Mike Hughes

1) “Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert” (shown here), 9-10:30 p.m., PBS. With Europe staggering from Covid, warfare, inflation and more, this night – beautifully filmed – has a unity feel. Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons opens with German music (Beethoven) and closes – as always – with a Viennese waltz. He features a French composer (Saint-Sains) and cellist (Capucon), but also has a Romanian piece, two Czech ones and two from Ukraine. Read more…

1) “The End is Nye” debut; any time, Peacock, 10 p.m., Syfy. A dead-serious subject gets a whimsical launch. In each of the six episodes, special effects help Bill Nye (the science guy) step into a disaster, then tell us how to survive it and how to prevent it. All six are available on Peacock; they also show up (one per night) on Syfy, with disaster lead-ins. That begins today, with five goofy (and fun) “Sharknado” films (one is shown here), starting at 11:40 a.m. Read more…

1) “Welcome to Wrexham” debut episodes, 10 and 10:38 p.m., FX; repeat at 11:17 and 11:55. In a crumbling Welsh economy, Wrexham has two points of pride – a professional soccer team and a classic stadium. But the stadium is 215 years old and the team has fallen to the fifth level, just above semi-pro. Then actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney (shown here) bought the team; this documentary’s opener, catching the end of the 2020 season, is both warm and bittersweet. Read more…

1) “Cinderella” (1997), 9-11 p.m., ABC; plus a special at 8. It was 25 years ago that the Disney people took a lesser Rodgers-and-Hammerstein musical and spiffed it up beautifully. They inserted Rodgers songs from other shows, then added vibrant sets and splendid Rob Marshall choreography. They also had color-blind casting; Brandy Norwood (shown here) was fine as Cinderella, Whitney Houston soared as her fairy godmother. The casting is a focus of the 8 p.m. special. Read more…

1) “TMZ Investigates: What Really Happened to Richard Simmons?” 8 p.m., Fox. As a young man, Simmons (shown here) shed 123 pounds, almost half his weight. Moving from New Orleans to Los Angeles, he started a fitness studio, emphasizing oldies music and upbeat attitude. He swirled through talk shows and more. Then — 8 ½ years ago, at 65 – he vanished. There was a brief hospitalization, an audio interview, a police wellness check, then nothing. Read more…

1) “House of the Dragon” debut, 9 p.m., HBO, rerunning at 10:10. This is the big one – or one of two big ones. Years in the making, there are epic prequels to “Lord of the Rings” (Sept. 2 on Amazon) and, first, “Game of Thrones.” HBO reportedly spent $200 million on this 10-episode season, set almost 200 years before “Thrones.” Paddy Considine (shown here) plays the king, with Emma D’Arcy (and, in the early years, Milly Alcock) as the dragon-riding princess. Read more…