1) “The Bachelorette,” 8-10 p.m. today, ABC. Jenn Tran (shown here) visits home towns of her final four guys. She’s 26 and becoming a physician’s assistant. The guys: Marcus Shoberg, 32, former Army Ranger; Jeremy Simon, 29, real-estate investor; Jonathan Jackson, 27, creative director; Devin Strater, 28, freight-company owner.
2) Convention. For a key stretch (10-11 p.m. ET), ABC, CBS and NBC will join coverage. Democrats plan to pack presidents into that hour – Biden, Monday; Obama, Tuesday; Clinton, Wednesday. Candidates will be Wednesday (Walz) and Thursday (Harris). PBS and the news channels will be there early, at 5 p.m. daily.
3) Convention-skippers. Two networks, CW and Fox, will stay away, Fox (which wants us to catch its news channel) even has baseball at 7:15 p.m. ET Thursday, possibly overlapping with Harris. Cable has early movies, especially on FX (“Free Guy.” 5:30 p.m. Wednesday; “The Woman King,” 7 p.m. Thursday) and Freeform.
4) Streaming alternatives. Peacock adds a “Love Island” reunion today; Apple TV+ continues the rowdy (and fun) “Bad Monkey” on Wednesday; Hulu returns the overwrought “Reasonable Doubt” Thursday. And Netflix adds AMC’s best shows – “Dark Winds,” “Monsieur Spade,” “Interview With the Vampire,” more.
5) Football, Saturday. The season gets an early start, with four TV games. It’s Florida State-Georgia Tech (noon ET, ESPN); Montana State-New Mexico (4 p.m., Fox Sports1); SMU-Nevada (8 p.m., CBS Sports Network). And at 7:30 on ABC, Florida State – last year’s champion of historically Black colleges — faces Norfolk State.
6) “Wayne Brady: The Family Remix,” 10 p.m. Wednesday, Freeform. It’s Brady’s busy time, with CBS’ “Let’s Make a Deal” (daytime plus 8 p.m. Fridays) and this reality show, turning serious. During a painful childhood, Brady was raised by his grandmother. She died in 2022; now he returns to Florida, to resolve feelings about his past.
7) Nature films. David Attenborough has been at this for a while. He hosted his first animal show 70 years ago. Now, at 98, he narrates two films. Arriving Thursday on Netflix is “Secret Lives of Orangutans.” And on Saturday (8-9:15 p.m., rerunning at 12:15 a.m.), is a complation of “making of” segments for his superb “Mammals” series.
8) “Great Performances,” 9-10:30 p.m. Friday, PBS. The annual Vienna Philharmonic concert turns high-octane. Conductor Andris Nelsons opens with Wagner, closes with waltzes and has propulsive numbers in between, led by “Sabre Dance.” Lise Davidsen, who often sings of death and despair, gets some Verdi joy.
9) “Magpie Murders” conclusion, 9 and 10 p.m. Sunday, PBS. This reruns the end of a brilliantly crafted tale. Susan solves two murders – fictional (in the missing chapter of a novel) and real (the novelist was slain). She even imagines talks with the book’s detective. Also at 9: “Snowpiercer” on AMC, “Industry” on HBO.
10) “Orphan Black: Echoes” season-finale, 10:07 p.m., AMC and BBC America. A promising season plunges into darkness. Three gifted actors – Keeley Hawes, Krysten Ritter, Amanda Fix – have salvaged a grim tale of clones. But the slow, pensive style, often an asset, creates trouble now, as people sputter toward disaster.