Best-bets for June 19: festive holiday and more

1) “Juneteenth: A Global Celebration for Freedom,” 8-11 p.m. ET, CNN and OWN. Juneteenth has been around for 157 years, celebrating the final, post-war freeing of slaves. But this is only its third year as a national holiday and it keeps growing. Now it gets a mega-concet, including a Tina Turner tribute from Chloe Bailey. Also performing: Kirk Franklin (shown here), Nelly, Jodeci, Miguel, Charlie Wilson, SWV, Davido, Coi Leray and Mike Phillips. Read more…

1) “Juneteenth: A Global Celebration for Freedom,” 8-11 p.m. ET, CNN and OWN. Juneteenth has been around for 157 years, celebrating the final, post-war freeing of slaves. But this is only its third year as a national holiday and it keeps growing. Now it gets a mega-concet, including a Tina Turner tribute from Chloe Bailey. Also performing: Kirk Franklin (shown here), Nelly, Jodeci, Miguel, Charlie Wilson, SWV, Davido, Coi Leray and Mike Phillips.

2) Documentaries. Xernona Clayton, 92, has been at the core of power, as a civil-rights activist (working with Martin Luther King) and a cable executive (with Ted Turner). She’s profiled at 9 p.m. on the Bounnce digital channel, after “Black Music Honors” at 7. Other Juneteenth shows: “Black Pop” takes a quick, slick look at Black music at 8 p.m. and an overblown look at Black TV at 9. And at 10, ABC’s “Soul of a Nation” views 50 years of hip-hop.

3) Movies. Black-themed movies show up today on TBS, TNT, TCM, MGM+, BET and beyond. A few highlights: “Dreamgirls” (2006), 9:30 a.m., TBS; “Shaft” (2019), 2:30 p.m., TBS; “In the Heat of the Night” (1967), 3:30 p.m., MGM+; “Black Panther” (2018), 4 p.m., TNT; “Do the Right Thing” (1985), 8 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies; “Till” (2022), 8 p.m., MGM+; “The Hate U Give” (2018), 9 p.m., BET; “Respect” (2021), 10:15, MGM+.

4) “Cruel Summer,” 9 p.m., Freeform. In the summer of 1999, Megan still has a sunny life as a college-bound teen with lots of platonic friends in a cheery, lakeside town; she wants to use her computer skills to make fake ID’s That winter, life is grimmer; after a water pipe burst, her family spends and Isabella spend a messy night amid the elegance of Luke’s family.

5) ALSO: The regular Monday comedies are resting tonight; instead, CBS reruns its “NCIS” crossover from 8-11 p.m. But ABC inserts two comedies – last week’s fairly good “Wonder Years” season-openers at 9 and 9:30. And at 9, PBS starts the second season of “The Great American Recipe.”
— Mike Hughes, TV America

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