Daily Best Bets

1) “Good Sam” finale, 10 p.m., CBS. Shows are starting to wrap up now. Coming are the finales of Fox’s “Call Me Kat” on Thursday and CBS’ “Magnum P.I.” and “Blue Bloods” on Friday. First, we get “Sam,” which never quite caught on – in Nielsen ratings, it’s 30th of 31 CBS shows, topping only “Come Dance With Me” – despite likable people. Sam (Sofia Bush, shown here) became chief of surgery when her dad (Jason Isaacs) was ill; he’s not happy about it. Read more…

1) “Holey Moley” season-opener, 8 p.m., ABC.  Is it summer already? Apparently. This opened its past seasons on June 17, May 21 and June 20, fitting the light tone of a miniature-golf show. But here it is already, with the Muppets joining Joe Tessitore and Rob Riggle (shown here) for commentary. Jeannie Mai works the sidelines and Stephen Curry (who’s also quite good at basketball) is the golf pro. Read more…

1) “American Idol,” 8 p.m., ABC.  A decade ago, in a detour from the usual voting, the top two “Idol” spots went to country-music teens. Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina (shown here) went on to find Nashville success; now they’re back for this special, celebrating (a month early) the show’s 20th anniversary. Other winners will perform, including Ruben Studdard (Season 2), Jordin Sparks (6), David Cook (7), Kris Allen (8), Maddie Poppe (16) and Laine Hardy (17). Read more…

1) “Ten Percent” (shown here) debut, 10 p.m., BBC America. At a public-relations firm in London, only the founder (Jim Broadbent) seems peaceful and pleasant. His son (Jack Davenport) is frazzled, especially when young Misha shows up. An aide fumes; a young agent struggles with delivering bad news to Kelly McDonald (playing herself). The result is fast and funny … sometimes too fast, with the British accents. “Ten Percent” also streams Fridays on Sundance Now. Read more…

1) White House Correspondents Dinner, 8-11 p.m. ET, CNN. This event has been cancelled for the past two years (due to Covid) and hasn’t had a president there in six years (due to, well, Trump). But Joe Biden plans to be there, barring an emergency, to take and deliver barbs. Trebor Noah (shown here) hosts; the best parts tend to come near the end. Read more…

1)“Magnum P.I.” return, 9 p.m., CBS. This used to be dependable on CBS, with three crime hours each Friday. Lately, that’s shrunk to two and (for the last couple weeks) just one, Now “Magnum” is back, with only its second new hour in six weeks. It borrows an idea that has worked for “X-files,” “The Godfather,” “Law & Order” and more: A guy wakes up, covered with blood and unable to remember if he’s committed a crime; Magnum and Higgins (shown here) try to find out. That’s followed by “Blue Bloods,” which this week was renewed for its 13th season. Read more…

1) NFL draft, 8-11:30 p.m., ABC and ESPN. Baseball season has started, basketball and hockey are peaking … but football grabs our attention. It’s the first round tonight, with edge-rusher Aidan Hutchinson (shown here about to make a sack) possibly going first; two more rounds are Friday, with the final four Saturday afternoon. Rece Davis anchors, joined by Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and lots of clips and commentary. ABC will focus a bit more on the people side, ESPN on stats and stuff. Read more…

1) “Nature” season-finale, 8 p.m., PBS. The 40th season – a good one – ends with some spectacular views of Portugal. Brutal wind and the world’s biggest waves (up to 100 feet) have left shipwrecks, where creatures make their homes. The coast also has one of the largest seahorse populations. One island has a shrinking number of monk seals (about 30) and expanding number of wolf spiders (maybe 5,000). On land, we see wildfires and wild horses; we also see cork trees – their bark harvested every eight years – holding giant stork nests (shown here). Read more…

1) “New Amsterdam,” 10 p.m., NBC. After returning last week from a six-week break, “New Amsterdam” threw lives into limbo. There was a heavy-drinking night and four people are missing – Wilder (who may have summoned an online date) … Trevor (who may have convinced Iggy to cheat on his husband) ,,, Mia (who seemed suicidal) … and Casey (who’s still mad at Bloom, as is Leyla). Helen did make it home, but now she’s collapsed. Max (they’re shown here in a previous episode) raced home to check on her; he had planned to propose to her that night, but she fell asleep. Read more…

1) “Better Things” series-finale, 10 p.m., FX, rerunning at 11. A great show ends in typical style – odd, disjointed and intermittently brilliant. If you haven’t been watching it, just relax and let the finale wash over you. It starts and ends with clever music videos; in between are bits of the fictional life of Sam Fox – a lot like the real life of writer-director-star Pamela Adlon (shown here in an earlier season, with the actresses playing her daughters). Two long toilet scenes could have been skipped, but the rest has warmth, humor and human quirks. Read more…