Daily Best Bets

1) “Grantchester,” 9 p.m., PBS. We’re down to the season’s final two episodes, with mysteries to solve – including a good one tonight – and personal crises to face. Geordie, the cop, descended into alcohol and gloom; his wife ousted him and brought in her good-hearted niece, Bonnie. Will the vicar (shown here, center, in a previous season) likes Bonnie, but dallies with a temptress who is engaged to Geordie’s boss. Some of that will be confronted now, with the rest next Sunday. Read more…

1) “Belfast” (2021), 8 p.m., HBO. When Kenneth Branagh was 9, his family left Ireland to escape the Protestant-Catholic hatred. In England, he mastered Shakespeare as an actor, writer (seven movie adaptations) and director. Now here’s his first original movie script, a black-and-white masterpiece (shown here) about his youth. Branagh won an Oscar for his script and was nominated as a director. There were six more nominations, including best picture. Read more…

1) “Killer Camp” season-opener, 8 p.m., CW. It’s been an odd ride for this goofy (but fun) reality show, which uses tropes of old horror films. CW aired the British original (shown here) in the summer of 2020, then made its own season. It aired two episodes last October, finding few viewers; now it tries again: This second-season opener sees 15 campers arrive. A “counselor” explains that one will be “killed” each week … and one camper is a ringer, helping the killer. Read more…

1) Football, 8:05 p.m. ET, NBC, pre-game at 7. Wait — it’s fall football time already? The winter sports (basketball, hockey) only ended six weeks ago … baseball is barely at its mid-point … but here we are with football’s pre-season opener, the Hall of Fame game. The Las Vegas Raiders (10-7 last year) face the Jacksonville Jaguars (3-14), who have had two straight No. 1 draft choices – quarterback Trevor Lawrence (shown here) and defensive end Travon Walker. Read more…

1) “CMA Fest,” 8-11 p.m., ABC. For the first time in three years, Nashville had its four-day mega-fest; here are highlights. One host (Dierks Bentley) performs with Billy Ray Cyrus (shown here), the other (Elle King) with Ashley McBryde. Other match-ups have Wynonna Judd and Carly Pearce, Lady A and Breland, Zac Brown Band and Darius Rucker. Also performing: Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Kelsea Ballerini, Thomas Rhett, Kane Brown, more. Read more…

1) “What We Do in the Shadows,” 10 p.m., FX, rerunning at 10:34 and 11:08. The plot is familiar: An important visitor is coming; an odd family tries to seem normal. But this family has three vampires, a wise aide (shown here) and a lad who emerged from the chest cavity of a late colleague and keeps growing rapidly. Now a private-school official visits. “Shadows” ditches its usual droll style and offers a vampire version of a wild (and funny) drawing-room farce. Read more…

1) “Viva Las Vegas” (1964), 8 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. A 24-hour Elvis Presley marathon starts at 6 a.m., It offers a couple zestful concert films – “Elvis on Tour” (1972), 2 p.m.; “Elvis: That’s the Way It Is” (1970), 10 p.m. — and lots of scripted ones. Some are awful, but “Viva” (shown here) has glitter, Ann-Margret and lots of vibrant music, led by the title song. There’s even a rare nod to Presley’s R&B roots, when he sings “What’d I Say?” Read more…

1) “City on a Hill” season-opener, 10 p.m., Showtime. Jackie Rohr is one of TV’s great characters, an FBI agent rippling with intelligence and rage. As last season ended (14 months ago), corruption probes grew and he turned in his badge. Now he’s near-bottom — to the delight of an honest prosecutor. Perfectly played by Kevin Bacon and Aldis Hodge (shown here), these two are great opposites. This opener also has strong moments for Corben Bernsen and Ernie Hudson. Read more…

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. We don’t expect big laughs from Benedict Cumberbatch. But his second hosting turn (with Arcade Fire as music guest) begins with a brilliant sketch (shown here): The draft of the decision overturning Roe v. Wade cited 13th-century English law. Here, he’s in 1235, pushing a law against abortion, sort of like the one banning pointy shoes. Exceptions for incest or rape? No way, someone says; “those are the only kinds of sex we have.” Read more…

1) “Secret Celebrity Renovation” season-opener, 8 p.m., CBS. Here’s the opener that was scheduled for last week, then nudged back. It offers two familiar star: Billy Gardell of “Bob (Hearts) Abishola” does a project for a friend’s mother(shown here). Rob Mariano (Boston Rob of “Survivor” fame) did a project for his parents last season; now he joins the show as a contractor. Read more…