1) “CMA Best of Fest,” 8-11 p.m. today, ABC. Some of TV’s best summer moments come when ABC has music fron Nashville’s CMA Fest. This year’s festival was canceled, but the show goes on, with Luke Bryan hosting. He’ll do new music, as will Darius Rucker; others will be shown during 16 previous years. We’ll get newer stars (Luke Combs, Kane Brown, Kelsea Ballerini) and A-list veterans – Garth Brooks, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood (shown here), Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambrt, Keith Urban, more.
2) Peacock debut, Wednesday, www.peacocktv.com. Here’s a new streaming giant, colliding with Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and more. You can pay extra for more shows (and no commercials), but the free service includes old shows (“Frasier,” “30 Rock,” “Downton Abbey,” etc.) and movies, plus new shows – an eight-part “Brave New World,” a David Schwimmer comedy, a conspiracy thriller, a “Psych” movie and animation, with “Curious George,” “Cleopatra in Space” and “Where’s Waldo?”
3) “Grantchester” and “Beecham House” season-finales, 9 and 10 p.m. Sunday, PBS. It’s been a rough season for “Grantchester,” battering Will (the good-hearted vicar) and friends. Disturbed by troubles linked to his youth-boxing program, he stumbles drunkenly into his mother’s party. Coming is a brutal murder mystery, but also some warm moments for the key characters. It’s an excellent hour, followed by a “Beecham” that has big plot twists – it starts with John in jail – but stiff dialog and performances.
4) “America’s Got Talent,” 8-10 p.m., Tuesday, NBC. The auditions conclude, in a season that’s been riddled with change. The final audition episodes (including this one) were done without an audience and without Heidi Klum; she’s been sick, NBC said, but not with COVID. This time, some acts even sent their work online. A “best-of-auditions” recap will be next week, followed by a July 28 episode that has a new look: Judges (including Klum) will see performances outdoors, on a giant screen.
5) “United We Fall” debut, 8 and 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, ABC. Here’s something you don’t expect: A new situation comedy in the summer. ABC had planned it for this spring … hesitated when it thought it might air the show this fall … then decided not to. Will Sasso (who has been Jill’s cop boyfriend on “Mom”) and Christina Vidal play parents, with Jane Curtin as his mom, who lives with them and tends to disapprove. Guillermo Diaz – far from his violent role as Huck in “Scandal” – plays Vidal’s brother.
6) “Killer Camp” debut, 8 p.m. Thursday, CW. Most reality shows have an odd twist or two, but not like this: On the way to the camp, one guy simply blows up; one more will die each night, we’re told. The contestants seem contrived, but the show claims that only Bobby Mair (the offbeat camp leader) is an actor. Either way, the campers seem to take all of this imminent-death news in stride. This British transplant is as goofy (and, sometimes, gory) as it sounds; consider it an OK summer distraction.
7) “30 Rock” special, 8 p.m. Thursday, NBC; then 9 p.m. Friday, USA and CNBC. Ten weeks ago, the “Parks and Recreation” characters had a social-distanced, videochat special; now the same will be done by “30 Rock” stars – Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan and more. This one, however, will double as a promo for the new Peacock service (which inlcudes “30 Rock”) and other shows on NBC and its cable channels. And it leads into the “Blindspot” series finale at 9 p.m., with the world’s future at stake.
8) “Great Performances at the Met: Porgy and Bess,” 9 p.m. Friday, PBS. In this black-lifes-matter summer, we can see classic stories from real life – “Harriet,” the Harriet Tubman movie, is 8 p.m. Saturday and 6:45 p.m. Sunday on HBO – and from fiction. The Metropolitan Opera had wanted to stage the 1935 “Porgy” debut, but George Gershwin preferred a Broadway theater. Ever since, the show has been considered both opera and Broadway. This Met production stars Eric Owens and Angel Blue.
9) “World’s Biggest Tiger Shark?” 8 p.m. ET Sunday, National Geographic. Growing up in St. Louis – 700 miles from the sea – Kelli Garza was fascinated by sharks. Now she’s in French Polynesia, with the right education (a marine biology degree from Hawaii Pacific) and skills. She can stay underwater for four minutes and can gently tap tiger sharks on the snout. This good-natured special launches “Shark Fest” – three weeks on this channel, two more on NatGeo Wild – with 17 new shows and lots of reruns.
10) “The Alienist: Angel of Darkness” opener, 9 and 10 p.m. Sunday, TNT. “The Alienist” had a killer stalking boys in 1890s New York. Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt, turned to Dr. Kreizler – an “alienist” or psychiatrist – and Sara Moore (Dakota Fanning), the only woman in his department. Now she’s a private detective, consulting Kreizler for a tough case – a Spanish dignitary’s baby daughter was kidnapped. The story is beautifully filmed and acted, but slow (10 episodes) and somber.