1) “Disney Celebrates America,” all week, ABC. This start from 8-10 p.m. today, ranging from Disney parks to Jon Batiste in New Orleans and Savannah Bananas baseball. That repeats at 8 Friday, launching a marathon that reaches Nashville at 8 Saturday, with Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Clint Black, Nick Jonas and Fourth of July fireworks.
2) Double Fourth. For some PBS stations, the Fourth is a two-day party. At 8 p.m. Friday, there’s music from the Capitol lawn and fireworks from Mount Vernon. On Saturday, Ken Burns’ “American Revolution: leads to an 8 p.m. special from Colonial Williamsburg, with music (Kelli O’Hara, Judy Collins, Michael Feinstein, etc.), dancers, actors and fireworks.
3) More Fourth, 8 p.m. Saturday. On the country’s 250th birthday, you’ll find lots more music and fireworks. NBC will be in New York, with Blake Shelton, Bebe Rexha, Post Malone, Shaboozey, and Salt-N-Pepa. CBS will be in Washington, D.C., with Batiste, Goo Goo Dolls, Zac Brown and The War and Treaty. There’s more on Fox News, CNN and others.
4) “Patience,” 8 p.m. Sunday, PBS. After a so-so start to its second season, this show finally returns to its terrific, first-season form. An autistic girl may have seen her father killed; Patience Evans, also autistic, struggles to help. It’s a smartly complex story and a subtly perfect, Emmy-worthy performance by Ella Maisy Purvis as Patience.
5) World Cup. The first round ousted 16 teams; now 32 survivors are in a single-elimination tourney. Fox has 17 games this week, starting at 1, 4:30 and 9 p.m. ET today. That includes the Mexican team at 9 p.m. Tuesday and the U.S. at 8 p.m. Wednesday … plus a game at 5 p.m. July 4 in Philadelphia, 250 years after a nation was born there.
6) “Password,” 10 p.m. Tuesday, NBC. One category is “courtrooms” and a policewoman is paired with actor/rapper Ice-T. “You’ve got a cop and an ex-criminal,” says T, who had some teen arrests. They’re a fun duo and it’s a lively episode that also has a guy who’s seen all 573 episodes of T’s show, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
7) “Top Gun: Maverick” (2022), 8-11 p.m. Wednesday, CBS. As July 4 nears, networks air big-budget crowd-pleasers that put Americans in fighter planes. First is Tom Cruise in this slickly made and solidly written film. At 8 p.m. Thursday, ABC has “Independence Day” (1983), which has little to do with the holiday (or logic), but has Will Smith and big explosions.
8) “Elle” debut, Wednesday, Amazon Prime. With deceptive smarts hidden under a ditzy surface, Elle Woods has been a character in three movies and a Broadway musical. Now Reese Witherspoon, who starred in the films, is producing this prequel, with newcomer Lexi Minetree as the teen Elle. Also streaming: a new “Simpsons,” Friday on Disney+.
9) “The Bear,” 9 p.m. Thursday, FX. Amid all the chaos — the pounding rain, crumbling building, soaring reservations — things pause for a pivotal moment. The result is slow, deep, quietly emotional … until life comes crashing through (literally). It’s a great episode, the third of eight in the final season. Or you can catch all eight right now on Hulu.
10) ALSO: Amid all the soccer talk, baseball clings to its role in American summer tradition. At 8:08 p.m. ET Saturday, Fox has a Fourth of July game, with the Mets-Braves or Cards-Cubs. The next day, Peacock has a grand stunt, carrying all 15 games. Two of them are also on NBC — Mets-Braves at 12:30 p.m. and Padres-Dodgers at 7:20 p.m.