1) “Surviving Earth” debut, 8 p.m., NBC. Some 252 million years ago, the Earth was locked in a heat wave. Many creatures died; some (shown here_ persisted, plodding toward the poles and the high ground. It’s a dramatic story, told with great special effects. But attempts to lighten it (special-effect creatures frolicking) seem pointless; leave that part to the superb “Americas,” rerunning at 9.
2) World Cup. Sprawling across the U.S., Mexico and Canada, soccer’s Cup will gobble up TV time. That starts at 3 p.m. ET today, with Mexico and South Africa on Fox; at 10 p.m., it’s South Korea and Czechia on Fox Sports1. (All games are also on Telemundo and stream on Peacock and Fox One.) Canada and the U.S. start at 3 and 9 p.m. Friday.
3) “Welcome tp Wrexham,” 9 p.m., FXX, rerunning at 10. For most of us, this may be the best way to watch soccer — not 90 mostly-scoreless minutes, but zippy cuts to the people and the goals. The first portion gets tangled in the mechanics of a mid-range soccer team, but the rest sees three games that were packed into one frantic (and entertaining) week.
4) “Elsbeth,” 10 p.m., CBS. In a fairly good hour, Anna Camp plays someone who shows off on the Internet as a “trad wife,” doing things the old-school way. Then there’s a murder. That wraps a rerun night that starts with Mandy’s mom disciplining CeCe on “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.”
5) MORE: At 8 p.m., Fox has an indie movie, “Daughter of the Bride; Marcia Gay Harden and Halston Sage play mother and daughter, rocked by the mom’s quick romance. And alongside that soccer fuss, hockey has Game 5 of its best-of-seven finals (8 p.m. ET, ABC), with Vegas and Carolina.