1) Sharks convergence, National Geographic and Discovery. “Shark Fest” continues on National Geographic, then pauses at 6 p.m. Sunday for a “Wicked Tuna” surge. That fits Discovery’s “Shark Week” (shown here), which starts Sunday and has new hours at 7 and 8 p.m. (great whites), 9 (a “Jackass” shark special) and 10. The week is hosted by Duane “The Rock” Johnson, who grew up in Hawaii, with a fondness for sharks via his mother’s Polynesian culture.
2) “The Old Man” season-finale, 10 p.m. Thursday, FX. This compelling series centers on Dan Chase (Jeff Bridges). He avoided people for decades, for fear he would be traced by Hamzad, the Afghan warlord he once worked with. But now he’s entangled: His daughter was kidnapped by Hamzad, who wants Chase in exchange. Chase is working with the FBI guy (John Lithgow) who had pursued him; he also accidentally has a lover (Amy Brenneman).
3) “Secret Celebrity Renovation” season-opener, 8 p.m. Friday, CBS. TV keeps repeating itself. In 2020, HGTV’s “Celebrity IOU” had famous folks doing renovations for worthy people. In 2021, CBS launched this show, with the same concept. This summer, HGTV added “The Great Giveback” (9 p.m. Mondays). Now CBS’ launches its second season, with Billy Gardell (“Bob Hearts Abishola”) helping a friend’s mom. Rob Mariano is the contractor.
4) “Hotel Portofino” season-finale, 8 p.m., Sunday, PBS. Like “Downton Abbey,” this teeters between elegant drama and standard soap. There’s some of each in the finale, with questions surrounding the evil Cecil: Who stole the painting (claimed to be a Rubens) he took from his family’s estate? Will his son Lucian choose the bland socialite or the sweet nanny? What sbout Lucian’s widowed sister? And his closeted friend? There’s a lot here, some of it satisfying.
5) “American Ninja Warrior,” 8-10 p.m. today, NBC, rerunning Friday. Now the semi-finals begin. In five weeks of qualifiers, only seven people managed to conquer the “Mega Wall.” Now they – and others – move on; they face up to 10 obstacles, including the new Kaleidoscope, Ghost Town and Spin Zone. NBC follows that on Tuedayt with more reality competitions — “America’s Got Talent” at 8 p.m. and the “Dancing With Myself” finale at 10.
6) Baseball’s All-Star Game, 4:30 p.m. PT Tuesday, Fox; pre-game at 4. Baseball’s best go Hollywood, in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ stadium. Appropriately, two Dodgers (Mookie Betts and Trea Turner) were voted starters; so were two Los Angeles Angels (Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani); the Dodgers also have pitchers Clay Kershaw and Tony Gonsolin. ESPN precedes that Monday with the Home Run Derby and the start of its Derek Jeter series..
7) “The Green Planet,” 8 p.m. Wednesday, PBS. This keeps dazzling us with its slow-motion photography. That’s key to this hour, tracing seasonal changes; splendid views show worlds coming to life, then retreating. One great sequence has a sapsucker interrupting syrup’s rush up a maple tree … until it’s so busy fighting squirrels and hummingbirds that the tree is spared. Another sees the fire lily emerge four days after a wildfire, leading a renaissance.
8) “Grown-ish” season-opener, 10 p.m. Wednesday, Freeform The fifth season arrives (nudging “Everything’s Trash” to 10:30), feeling a little like a first season. Zoey has finished college, just as her brother, Andre Jr., begins. (Both sprang from “Black-ish,” which has ended its eight-year run.) She returns for his first day on campus – and realizes how much she misses the college world. Meanwhile, he heads to Doug’s “white party,” to get away from dorm life.
9) “Welcome to Flatch” and “Call Me Kat,” 9:01 and 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Fox. When CBS trimmed from four Thursday comedies to two, it left a laugh void. Fox has filled it with reruns of these shows, in the slots they’ll be this fall. “Kat” is light and likable, without being more; here, Kat (Mayim Bialik) eyes the perfect anniversary. “Flatch” is more difficult, with its droll, clever humor. This time, Shrub is caught doing graffiti and sent to an art class.
10) World Athletic Championships finals, 9-11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, NBC (plus 11 a.m. to noon PT Saturday). It’s sports overload week, starting with baseball and then with the Espy awards, at 8 p.m. Wednesday on ABC. Meanwhile, these track-and-field games have 1,900-plus athletes (from 192 countries), including 42 Olympic gold medalists. They continue on the USA Network and Peacock, but jump to NBC for the weekend, including the finals.