1) “Patience,” 8 p.m. PBS. After a so-so start to its second season, this show finally has the sort of smart hour that filled the first year. An autistic girl may have seen her father killed; Patience Evans, also autistic, struggles to help. It’s a neatly complex story and a subtly perfect, Emmy-worthy performance by Ella Maisy Purvis (shown here) as Patience. Read more…
1) “Big Brother” season-opener, 8-9:30 p.m. Thursday, CBS. The 28th season begins, this time in a house with a “time trip” theme. That ranges from a crazy-clock entry to design elements that span the centuries. There’s another 90-minute episode at 8 p.m. Sunday, then a weekly pattern — 8-9:30 p.m. Wednesdays, 8-9 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays. Julie Chen Moonves (shown here last season) again hosts. Read more…
1) “Disney Celebrates America,” all day, ABC. There are special editions of “Good Morning America” (7-10 a.m.), “Sports Center” (5-7 p.m.) and more. And at 8, Ryan Seacrest hosts from Nashville, with country stars (Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Clint Black, Brothers Osborne, Little Big Town), plus Boyz II Men, Nick Jonas and fireworks (shown here from a previous event). Read more…
Generations of Bells have made key contributions to music. That includes:
— Robert “Kool” Bell, leader of Kool & The Gang, which performs Friday (July 3) on the Capitol Lawn. That’s in a party (8 p.m. on most PBS stations) that has fireworks and music, from Alan Jackson to Chicago to Kool’s “Celebration” — an essential song for any 250th-birthday party.
— His dad, Robert “Bobby” Bell. His contribution was to not hit Miles Davis.
Really. “My father was a boxer,” Bell said,. “Miles Davis wanted to box with him, but he wouldn’t do it. He said, ‘I don’t want to ruin your career.'”
So Davis, his jaw and lips intact, continued to be a great jazz trumpeter. His music became one influence for Kool’s gang. Read more…
1) “A Capitol Fourth,” 8 p.m., PBS stations. The 4th of July party starts a day early. Most networks (including PBS) will have big, 250th-birthday events Saturday. That nudges this concert to tonight on most (but not all) PBS stations, many rerunning it at 9:30. There’s music (including Trace Adkins) from the Capitol lawn and fireworks (shown here at the Capitol in a previous year) at Mount Vernon. Read more…
“S.W.A.T.,” it seems, is one of those shows that’s never really gone.
A new version — the third on TV, plus some movies — arrives this fall. Shemar Moore (shown here) will again star, but with different co-stars. Read more…
Mark Harmon hasn’t faded from our TV screens after all.
CBS says he’ll appear — at least a bit — in every episode of next season’s “NCIS: Origins” (shwon here). That’s in a two-era story, going from the 1990s to modern times. Read more…
1) “The Americas: A Wild 250th,” 9 p.m., NBC. Lately, NBC has been rerunning the gorgeous “Americas” documentary series here. But now it pauses for a new hour: Two days before the 250th birthday, it focuses on creatures — bald eagles (the scene shown here is not from the film), bison, sea lions, etc. — that may symbolize the U.S. That follows a new “Surviving Earth” at 8. Read more…
1) “Top Gun: Maverick” (2022), 8-11 p.m., CBS. As July 4 nears, networks give us big-budget crowd-pleasers that put Americans in fighter planes. On Thursday, ABC has “Independence Day,” which has lots of flaws and little to do with the holiday. But today, CBS gives us Tom Cruise (shown here) in a film that’s solidly written, slickly made and kind of exciting. Read more…
In the olden days — well, a few years ago — shows doled out big moments carefully.
There were 22 episodes (or more) each season. If they rushed things, their world would implode the first year.
And nowadays? With short seasons, streaming shows can be high-octane. The latest example is “Dutton Ranch” (shown here), which closes its first season with a powerhouse episode Friday (July 3) on Paramount+ and, at 10 p.m.,, on the Paramount Network. Read more…
Best-bets for July 5: sharks, soccer and sheer patience 
Best-bets for July 4: lots of music, lots of fireworks 
Best-bets for July 3: The party starts a day early 
