Best-bets for May 25: food, fantasy and “Fubar”

1) “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” (2021), 8-11 p.m., ABC. Not long ago, Asians were scarce onscreen. Now? On Wednesday, Disney+ debuted “American Born Chinese,” which is both a teen comedy and an action drama; today adds “Shang-Chi” (shown here0, a Marvel adventure about a trained assassin trying to simply be Shaun. Both were directed by Destin Cretton; both have Chinese mythology and Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh. Read more…

1) “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” (2021), 8-11 p.m., ABC. Not long ago, Asians were scarce onscreen. Now? On Wednesday, Disney+ debuted “American Born Chinese,” which is both a teen comedy and an action drama; today adds “Shang-Chi” (shown here0, a Marvel adventure about a trained assassin trying to simply be Shaun. Both were directed by Destin Cretton; both have Chinese mythology and Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh.

2) “Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars,” 8 p.m., Fox. As TV’s summer season begins, Fox banks on food, Ramsay and Joel McHale. Here’s a rerun of Wednesday’s “Food Stars” debut; pushing entrepreneur skills, Ramsay has contestants create sea-shack restaurants. Then are reruns (9 and 9:30) of “Animal Control,” a clever show starring McHale … who will host “Crime Scene Kitchen” next month.

3) “Wild Life,” 9-11:05 p.m., National Geographic and Nat Geo Wild. Thirty years ago, Kris Tompkins retired from corporate hierarchy at 43; she married another corporate drop-out and began saving wild lands. So far, she and the late Doug Tompkins have created almost 15 million acres of park land in Chile and Argentina. This documentary (reaching Disney+ on Friday) is by the directors of the stunning “Free Solo” (2018), which airs ar 7 on National Geographic.

4) “Fubar,” Netflix. Earlier, an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie (“True Lies”) became a TV series about husband-and-wife spies. Now Schwarzenegger himself is here … with an eight-parter about daddy-and-daughter spies. That comes as streamers bulk up for summer. Wednesday had “American Born Chinese” plus “The Clearing” (Hulu) and “Platonic” (Apple TV+). Friday has the brilliant series-finale of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Amazon Prime).

5) ALSO: In a funny “Young Sheldon” rerun, the university tries to to own a piece of Sheldon’s new database. That’s followed at 8:30 by a “Ghosts” rerun, with Trevor’s parents arriving to retrieve his newly discovered body. And at 10 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies has one of the all-time best-acted movies – Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh and more in “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951).
— Mike Hughes, TV America

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