Best-bets for Aug. 5: Football begins, Olympics nears the end

1) Football pre-season opener, 8 p.m. ET, Fox, pre-game at 7:30. Yes, football is back. The Olympics continue and baseball still has a third of its regular season (including Braves-Cards at 8:15 p.m. today on ESPN), but pro football has its annual Hall of Fame game. Well, almost annual. Last year’s game was cancelled because of COVID. It would have had the Steelers (shown here) and Cowboys, both coming off 8-8 seasons. The Steelers then soared to 12-5, the Cowboys fell to 6-10; now they finally collide. Read more…

1) Football pre-season opener, 8 p.m. ET, Fox, pre-game at 7:30. Yes, football is back. The Olympics continue and baseball still has a third of its regular season (including Braves-Cards at 8:15 p.m. today on ESPN), but pro football has its annual Hall of Fame game. Well, almost annual. Last year’s game was cancelled because of COVID. It would have had the Steelers (shown here) and Cowboys, both coming off 8-8 seasons. The Steelers then soared to 12-5, the Cowboys fell to 6-10; now they finally collide.

2) Olympics. Several key events will be shown live today, from early (men’s basketball semi-final, 7 a.m. ET, NBC Sports Network) to late (women’s soccer final, 10 p.m., USA). At night (8-11:30 p.m.), NBC has the women’s beach volleyball finals; it also has tapes of finals of the men’s 400-meter run (which Peacock will show live this morning), men’s park skateboarding and women’s platform diving. There’s much more, including the women’s beach volleyball bronze-medal game, at night on CNBC

3) “Grown-ish,” 8 p.m.,Freeform. This senior year started festively, then took dark turns. There’s been COVID … and Nomi’s pregnancy … and Vivek’s suspension for drug-dealing (leading to rejection by his bather) … and now the outside world: An unarmed Black man was shot by a co, bringing instant debates. At times, the writing sounds more like a series of position papers than actual dialog. Still, this talented cast and director are able to make it mostly feel believable and involving.

4) “The Outpost,” 9 p.m., CW. Garret leads a rebellion, while Talon and Zed search for a new enemy and Luna faces her biggest challenge yet. That’s in a new episode, which follows an 8 p.m. rerun of an April special, marking the 10th anniversary of William and Kate, England’s couple-in-waiting.

5) ALSO: Showtime has an Olympic double-feature, based on true stories with opposite impact: “I, Tonya” (2017), a whimsical look at the Tonya Harding skating controversy, is at 12:15 p.m.; Steven Spielberg’s “Munich” (2005), based on the efforts to track people responsible for the kidnapping and deaths at the 1972 Olympics, is at 2:15. That’s followed by Dexter reruns, from 5-11 p.m.

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