Best-bets for Aug. 6: Fun with “Mom” and “Cake”

2) “Mom,” 9:01 and 9:30 p.m., CBS. After starting with two terrific characters, this show kept adding great ones in support. Both of these reruns focus on Marjorie (Mimi Kennedy) and Jill (Jaime Pressly). In the first, Marjorie tries to reconnect with the son she lost touch with in her drunken years; in the second, she prepares for her first date since her husband’s death. Also, in the first one, Tammy sees a different side of Jill while working for her; in the second, Bonnie confesses to a long-ago theft Read more…

1) “Mom,” 9:01 and 9:30 p.m., CBS. After starting with two terrific characters, this show kept adding great ones in support. Both of these reruns focus on Marjorie and Jill (Mimi Kennedy and Jaime Pressly), shown here, right and second from left. In the first, Marjorie tries to reconnect with the son she lost touch with in her drunken years; in the second, she prepares for her first date since her husband’s death. Also, in the first one, Tammy sees a different side of Jill while working for her; in the second, Bonnie confesses to a long-ago theft

2) “Cake,” 10 p.m., FXX. Deftly adjusting to social-distancing, this show keeps improving. Now it’s virtually all-animation, except for a nifty little auditions piece that only needs one on-camera actor. Most of the animated bits are clever, especially two involving games. One has a friend concoct the sort of game you can’t win; another finds the “Dicktown” guys desperate to win money in a croquet tournament. Alas, croquet can be a dirty game when desperation sets in.

3) “To Tell the Truth,” 10 p.m., ABC. Earier this summer, CBS’ “Game On” featured the world’s srongest man. Now this show claims the same thing; we’ll see if it’s the same guy. Also today, we meet the original Coppertone Girl and our new hero, the guy who gave a kidney to his ex-wife.

4) “Cannonball,” 8 p.m., USA. Next week, “Big Brother” will take over the 8 p.m. spot on Thursdays, making life more difficult for other reality shows. For tonight, you can sample simultanous silliness from this show, ABC’s “Holey Moley” and CW’s “Killer Camp.”

5) “Elmer Gantry,” 8 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. Burt Lancaster and Shirley Jones won well-deserved Academy Awards for this terrific drama. He plays a traveling salesman who uses his skill to become a fiery evangelist; she plays his former girlfriend, who became a prostitute after he abandoned her. Richard Brooks, who directed, won an Oscar for adapting the Sinclair Lewis novel.

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