Best-bets for Aug. 2: a vampiric sort of farce

1) “What We Do in the Shadows,” 10 p.m., FX, rerunning at 10:34 and 11:08. The plot is familiar: An important visitor is coming; an odd family tries to seem normal. But this family has three vampires, a wise aide (shown here) and a lad who emerged from the chest cavity of a late colleague and keeps growing rapidly. Now a private-school official visits. “Shadows” ditches its usual droll style and offers a vampire version of a wild (and funny) drawing-room farce. Read more…

1) “What We Do in the Shadows,” 10 p.m., FX, rerunning at 10:34 and 11:08. The plot is familiar: An important visitor is coming; an odd family tries to seem normal. But this family has three vampires, a wise aide (shown here) and a lad who emerged from the chest cavity of a late colleague and keeps growing rapidly. Now a private-school official visits. “Shadows” ditches its usual droll style and offers a vampire version of a wild (and funny) drawing-room farce.

2) “America Outdoors,” 9 p.m., PBS. As a boy, Baratunde Thurston savored visits to North Carolina’s tidewater coast. Returning now, he sees wild horses roam the shore; he even soars (slightly) in a replica of the Wright Brothers’ glider. In this terrific hour, Thurston also gets sobering views: A cozy island could go underwater, forcing its 400 people to leave. And The Great Dismal Swamp was a place where many escaped slaves found new lives.

3) “Frontline,” 10 p.m., PBS. As the Russian missiles blasted Kharkiv, news coverage often focused on the fleeing refugees. Now this hour views the lives of the people who stayed. It’s the second new Ukraine film for “Frontline” since the war began. Two more are on the way – one viewing life in Mariupol and another probing Russian war crimes.

4) “Titans,” 10 p.m., TNT. This show started on streaming – first the now-defunct DC Universe, then HBO Max – and gets a summer run on cable. Tonight – after “Wonder Woman” (2017) at 7 p.m. — the new villain (played by Esai Morales) lurks. He arrived this season as Slade Wilson, but now is Deathstroke. Also, Gar feels guilty about Jason’s kidnapping; Dick and others vow to save Jason.

5) ALSO: If you missed Sunday’s season-opener of Showtime’s “City on a Hill,” catch it now. Jackie (brilliantly played by Kevin Bacon), the corrupt cop, has hit bottom after turning in his badge. Then he finds a nasty employer (Corbin Bernsen). That’s at 6 and 9 p.m., sandwiching Steven Spielberg’s wondrous “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981) at 7.

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