Week’s best-bets for Aug.12: Sherlock ends, terror begins

1) “Elementary” series finale, 10 p.m. Thursday, CBS. For seven years and 155 episodes, Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) and Dr. Watson (Lucy Liu) have solved modern murders, mostly in New York. At times, the show has slid into a drab monotone; still, it’s had intelligent people cracking complex cases. Tonight (shown here)t, they wrap up their battle with tech billionaire Odin Reichenbach and get word about Jamie Moriarty, who has been Sherlock’s nemesis and (under the name Irene Adler) his lover. Read more…

1) “Elementary” series finale, 10 p.m. Thursday, CBS. For seven years and 155 episodes, Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) and Dr. Watson (Lucy Liu) have solved modern murders, mostly in New York. At times, the show has slid into a drab monotone; still, it’s had intelligent people cracking complex cases. Tonight (shown here)t, they wrap up their battle with tech billionaire Odin Reichenbach and get word about Jamie Moriarty, who has been Sherlock’s nemesis and (under the name Irene Adler) his lover.

2) “The Terror: Infamy” debut, 9 p.m. today, AMC. Two horrors blend, one supernatural and the other from real history. The real part involves sending Japanese-Americans to internment camps during World War II. Against that backdrop, the supernatural begins – there are ill winds, ominous predictions and sudden bursts of blindness or death. This isn’t for everyone, but Josef Kubota Wladyka has directed it brilliantly, with a great cast that includes George Takei, 82, a childhood survivor off internment.

3) “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons,” 8-9:32 p.m. Saturday, ABC. Jimmy Kimmel’s grand idea turned out to be a big ratings success. Linking with Norman Lear, 97, he gave old old scripts to new actors. It was Woody Harrelson and Marisa Tomei as the Bunkers, Jamie Foxx and Wanda Sykes as the Jeffersons, with others (including Will Ferrell) in support. It drew 10 million viewers, reran … and now re-reruns, with a “20/20” follow-up at 9:32. Kimmel and Lear will have two more specials next season.

4) “Family Pictures,” 9 p,m, today, 8 and 9 p.m. Tuesday, PBS. Using family photos, we get gentle and upbeat glimpses of scattered places. In North Carolina (today), we range from old-time tobacco farms to trendy brewpubs. In Florida (9 p.m. Tuesday), we meet a cowboy and a former migrant kid who’s a school principal. And in Detroit, we meet the daughter of a record store owner who recorded the blues of John Lee Hooker, sermons of the Rev. C.L. Franklin … and two spirituals by C.L.’s daughter, Aretha.

5) “Lodge 49” season-opener, 10:10 p.m. today, AMC. Already adrift, Dud finished last season with two jolts: He was attacked by a shark and was stunned by the departure of the lodge’s leader, Ernie. The second season starts by flashing forward to something much bigger; that, however, will be later in the season. For now, Dud is on crutches and living with his sister, who pawned her TV. If you don’t know the characters, don’t worry: Lots of odd things happen, some inexplicable and many quite funny.

6) “David Makes Man” debut, 10 p.m. Wednesday, Oprah Winfrey Network. David is 14, a brainy Miami kid, juggling worlds. As one of the few black kids at a magnet school, he has a strong mentor (Phylicia Rashad) and high goals; at the housing project, he just wants to fit in. His mom, a former drug dealer, is caring but overworked; his best advice comes from a dealer who may be imaginary. This earnest drama, from the Oscar-winning “Moonlight” writer, mixes deep layers of pain and hope.

7) “Two Sentence Horror Stories,” 9 and 9:30 p.m. Thursday, CW. Like “The Terror: Infamy,” these low-budget tales can blend real-life pain with jolts in the horror-movie style. Next week has a gay teen facing bias; this week, a Latina mom keeps worrying about when the government will knock on the door. Then – in her work as a nanny – she confronts a different type of intruder. That’s in a fairly good episode at 9:30 p.m.; at 9, an abusive husband continues to terrorize his family, even after his death

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8) “Great Performances: The Sound of Music,” 9-11:30 p.m., PBS (check local listings). This reached British TV (performed live) in 2015 and PBS last November. Sticking strictly to the stage version, it lacks the joy of the Julie Andrews movie or the Carrie Underwood telecast. The palette is gray, the kids don’t show up for the first 20 minutes and things sag in the middle. Still, there are great songs, splendidly sung – especially by Kara Tointon and Julian Ovenden, as the wide-eyed Maria and the stern Captain Von Trapp.

9) Football, 4 p.m. ET, CBS; 8 p.m. ET, Fox, Sunday. Here’s a pre-season doubleheader, with teams that are coming off strong seasons. The opener has the New Orleans Saints (13-3) and the Los Angeles Chargers (12-4). The second game has the Seattle Seahawks (10-6) and the Minnesota Vikings (8-7-1). Many of the starters will be gone before halftime, but the networks warm up their top crews. CBS has last year’s Super Bowl team, Jim Nantz and Tony Romo; Fox has Joe Buck and Troy Aikman.

10) “The Righteous Gemstones” debut, 10 p.m., HBO. This is a two-premiere week for HBO. It starts at 9 p.m. today with “Our Boys,” an intense mini-series with English subtitles. Jumping between three viewpoints, we see the real-life story of a 2014 Jerusalem kidnapping that led to a war. “Gemstones,” by comparison, is big, brash and fun. John Goodman plays the head of a superchurch and Danny McBride is his son. Things soon crumble in ways that are sometimes funny, sometimes dramatic.

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