Daily Best Bets

1) “The Rings of Power” (shown here), any time, Amazon Prime. The mega-prequels era is now in place. “House of the Dragon,” HBO’s “Game of Thrones” prequel, arrived Aug. 21 as the most expensive TV project ever; now Amazon has one that’s even larger. It cost a reported $465 million for the first season’s eight episodes. Over five seasons (at least), we’ll see epic struggles that were filmed in New Zealand, often using elaborate sets in addition to special effects. Read more…

1) “Stargirl” season-opener, 8 p.m., CW. While others pause, CW has an above-average show to bridge the late-summer/early-fall lull. “Stargirl” skips all the reluctant-hero cliches; Courtney (shown here in the new-season poster) is a teen who’s delighted to discover her superpowers. Two skilled pros help – Joel McHale as Starman, back from the dead, and Luke Wilson as Courtney’s dad and sidekick. Now The Gambler is back, drawing suspicion. Read more…

1) “The Patient” (shown here) opener, any time, Hulu. Far removed from his eager comedy characters, Steve Carell plays a widower who’s a quiet and diligent therapist. Then a patient kidnaps him and chains him in a basement. Perfectly played by Carell and Domhnall Gleeson, this slowly builds a sharp intensity.

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1) “America’s National Parks,” 8 and 9 p.m., National Geographic Channel; rerunning at midnight and 1 a.m. We start in the Everglades, the only place in the world to have both alligators and crocodiles. (Yes, we’re told, that’s a good thing.) Then it’s on to the Grand Canyon (shown here) – 277 miles long, with life ranging from elk to soaring condor. This is the start of a five-night, nine-hour series, narrated by Garth Brooks, with gorgeous visions of semi-wild worlds. Read more…

1) MTV Video Music Awards, 8-10:30 p.m., MTV, other cable channels and CW; also, MTV has a preview at 6:30 p.m. and reruns the awards at 10:30 p.m. and 1 a.m. In a music-stuffed night, Nicki Minaj (shown here) and the Red Hot Chili Peppers get special awards and perform. Also performing — Jack Harlow, Lizzo, Maneskin, J Balvin, Anitta, Panic at the Disco, Blackpink and Kane Brown – the first country singer to work solo at the VMA’s. Read more…

1) Football, 12:30 p.m. ET, Fox. The college football season, an American tradition, is starting in Dublin, Ireland. That’s where Nebraska(shown here)  and Northwestern – each back from a 1-8 Big Ten season – collide. There’s also a game on Fox Sports 1 (Connecticut/Utah State, 4 p.m. ET) and four on the CBS Sports Network – Austin Peay/Western Kentucky (noon) … Idaho State/Nevada-Las Vegas (3:30 p.m.) … Charlotte/Florida Atlantic (7) … Vanderbilt/Hawaii (10:30). Read more…

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…