Week’s top-10 for July 12: sharks, sports and (surprise) laughs

1) “Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail” debut, 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, TBS. In a comedy-starved summer, this is what we need, filled with darkly clever humor. It has the same stars and writer-producer (Simon Rich) as the previous two “Miracle Workers” series, but new characters and a new era. Now Daniel Radcliffe (shown here) is a clergyman, floundering in the frontier; Geraldine Viswanathan is a zestful parishioner in a drab marriage. Steve Buscemi is the suspicious bloke who is supposed to lead their wagon train west. Read more…

1) “Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail” debut, 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, TBS. In a comedy-starved summer, this is what we need, filled with darkly clever humor. It has the same stars and writer-producer (Simon Rich) as the previous two “Miracle Workers” series, but new characters and a new era. Now Daniel Radcliffe (shown here) is a clergyman, floundering in the frontier; Geraldine Viswanathan is a zestful parishioner in a drab marriage. Steve Buscemi is the suspicious bloke who is supposed to lead their wagon train west.

2) Shark overload. Now two channels are stuffed with sharks. “Shark Week” runs through Sunday on Discovery, including Josh Gates’ nightly talk show at 11. Tonight, Tiffany Haddish examines shark sex at 7 p.m., there’s a new “Air Jaws” at 8 and Gates has William Shatner, Brad Paisley and Robert Irwin. Meanwhile, “SharkFest” continues on National Geographic. At 10 p.m. today, Paige Winters – a teen with vibrant red/blue hair and upbeat attitude – describes losing a leg (and almost her life) in an attack.2

3) Basketball, 9 p.m. ET Wednesday, ABC, with preview at 8:30.. At mid-summer, TV’s top sports events pile up. It’s all-star baseball Tuesday (see next item), pro basketball playoffs Wednesday and the Olympics starting July 23. For basketball, there’s a sense of newness: Neither team has been to the finals in the past 27 years. The Milwaukee Bucks won in 1971 and lost in ‘74; the Phoenix Suns lost in ‘76 and ‘93. This is the fourth game of the best-of-seven series; the fifth, if needed, is 9 p.m. Saturday.

4) Baseball All-Star Game, 7:30 p.m. ET Tuesday, Fox, preview at 7. In a season of small scores and slender batting averages, this could be fun: The world’s best hitters gather in the hitter-friendly park in Denver. Mike Trout and Kyle Schwarber are out with injuries, but the others are expected. Just past the half-season mark, the National League’s Fernando Tatis and Ronald Acura Jr. had 27 and 23 home runs; the American League’s Shohei Ohtani (who’s also a pitcher) and Vlad Guerrero Jr. had 31 and 28.

5) “Young Sheldon,” 9 p.m. today, CBS. Here’s a partial solution to the summer humor shortage: CBS is bunching its four comedy reruns on Mondays; ABC does the same on Tuesdays. Already anchoring Mondays are “The Neighborhood” at 8 p.m. and “Bob (Hearts) Abishola” at 8:30; tonight, Bob braces to meet Abishola’s demanding mom. Now they’re joined by the amiable “Young Sheldon” (Dungeons & Dragons night) and then “United States of Al” (Al is homesick for his Afghan traditions) at 9:30.

6) “The Beast Must Die” opener, 10 p.m. today, AMC. Americans know Cush Jumbo from “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight,” but now she’s back in her native England for a sensational performance. She plays a teacher whose 6-year-old son was killed by a hit-and-run driver. The cop working the case died; his replacement (well-played by Billy Howle) is sincere, but overwhelmed. Now she’ll hide her identity, probe the case herself, even wedge into the life of a suspect. It’s a potent, six-week series.

7) “Good Trouble” return, 10 p.m. Wednesday, Freeform. After plunging its characters into despair, this took a three-month break. Now it’s back, with “All By Myself” in the background of a somber breakfast. Davia and Malika are torn between old and new romances; Callie had just started with Gael, when he learned of a pregnancy from a one-night stand. Alice and Mariana were hurt by their noble stands at work. Despite one flaw – characters who overthink their lives – it’s an involving drama.

8) “The Outpost” and “Dead Pixels” season-openers, 9 p.m. Thursday, 9:30 p.m. Sunday, CW. Resisting summer trends, CW has a week without reruns or reality shows. It did that by starting some shows late and by adding a mixture of clever foreign shows and low-budget American ones. “Outpost” is the latter, an almost-adequate sci-fi tale: Talon was a loner with mysterious powers; now Garrett wants her to be the queen. “Pixels” is a likable British tale of young adults, obsessing on a video game.

9) “Icon: Music Through the Lens” opener, 9 p.m. Friday, PBS. After a too-long introduction, we get great stories of rock photography. There are easy subjects (Dylan, Beyonce) and quirky ones. For one session, the photographer had only 30 minutes, a tiny apartment and – in lieu of catering – some lollipops; Madonna promptly turned them into sexy props. And stick with PBS at 10 p.m.: “Great Performances” has a joyous hour, with the Raices Jazz Orchestra doing music from five nations.

10) ALSO: Here are two key streaming days: The Magnolia Network debuts Thursday on Discovery+. Magnolia (which will takes over the DIY channel in January) starts with a dozen new series and four old ones; it has all 80 episodes (and a new one) of Chip and Joanna Gaines’ “Fixer Upper,” plus the season-opener of her “Magnolia Table.” And on Friday, the delightful “Schmigadoon” debuts on Apple TV+. Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key find a village encased in musical-theater traditions.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *