Best-bets for July 18: A classic hero and a classic movie

1) “Harriet” (2019), 8 p.m., HBO. In this Black Lives Matter summer, it’s a perfect time to catch a great life. Harriet Tubman was an escaped slave who kept risking her freedom to go back and rescue others. Cynthia Erivo (shown here) received Academy Award nominations for best actress and for best song, for co-writing “Stand Up.” It’s part of a busy stretch for the British actress/singer. She’ll be Arehta Franklin in the “Genius” mini-series, which was scheduled for this summer, then delayed by the virus shutdown. Read more…

1) “Harriet” (2019), 8 p.m., HBO. In this Black Lives Matter summer, it’s a perfect time to catch a great life. Harriet Tubman was an escaped slave who kept risking her freedom to go back and rescue others. Cynthia Erivo (shown here) received Academy Award nominations for best actress and for best song, for co-writing “Stand Up.” It’s part of a busy stretch for the British actress/singer. She’ll be Arehta Franklin in the “Genius” mini-series, which was scheduled for this summer, then delayed by the virus shutdown.

2) “The Maltese Falcon” (1941), 8 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. Speaking of Oscar nominations, this fhad three – best picture, supporting actor (Sydney Greenstreet) and script (John Huston, adapting a Dashiell Hammett novel. A classic in the hard-boiled detective genre (with Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade), it’s No. 31 on the American Film Institute’s all-time list. Other best-picture nominees tonight: “Rocky” (1976), which won, at 7 p.m. on Showtime, and “American Sniper” (2014) at 8:30 on USA.

3) “Bull,” 8 p.m., CBS. In this rerun, Bull’s client is one of two brothers being charged with murder; worse, they’re in a notorious crime family. Can Bull convince him to split from his brother? Or can he convince the jury that this is “the good one”?

4) “The Good Doctor,” 10 p.m., ABC. Shaun isn’t used to the giddy world of social media. When he treats a famous “influencer,” he gets unwanted attention. Also in this rerun, Dr. Carly Lever tries to split Shaun from Lea.

5) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. RuPaul hosts this rerun, with Justin Bieber as music guest. And no, those aren’t names that usually come up in the same sentence.

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