1) World Cup, 8 p.m. ET, Fox. Off to a strong start, the U.S. faces Belgium, in Seattle. The Americans (shown here in a previous game) have won all three games that counted, outscoring their opponents, 8-1. (After cinching a spot, they rested their starters and lost a game,.3-2.) Belgium has had 0-0 and 1-1 ties, plus 3-2 and 5-1 wins. Tonight, one will be eliminated. Read more…
Amid all the summertime reruns and re-reruns, we might long for some fresh TV shows..
They’re coming … and all on the same day.
That’s Thursday, July 9. There will be a new drama series (a good one) and a continuing drama (a great one). There will be a new Jennifer Garner mini-series (shown here) and the season-openers of two game shows and two reality competitions.
All of them arrive together, mostly by coincidence. Logically, networks waited for various distractions (basketball, hockey, soccer, 4th-of-July) to end; weirdly, they then all chose July 9.
Here’s a round-up, starting with broadcast TV, then cable, then streaming: Read more…
1) “Patience,” 8 p.m. PBS. After a so-so start to its second season, this show finally has the sort of smart hour that filled the first year. An autistic girl may have seen her father killed; Patience Evans, also autistic, struggles to help. It’s a neatly complex story and a subtly perfect, Emmy-worthy performance by Ella Maisy Purvis (shown here) as Patience. Read more…
1) “Big Brother” season-opener, 8-9:30 p.m. Thursday, CBS. The 28th season begins, this time in a house with a “time trip” theme (shown here). That ranges from a crazy-clock entry to design elements that span the centuries. There’s another 90-minute episode at 8 p.m. Sunday, then a weekly pattern — 8-9:30 p.m. Wednesdays, 8-9 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays. Read more…
1) “Disney Celebrates America,” all day, ABC. There are special editions of “Good Morning America” (7-10 a.m.), “Sports Center” (5-7 p.m.) and more. And at 8, Ryan Seacrest hosts from Nashville, with country stars (Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Clint Black, Brothers Osborne, Little Big Town), plus Boyz II Men, Nick Jonas and fireworks (shown here from a previous event). Read more…
Generations of Bells have made key contributions to music. That includes:
— Robert “Kool” Bell, leader of Kool & The Gang, which performs Friday (July 3) on the Capitol Lawn. That’s in a party (8 p.m. on most PBS stations) that has fireworks and music, from Alan Jackson to Chicago to Kool’s “Celebration” — an essential song for any 250th-birthday party.
— His dad, Robert “Bobby” Bell. His contribution was to not hit Miles Davis.
Really. “My father was a boxer,” Bell said,. “Miles Davis wanted to box with him, but he wouldn’t do it. He said, ‘I don’t want to ruin your career.'”
So Davis, his jaw and lips intact, continued to be a great jazz trumpeter. His music became one influence for Kool’s gang. Read more…
1) “A Capitol Fourth,” 8 p.m., PBS stations. The 4th of July party starts a day early. Most networks (including PBS) will have big, 250th-birthday events Saturday. That nudges this concert to tonight on most (but not all) PBS stations, many rerunning it at 9:30. There’s music (including Trace Adkins) from the Capitol lawn and fireworks (shown here at the Capitol in a previous year) at Mount Vernon. Read more…
“S.W.A.T.,” it seems, is one of those shows that’s never really gone.
A new version — the third on TV, plus some movies — arrives this fall. Shemar Moore (shown here) will again star, but with different co-stars. Read more…
Mark Harmon hasn’t faded from our TV screens after all.
CBS says he’ll appear — at least a bit — in every episode of next season’s “NCIS: Origins.” That’s in a two-era story, going from the 1990s to modern times. Read more…
1) “The Americas: A Wild 250th,” 9 p.m., NBC. Lately, NBC has been rerunning the gorgeous “Americas” documentary series here. But now it pauses for a new hour: Two days before the 250th birthday, it focuses on creatures — bald eagles (the scene shown here is not from the film), bison, sea lions, etc. — that may symbolize the U.S. That follows a new “Surviving Earth” at 8. Read more…
Best-bets for July 6: soccer, plus cartoon overload 
Best-bets for July 5: sharks, soccer and sheer patience 
Best-bets for July 4: lots of music, lots of fireworks 
