WORLD OF DANCE -- Season: 4 -- Pictured: Savannah Manzel -- (Photo by: Chris Haston/NBC)

Best-bets for July 21: Dancing joy, COVID agony

1) “World of Dance,” 10 p.m., NBC. “America’s Got Talent” is pausing for a “best of auditions” special from 8-10 p.m., but “Dance” booms ahead. This is the first half of its junior-division “duels,” including a classic mismatch — Savannah Manzel (shown here), 9, facing a large teen group. (You can guess who gets the focus and sympathy.) Other duels are more fair: The two callback survivors – The Young Cast and grvmnt – compete; MDC3 – with a terrific variation on a romantic triangle – faces Chibi Unity. Read more…

1) “World of Dance,” 10 p.m., NBC. “America’s Got Talent” is pausing for a “best of auditions” special from 8-10 p.m., but “Dance” booms ahead. This is the first half of its junior-division “duels,” including a classic mismatch — Savannah Manzel (shown here), 9, facing a large teen group. (You can guess who gets the focus and sympathy.) Other duels are more fair: The two callback survivors – The Young Cast and grvmnt – compete; MDC3 – with a terrific variation on a romantic triangle – faces Chibi Unity.

2) “Frontline: COVID’s Hidden Toll,” 10 p.m., PBS. These are the essential workers we rarely see – picking crops. One has diabetes and is recovering from cancer; still, she’ll wedge into a van with 14 others, then work side-by-side. “There is no separation,” she says. Another returns to work, weak after two weeks of quarantine. “We have no choice,” he says. A hidden camera shows that lack of choice: Workers afraid of conditions are told flatly: Get back to work or sign a paper that you’re quitting.

3) “Stargirl,” 8 p.m., CW. Two great scenes start this hour: A flashback, sweet and warm, shows how Courtney’s mom and stepdad met. Then we’re back to nowadays and a big question: Just how do you tell your mom or wife that you’re actually a superhero and this town is the centerpiece of evil? After that strong start, we’re back to the OK story hinted at last week: “Brainwave” is finally out of his coma.

4) “United We Fall,” 9 and 9:30 p.m., ABC These are the first two episodes, which ran last Wednesday. They’re quite good … especially for a show that’s being thrown away in the summertime. The scripts are fairly clever, the stars (Will Sasso, Lisa Vidal, Jane Curtin) are first-rate and Mark Cendrowski – who guided “Big Bang” all those years – directs skillfully. That’s surrounded by “Modern Family” reruns at 8 and 8:30 p.m. and a hidden-camera immigrant issue at 10, in “What Would You Do?”

5) “Sharkcano,” 10 p.m. National Geographic. Television loves sharks and volcanos, but can you actually combine the two? Yes, one scientist says; sharks tend to flock to volcanic islands – possibly because the erosion makes murky water – which is ideal for prowling sharks. We visit Reunion Island, where attacks are so frequent that swimming has been banned.

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