1) “The Handmaid’s Tale” (any time Wednesday, Hulu) and “Big Little Lies” (9 p.m. Sunday, HBO). Two years ago, these dominated the Emmys. “Handmaid” won for best drama series, “Lies” for best mini-series. Their stars, Elisabeth Moss and Nicole Kidman, also won. “Handmaid” and Moss won again last year; as the third season arrives, she’d seeking ways to rebel. “Lies” took last year off, but returns with a new mystery and its old stars (Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Shailene Woodley, shown here) … plus Meryl Streep.
2) CMT Music Awards, 8 p.m. Wednesday, CMT, rerunning at 10:30. The show will have the most performances in its history, CMT claims. And these are A-list stars, led by Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Keith Urban and Kelsea Ballerini. Two of his year’s nominations leaders, Maren Morris and the Zac Brown Band, will perform; so will the hosts, Little Big Town, plus Thomas Rhett, Tanya Tucker and Kane Brown. And for crossover appeal, there’s Boyz II Men, Sheryl Crow and Brandi Carlile.
3) Tony Awards, 8-11 p.m. Sunday, CBS. In 2016, James Corden hosted a memorable Tonycast. He opened with a stunning piece about his love of theater; “Hamilton” swept the awards, ratings soared and the show won an Emmy. Now Corden is back. “Hadestown” leads with 14 nominations, two shy of the “Hamilton” record. We’ll expect performances from it and the other musical nominees — “Tootsie,” “Beetlejuice,” “The Prom,” “Ain’t Too Proud” and the revivals of “Oklahoma” and “Kiss Me Kate.”
4) “Celebrity Family Feud,” 10 p.m. today and 8 p.m. Sunday, ABC. Tonight, we get a rerun planned to hold the “Bachelorette” viewers: Kim Kardashian and her husband, Kanye West, face her mom and sisters. Then host Steve Harvey starts a new season Sunday. In one game, teams are led by reality star Lisa Vanderpump and by the husband-wife team of John Legend and Chrissy Teigen. Then Terry Crews (with wife, daughters and mother-in-law) faces a team led by Karamo Brown of “Queer Eye.”
5) “MasterChef Junior” finale, 8-10 p.m. Tuesday, Fox. This began with 24 talented chefs, ages 8-13. Now we have the final three, each age 11. Che Spiotta is from Boiceville, NY,, in the Catskills; Malia Brauer is from Santa Clarita, Cal. Most intriguing, perhaps, is Ivy Angst, from Atlanta, who goes by Little Chef Ivy. At 3-foot-6 (she has a form of dwarfism that causes short limbs), she masters the kitchen, with the help of a stool. Now she has a one-in-three shot at winning the $100,000 prize.
6) “Grown-ish” return, 8 p.m. Wednesday, FX. Just before this started a three-month break, Zoey’s breezy college world crumbled. She was caught cheating on an exam; her parents cut off her support. Now comes a new blow: Aaron, whom she’d once considered as a boyfriend, has been having sex with her best friend Ana. Zoey’s gripe seems weak here – she chose Luka over Aaron – but this does give us a witty analysis of “relationship” and “situationship” and “girl code” and other modern mysteries.
7) “The Longest Day” (1962), 8-11 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies; and “Saving Private Ryan” (1998), 7-11 p.m., AMC; both Thursday. On the 75th anniversary of D-Day, here are films that drew acclaim, a generation apart. Both won Oscars for cinematography (black-and-white, for “Longest Day”) and were nominated for best picture. “Longest Day” required three directors and endless stars, from John Wayne to Richard Burton; “Private Ryan” had Tom Hanks, directed by an Oscar-winning Steven Spielberg.
8) “The Big Stage” debut, 9 and 9:30 p.m. Friday, CW. A dozen years ago, the second “America’s Got Talent” title went to Terry Fator, a ventriloquist-singer-comedian. That set a pattern: In the summer, viewers like the full range of variety TV – singers and dancers and such, but also acrobats and jugglers and more. Now CW tries for more of that on Fridays. First, are magicians, with “Masters of Illusion” starting its season at 8 and 8:30 p.m. Then “Big Stage” has lots of variety – including Fator at 9:30.
9) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m. Saturday, NBC. One of the best moments of this season – or any season – reruns. An OK show was elevated each time Adam Sandler did a song: In his opener, he recalled “SNL” firing him. On “Weekend Update,” he had great bits as Opera Man. Then came his tribute – both funny and deeply moving – to his friend Chris Farley. They were fired in 1996 and Farley died of an apparent overdose the next year; Sandler became a movie star, hosting “SNL” 23 years later.
10) And more. This is when shows launch summer runs. That includes “Queen of the South” (10 p.m. Thursday, USA), “Alone” (10:03 p.m. Thursday, History), “Good Witch” (8 p.m. Sunday, Hallmark), “Claws” (9 p.m. Sunday, TNT) and Netflix’s “Black Mirror” (Wednesday) and “Tales of the City” (Friday). Also, “The Weekly” (10 p.m. Sunday, FX) has a compelling view of taxi-driver tragedies. CW’s “Burden of Truth” reruns a fairly good opener at 9 p.m. today, with a new episode at 8 Sunday.