Best-bets for May 2: stars of singing and of studying

1) “American Idol,” 8 p.m., ABC.  A decade ago, in a detour from the usual voting, the top two “Idol” spots went to country-music teens. Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina (shown here) went on to find Nashville success; now they’re back for this special, celebrating (a month early) the show’s 20th anniversary. Other winners will perform, including Ruben Studdard (Season 2), Jordin Sparks (6), David Cook (7), Kris Allen (8), Maddie Poppe (16) and Laine Hardy (17). Read more…

1) “American Idol,” 8 p.m., ABC.  A decade ago, in a detour from the usual voting, the top two “Idol” spots went to country-music teens. Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina (shown here) went on to find Nashville success; now they’re back for this special, celebrating (a month early) the show’s 20th anniversary. Other winners will perform, including Ruben Studdard (Season 2), Jordin Sparks (6), David Cook (7), Kris Allen (8), Maddie Poppe (16) and Laine Hardy (17).

2) “American Song Contest,” 8-10 p.m., NBC. This joins the cascade of music contests trying to match the “Idol” success. Starting with one singer from each state or territory, it has trimmed the field. Last week had 11 semi-finalists; here are the other 11, from California, Connecticut (Michael Bolton), Georgia, Kansas, New York, North Cartolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Puerto Rico and Samoa. The 10-person finale will be next Monday.

3) “Independent Lens: Try Harder!” 10-11:30 p.m. today, PBS. Don’t expect any Ferris Bueller hijinks here; this documentary is at San Francisco’s Lowell High School, a place for high achievers and huge expectations. Teens dream of Stanford, Berkeley or the Ivy League; anything else is a letdown. Filmed in 2017, “Try Harder” is a warm view of kids who sometimes try too hard. You’ll root for them, while getting occasional surprises.

4) “The Endgame” season-finale, 10 p.m., NBC. For nine weeks, we’ve seen the mind-games of Elena, a criminal mastermind, and Val, a clever FBI agent. We’ve also seen the link between their husbands, Sergey and Owen (an FBI agent framed by Elena). Now an escape plan goes bad and Val learns something about Owen. Chances are, “Endgame” is ending; among 19 scripted NBC shows, it’s 15th in overall ratings and 18th among younger viewers.

5) “Signora Volpe,” any time, www.acorn.tv. The British keep concocting new mystery series, but this is one of the best. Its three movie-length tales (over the next three Mondays) have smart stories, deep characters and gorgeous settings. As this one starts, Sylvia (Emilia Fox) is a British secret agent, reluctantly going to her niece’s wedding in Italy. Then come the jolts … and a chance for her to be one of the world’s greatest aunts.

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