1) Pro football openers, 8:20 p.m. ET, Thursday and Sunday, NBC; pre-game at 4. The season starts with rematches. Last year, the Chiefs (shown here) beat the Ravens 17-10 in the conference finals, then won the Super Bowl; they meet Thursday. And last year, the Lions edged the Rams 24-23 in the wild-card round; their game is Sunday. Read more…
1) “Toby Keith: American Icon,” 9-11 p.m. Wednesday, NBC. By one count, Keith (shown here) had 20 No. 1 country songs, starting with his debut, “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.” He died of cancer at 62; now his music is sung by Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Eric Church, Lainey Wilson, Darius Rucker, Trace Adkins, Ashley McBryde and more. Read more…
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. 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) Olympics final week. This is when track-and-field (shown here in a previous year) — the original core of any Olympics – starts piling up medals. There are finals live at 1:30 p.m. ET today, 1:35 Tuesday, 1 Wednesday, 11:35 Thursday, 1:30 Friday and 10 Saturday, Others include swimming, diving and more, with a recap each day, 8-11 p.m. Read more…
1) Olympics: gymnastics team finals, NBC. This sport (shown here) reaches gold-medal peaks early – then re-sets and goes again. First are the team finals. You can catch them live – men starting at 8:30 a.m. ET today, women at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday — or wait for the recap, 8-11 p.m. nightly. Starting Wednesday, the individual medals begin. Read more…
1) Olympics begin, Saturday and Sunday. In a bold change, every event will be shown live (via NBC, USA, Peacock, etc.), despite a difference of six hours ET, nine PT. NBC also repackages the day, from 8-11 p.m. Track and field wait until Aug. 1, but others start now, including gymnastics, basketball and medals in swimming (shown here) and diving. Read more…
1) “Big Brother” opener, 9 p.m. Wednesday, CBS. This began in 2000 with a high-tech, futuristic notion: Strangers shared a house filled with cameras; the world could peek in at any time. Now life is even higher-tech and this edition is being dubbed “BB:AI.” Julie Chen Moonves (shown here) hosts, as always, with new hours also at 9 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays. Read more…
1) “The Bachelorette” opener, 8-10 p.m. today, ABC. A big, busy week for ABC starts with the first Asian-American as a “Bachelor” show’s star. Jenn Tran (shown here) is the daughter of Vietnam immigrants, she’s 26 and near her Master’s Degree in clinical medical studies. She’ll meet 25 men, ranging from a med student to guys who focus on wine and pet portraits. Read more…
1) “A Capitol Fourth,” 8 p.m. Thursday, PBS; repeats, 9:30-11. Each year, a vibrant concert closes with fireworks (shown here). This time, the show has Motown great Smokey Robinson and Broadway’s Fantasia, Darren Criss and the “Heart of Rock and Roll” cast. Also: Loren Allred, Chloe Flower, Sheila E and – after PBS’ disco series – ‘70s stars Sister Sledge. Read more…
