1) “The Voice” season-opener, 8-10 p.m., NBC. This is one of the rare times when half of the judges are new. Queen Latifah and country’s Riley Green (shown here) join the 19th year for Adam Levine and 11th for Kelly Clarkson, each with four champions so far. This week, blind auditions continue from 8-10 p.m. Tuesday and 8-9 Wednesday. Read more…
1) “Best Medicine” season-opener, 8 p.m., Fox. If you missed the first season of this charming oddity, here’s the perfect way to meet it. A mermaid (well, sort of) has been rescued (shown here). To help her, townsfolk must admit their own quirks and flaws, which are ample. This hour repeats two days later, when the show takes its regular Tuesday spot. Read more…
1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. The “SNL” summer ends the same way the regular season ended — with Will Ferrell hosting and Paul McCartney as music guest. Ferrell even shows up in chains as the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein (shown here), haunting Donald Trump. Next Saturday, “SNL” has its earliest opener in 14 years, with basketball’s Jalen Brunson hosting. Read more…
1) “Greatest @Home Videos,” 8 p.m., CBS. This amiable series was created during the pandemic, showing the creativity of people confined to their homes. Now it merely has scattered specials. In this one, the first in 16 months, Cedric the Entertainer has his “annual” Cedy awards, shown here. Read more…
1) “The Traitors: New Blood” debut, 8 and 9 p.m., NBC. The Peacock version and Alan Cumming (shown here) have already won three straight Emmys for best reality show and best host. Now we get the network version, with strangers (including “killers”) in a Scottish castle. This one skips celebrities; instead, it has a doctor, a nurse, a pilot and two lawyers, plus a rodeo guy, an ironworker, a dog groomer and more. Read more…
1) “Nation’s Dumbest” finale, 9 p.m., Fox. A fun season ends with two bright people (shown here) who never quite win. Chase Hudson, 24, from a family of Berkeley grads, spent much of his youth as a Tik-Tok star and online student. Hilaria Baldwin, 42, the daughter of a doctor and a lawyer, has dyslexia, ADHD and seven children. Their final round is a delight. Read more…
1) “Dancing With the Stars” opener, 8-10 p.m., ABC; continues Wednesday. Some people start this with no dance experience. Others? Jenna Dewan and Julia Stiles have starred in dance movies; Dewan (shown here in “Step Up”) is a trained dancer; Stiles had two months of intense training. Now they’re in an interesting line-up, alongside Paralympic champ Ezra Frech and more. Read more…
1) Emmy awards, 8 p.m. ET, NBC. Mariska Hargitay (shown here). not known for comedy, is this year’s host. Maybe there will be fun moments from the presenters, including Amy Poehler and Marcello Hernandez of “Saturday Night Live,” Keke Palmer, Dan Levy, Niecy Nash-Betts and Alan Cumming. Others include Sally Field, Macaulay Culkin and Zendaya. Read more…
1) “Best of VMAs: Iconic Vanguard Performances,” 9:30 p.m., CBS. In 1984, the Video Music Awards started the Video Vanguard Award. Early ones went to the Beatles, David Bowie (shown here) and Michael Jackson; lately, eight in a row have gone to women … a string that will be broken Sept. 27, when Nirvana is honored. First, here are past performances by Vanguard winners. Read more…
1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. The new season is only two weeks away and we can get in the mood with this rerun. Ryan Gosling hosted on March 7 (shown here), shortly before his “Project Hail Mary” opened to box office success. It was his fourth time hosting and the first for Gorillaz — which originally had “virtual” band members — as music guest Read more…
