1) CMA Fest, 8-11 p.m. Thursday, ABC. Riley Green and Lara Spencer host a night with country’s top stars. There are long-timers — Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Lainey Wilson, Keith Urban, Gretchen Wilson, Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw –plus relatively fresh forces. They include Ella Langley (shown here with Green), Jelly Roll, Cody Johnson, Shaboozey and Molly Tuttle.
2) “The Bear” season-opener, 9 and 9:30 p.m. Thursday, FX. The show’s pace is always fierce, but never like this: A pounding rainstorm threatems the building, just as other forces converge … and as Carmy hands over control of the restaurant. It’s a great start for a show that has drawn best-comedy Emmy nominations every year, yet isn’t really a comedy.
3) Full season of “The Bear” and “The Agency.” If you don’t like waiting, you can catch the final season (all eight episodes) of “The Bear” on Hulu, starting at 9 p.m. ET Thursday. Also available in two ways is the second season of “The Agency,” the CIA series. It arrived Sunday on Paramount+; now it will be on Showtime, from noon to 10 p.m. Saturday.
4) “BET Awards,” 8-11 p.m., Sunday, BET. There are lots of music awards (plus a few for acting, sports and fashion) and lots of performances. That includes Cardi B, Queen Latifah, Common, MC Lyte, Don Toliver, Jill Scott, Doechi, The War and Treaty and more. Druski, a mono-named comedian, becomes the show’s youngest host, at 35.
5) “Sullivan’s Crossing” season-finale. 8 p.m. today, CW. For four seasons, two good souls — Maggie, a former surgeon, and Cal, a former lawyer — have fallen in love amid Canadian beauty. Then came her husband Liam, whose divorce papers were misfiled.; she must choose. That’s followed by a special about “All American,” which starts its final season July 13.
6) Sports, ABC and Fox. The pro basketball draft is 8-11 p.m. ET Tuesday on ABC. (It”s also on ESPN, which has the second round at 8 Wednesday.) And Fox has 18 World Cup games (three per day, through Saturday), with the U.S, and Turkiye at 10 p.m. ET Thursday. Twelve more games are on Fox Sports1; all stream on Peacock and Fox One.
7) “Brilliant Minds,” 8 p.m. Wednesday, NBC. The new case is a good one, seen through the mind of a teen fantasy-fiction writer. Alongside that, some of the ongoing stories are settled and others are held over to next week’s series finale. That includes a fascinating closing twist in the story of “Sofia,” the imaginary person conjured in Dr. Wolf’s mind.
8) “The Kimberley,” 10 p.m. Wednesday, PBS. Beautifully filmed and smartly narrated. this visits an Australian region the size of California, which has only 34,000 people. Most are indigenous (including Mark Coles Smith, who narrates). We see deadly toads, 20-foot crocs and odd mudskippers. Dolphins hunt a baby whale; 100,000 shorebirds arrive.
9) “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness” debut, 9 p.m. Friday, HBO; repeating ay 9:34 and 11:08; then 4, 7:25, 10:48 p.m. Saturday and more. Sub-titled “An Almost History of America,” this six-week sketch-comedy series pairs Larry David with Barack Obama (a producer), Jerry Seinfeld (one of the many guest stars) and more.
10) Mel Brooks marathon, Sunday, Turner Classic Movies. In one amazing year, Brooks directed and co-wrote two comedy classics. Now “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein” (both 1974) are at 8 and 10 p.m. PT on his 100th birthday, Also included: “The Twelve Chairs,” “The Producers” and “Spaceballs,” at 11:30 a.m. and 1:15 and 3 p.m.