1) Olympics opening ceremony, NBC. If you want to be one of the first to see this, you’ll need some effort: NBC plans to show it live, from 6:55 to 11 a.m. ET. Or you can catch it in the usual way – slightly edited, but seeming live – from 7:30 p.m. to midnight ET. Either way, you’ll see lots of flash (the 2016 ceremony is shown here), with no in-person spectators, but plenty of athletes. There are more than 11,000 of them from 206 countries – ranging from 600-plus Americans to one each from Nairu, Tuvalu, Aruba and South Sudan.
2) More Olympics. A few events started early and more begin today. You can catch them on NBC from 1-4 p.m. ET, plus reruns of games on the NBC Sports Network until 7:30. The latter includes several with U.S. women – softball at 8 a.m. (Italy) and 10 a.m. (Canada), then soccer at 5:30 p.m. (Sweden).
3) “Ted Lasso” season-opener, Apple TV+. This is a great month for Apple. Last week, it debuted the brilliant “Schmigadoon” series, with Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key wandering into a village encased in musical-theater traditions; now Key faces a shotgun wedding with Dove Cameron. And “Lasso” returns, awash in praise. It leads the Emmys with 20 nominations, including best-comedy and actor (Jason Sudeikis) and the Television Critics Association with five, including program of the year.
4) Lots of sharks. “SharkFest” continues on the National Geographic Channel from noon to 6 a.m., including new hours from 8-11 p.m. (At 10, we search for the world’s largest bull shark.) Many of those go to Disney+, which today also premieres the terrific “Playing With Sharks.” It’s a richly detailed portrait of Valerie Taylor, from her days as a Gidget-looking shark-hunter to her status at 85 – still swimming with sharks, but now also a leader in their preservation.
5) ALSO: In the daytime, “Judge Judy” has its last new episode after 25 seasons; Judy Sheindlin, 78, will start a new show in the fall. At 8 p.m., CW’s “Charmed” finds Macy on the brink of death, after encountering the Whispering Evil. And at 9, there’s another terrific episode of PBS’ “Icon: Music Through the Lens.” This one views what it’s like when a photographer tours with a band – from the early Rolling Stones to nowadays heavy-metal.