1) Football, 8 p.m. ET, ABC and ESPN. A week before other pre-season games, here’s the Hall of Fame game. The Houston Texans, 11-8 last season, face the Chicago Bears, 7-10. Many teams avoid playing top quarterbacks pre-season, but the Bears have said Caleb Williams (shown here), the No. 1 draft pick, will get some action.
2) Olympics: women’s gymnastics, NBC. It’s time for individual medals in several events. You can catch it live at 12:15 p.m. ET (after medal-events in swimming at 10:15), or wait for the day’s recap, 8-11 p.m..
3) More Olympics. U.S. beach volleyball teams are at 9 a.m. ET on NBC (men) and 7 p.m. on the USA Network (women). USA also has women’s field-hockey at 11 a.m. and basketball at 2:45 p.m. A “race walk” event is 8:30 a.m. on USA, with other track-and-field events starting Friday. There’s more, live or in the recap.
4) Miss Teen USA, 8-10 p.m., CW. After 16 years of internet-only, this gets a telecast again. Most of the 51 contestants are ages 17-19, but three are 16, with one each at 14 and 15. It’s sort of pageant week for CW, which has Miss USA at 8 p.m. Sunday.
5) Movies. Each August day, Turner Classic Movies focuses on one star. Big ones are coming: John Wayne on Saturday, Julie Andrews on Sunday. This starts mildly, however, with William Powell, including “Life With Father” (1947) at 5:45 p.m. ET. Alternatives are led by the vibrant “Footloose” (1984), 8:30 p.m. on Freeform.
— Mike Hughes, TV America