fashioned way, at a party, and to whom she dedicates her new book. They were introduced by Chris Noth, the actor who played Mr. Big on “Sex and the City.”

“We live in a time when it seems like people have to keep starting over and over again,” Candace said. “The reality is that there are losses. It’s also a time when people feel like, ‘It’s now or never to change my life.’ In your 50s, you start to run out of steam. You’ve been doing everything and going so hard, and you get numb, because you’ve got this routine and you’re doing it over and over again. But then these losses hit you; there’s divorce, death. They make you sad and they do change your idea of who you are in the world. They can set off a bout of middle-aged madness, where the core of it is, you’re trying to figure out what to do to feel better about your life.

“One of the things that also happens to people is feeling like you are 12 again,” she continued. “Women aren’t menopausal forever. According to research I’ve done, you technically can only be menopausal for one year. And then you’re postmenopausal. Some women have said — and I had this experience too, when the hormones kind of go all of a sudden — you feel like you’re 12 again, the way you felt before you even had any damn hormones! Now I know it sounds kind of kooky. People do go a little bit crazy — like there’s a desire for running, a desire for dancing, for movement. The person may start hanging out with people who are much younger. If somebody is in the middle of this middle-aged madness — for instance, they’re dancing or they’re drinking too much and they’re behaving in a way that’s not themselves — don’t try to stop them, because they also could be very angry, and they will no doubt yell at you.”

If “Sex and the City” served as a blissfully unreliable narrator for women in their 20s and 30s, Bushnell’s gimlet eye has swiveled toward women in their 50s and 60s who are grappling with a “hazy future.”

“You end up getting divorced and you haven’t been in the job market in a serious way for 20 years. You have no income and you’re trying to get a job you had 30 years ago,” she said. “It’s really a feeling, ‘Well, I came full circle.’ It’s not the fairy tale ending that women are promised.

“What’s interesting is that doesn’t seem to really matter, what choices you’ve made,” she continued. “Although what ends up mattering the most is not love, but money. And, you know, that’s very, very harsh.”

Candace said she loves what she’s seeing in the work of younger women writers. “I’m very impressed,” she said. “I think women writers right now are really at the forefront. There is a serious level of thinking and analysis that women weren’t really allowed to do when I was in my 20s. I look at all these young women — many of them seem to have gone to Ivy League schools and had quite a bit of education. They’re not off-the-cuff, cowboy researchers like me.”

She took a sip of her pink drink and laughed. “That’s an edible flower,” she said.