1) Olympics (teams). It’s finals times for men’s teams. Volleyball has its gold-medal match at 7 a.m. ET on NBC; beach volleyball is on USA, with bronze at 3 p.m. and gold at 4:30. Basketball has bronze at 5 a.m. on USA, then gold at 3:30 p.m. on NBC, with the women’s finals on Sunday morning. Read more…
1) “America’s Got Talent” return, 8-10 p.m. Tuesday, NBC. After eight weeks of auditions and a two-week Olympic break, the summertime ratings leader (shown here) finally reaches its live episodes, with viewers voting. That will be on five Tuesdays (with a results hour at 8 p.m. Wednesdays), pointing to the Sept. 17-18 finals. Read more…
1) “Descendants: The Rise of Red,” 8 p.m., Disney Channel, repeating at 9:45. At first, this seems like it will be wonderful. There’s a vibrant musical chase scene with Red (Kylie Cantrall), then a potent song by her evil mom (Rita Ora, shown here). After that, this settles for being OK, with a time-travel plot, up-tempo songs and a so-so ending. Read more…
1) “Young Sheldon,” 9 p.m., CBS. A terrific rerun juggles two stories: Sheldon’s paper gets national attention, sparking a flurry of college recruiters. Also, his brother Georgie (shown here) tries to speak properly in front of the baby. That’s followed by a good “Ghost,” with someone claiming to be the real heiress to the manor. Read more…
As the election nears, we can fret about all the ways that vote-counts can go wrong. Or we can marvel that they rarely do.
“Think about what a miracle an election is,” said David Becker, head of the non-partisan Center for Election Innovation and Research. “We count 160 million pieces of paper” and do it “exceptionally fast.”
And it’s done in a wildly decentralized way. “We practice a fierce federalism,” said Ralph Ginsberg, a Republican election lawyer for 40 years.
Each state sets its own rules, often leaving room for local variations. The result, Becker said, is “a system of 10,000 different jurisdictions and hundreds of thousands of volunteers.”
They were talking to the Television Critics Association about “Counting the Vote,” a Margaret Hoover (shown here) film that airs Aug. 27 on PBS. And this was a truly bi-partisan collection. Read more…
Kit Harington has sort of been here before – in a sprawling HBO series, filled with ambitious souls straining for power.
This time, however, there are fewer dragons and less danger. Banks are like that.
His first film role, as Jon Snow in “Game of Thrones,” flung him into stardom. Now Harington (shown here, right) joins “Industry,” which is set in the upper-tier world of British banking. It starts its third season at 9 p.m. Sunday (Aug. 11) on HBO and Max.
He’s Sir Henry Muck, CEO of a tech firm. The role is “very much about the British class system,” said Harington, who grew up in upper-class comfort. Read more…
1) Olympics. Track events (shown here on previous day) are live, from 9:20-10 a.m. and 1-4 p.m. ET on NBC, Also, U.S. teams compete in soccer (8:50 a.m.) and volleyball (3 p..m.) on the USA Network. And there’s lots of beach volleyball – 11 and 11:55 a.m., USA; noon and 4 p.m., NBC. Then comes NBC’s recap, from 8-11 p.m. Read more…
Imagine that you suddenly have great gobs of money and resources. What’s next?
Some people buy an island or a movie studio or Twitter or trouble. James Cameron dives deeper (literally and figuratively) into his work.
“They’re going to have to drag me out kicking and screaming,” he told the Television Critics Association.
Cameron turns 70 on Aug.16; two days later, he debuts an ambitious project. For three Sundays (Aug. 18 through Sept. 1), “OceanXplorers” (shown here) will have episodes at 9 and 10 p.m. on the National Geographic Channel, probing unseen parts of the world. Read more…
1) “Celebrity Family Feud,” 8 p.m. ABC. Here are the top runners-up in “American Idol” history. Clay Aiken lost to Ruben Studdard, then sold five million records, Katharine McPhee lost to Taylor Hicks, then starred in TV’s “Smash” and “Scorpion” (shown here).Both also reached Broadway. Now they compete; so do Fat Joe and “Fluffy” Iglesias. Read more…
1) Olympics: track-and-field. As the final week begins, there’s emphasis on track (shown here in a previous year). That’s live, 4-7:15 a.m. ET on the USA Network then 9-9:30 a.m. and 1:30-4 p.m. on NBC. It’s also in the nightly recap, from 8-11 p.m. Read more…
