1) Tony Awards, 8-11 p.m. ET Sunday, CBS. For the first time in three years, here’s a full-scale Tonycast. Ariana DeBose (the “West Side Story” Oscar-winner) hosts and we can expect numbers from the nominated musicals – six new and three revivals. Even if you’ll never reach Broadway, you may like the music of Michael Jackson (“MJ”), Bob Dylan (“Girl From the North Country”) or Stephen Sondheim (“Company”). Or the performances of Billy Crystal (“Mr. Saturday Night”) or Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster (“Music Man,” shown here). Or “A Strange Loop” or “Six” or more.
2) “American Ninja Warrior” season-opener, 8-10 p.m. today, NBC. Here’s the second half of NBC’s summertime dominance. On Tuesday’s (8-10 p.m.) is “America’s Got Talent”; on Monday is this show, now in its 14th season. Adapted from a Japanese competition, it began on the now-vanished G4 cable channel. People tackle obstacle courses, with a chance for $1 million if they fully conquer the finals. (So far, only three people have done it.)The show starts with try-outs in San Antonio and Los Angeles; then the survivors go on to Las Vegas.
3) Basketball, 5 p.m. PT Wednesday and Friday, ABC. The first two games in the best-of-seven series were hosted by the Golden State Warriors; now the next two are in Boston … where the Celtics are an obsession. Yes, Golden State has been hot lately; it reached the finals for five straight years (2015-19), winning three times. The Warriors have been champions six times (in 11 appearances), but the Celtics have done it 17 times (in 21 appearances). They lost in 2010 and 1987; now they try for their first title in 14 years and their second in 36 years.
4) “All Rise” season-opener, 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oprah Winfrey Network, rerunning at 11. For two seasons, this mixed courtroom drama with dabs of humor and romance. Then CBS canceled it and OWN rescued it. You can catch up by seeing the previous episode – which aired 12-plus months ago – at 7 or 10 p.m. Or just jump into the story: Judge Lola is fretting on election night … Lopez has gone to Puerto Rico, at least temporarily … her ex-boyfriend is working defense, in a tricky case involving a birthdate. Likable characters offer OK stories.
5) “Roswell, New Mexico” season-opener, 8 p.m. today, CW. At first, things seem peaceful and domestic. Three of the main characters – each hiding outer-space roots – are ready to commit to Earhly loved ones. Max, the acting sheriff, wants to propose to Liz, a brilliant researcher now teaching high school drop-outs. Michael might move in with Tyler; Isobel might profess her love of Anatsa. All is peaceful … except there are some imposing bank robberies and a mega-storm is coming, literally and figuratively. It’s a potent way to start a season,.
6) “In the Dark” season-opener, 9 p.m. today, CW. As this fourth season starts, people are definitely NOT happy … especially Murphy. Blind since she was 14, she’d developed a cynical, semi-loner personality. Then a friend was killed, a cop was crooked and she sank deeper into a series of drug deals and cover-ups. Now she’s having a tough time in prison, where dangers loom. Felix – her former colleague at the guide-dog center (and, nervously, in drug schemes) — has an interrersting afternoon with his sister, visiting their grandmother.
7) “Ghosts,” 9 p.m., Thursday CBS. While most comedies have faded, this one was a first-season ratings success. Now CBS has declared this the “Summer of Ghosts.” It will have odd events around the country plus (mid-summer) a 3-D internet experience. And this week, it jumps ahead to one of its better reruns, the 16th in an 18-episode season. Trevor is the self-centered stockbroker who died wearing a suitcoat … but no pants. Here, we learn what happened to the pants; we also learn that he might not be a complete jerk after all.
8) “The Wizard of Oz” (1939),” 5 p.m. PT Friday, Turner Classic Movies. On the 100th anniversary of her birth, we get a day stuffed with some of Judy Garland’s best films. That peaks with “Oz,” which the American Film Institute puts at No. 10 on its all-time list. That’s followed at 7 by an “Oz” documentary by Jack Haley Jr. (Garland’s former son-in-law) and at 8 by “Meet Me ion St. Louis” (1944), the radiant musical directed by her husband-to-be, Vincente Minnelli. There’s more in the daytime, leading to the popular “In the Good Old Summertime” (1949) at 3 p.m.
9) “Despicable Me 3” (2017)), 8-10 p.m. Saturday, NBC. We can celebrate the end of the shool year with family films. That includes two of the greatest all-ages delights – “Oz” Friday on TCM and “ET” at 1, 3:30, 6 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday on Syfy. There’s also a Saturday spree of animation: Freeform includes “Wreck-It Ralph” (2012) at 2:30 p.m., “Up” (2009) at 4:30 and “The Princess and the Frog” (2009) at 6:40. And NBC has this film, a billion-dollar success at the box office, even if critics shrugged. It gets us set for next month’s “Despicable Me 4.”
10) “Dark Winds” opener, 9 p.m. Sunday, AMC. Things start spectacularly – and violently – with a daring, daytime robbery (and helicopter escape) in the streets of small-town New Mexico. Then things slow to an easy, Southwestern pace. Joe Leaphorn heads the Navajo tribal police, with two sergeants – one of them a newcomer who’s eyed suspiciously. This is 1971, with no quick, high-tech solutions, so people plod through the sprawling countryside. The first four episodes are terriific, building deep characters; the last two descend into melodrama.
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