Daily Best Bets

1) “Magnum P.I.,” 9 p.m., CBS. Fans of this show are in a better mood now: CBS didn’t renew it for next season, but NBC has stepped in with a partial reprieve – 10 episodes in each of the next two seasons. For now, CBS has “Magnum” reruns; tonight, one private eye is tracking another: Magnum is suspicious of Higgins (they’re shown here in a jollier episode); he’s unaware that she’s undercover in a group that’s trying to destroy the MI-6, the British spy service. Read more…

1) “Generation Gap” debut, 9 p.m., ABC. There’s an all-star squad in the background of this one. Mark Burnett, the “Survivor” chief, is one of the producers; others include talk-show hosts Kelly Ripa and Jimmy Kimmel. Ripa (shown here) is the host, with a basic task: She asks kids and their grandparents questions about their respective eras Read more…

1) “The Challenge: USA” debut, 9:30- 11 p.m., CBS. Here’s CBS’ key newcomer for the summer. It takes 28 previous contestants from four reality shows, giving them super-sized physical challenges. (Shown here, Lee Temory and Tiffany Mitchell descend from a skyscraper.) Some of these people are already winners; that includes three “Survivor” champions (Tyson Apostol, Ben Driebergen and Sarah Lacina) and one apiece from “Amazing Race” (James Wallington), “Love Island” (Justine Ndiba) and “Big Brother” (Xavier Prather). Read more…

1) “America Outdoor” opener, 9 p.m., PBS. Something about Death Valley doesn’t seem inviting. Maybe it’s the name … or temperatures that can reach 134 degrees. But two million people visit each year, Baratunde Thurston (shown here) says, and a few stay. A former mining town of 4,000 now has a population of one. That guy arrived from Austin, Texas, four years ago with friends and stayed alone. He’s turning the general store into a museum; he also survived a snowstorm – really – that stranded him indoors for 4-5 days. It’s an appealing start to the series Read more…

1) “A Capitol Fourth,” 8 p.m., PBS, repeating at 9:30. For 42 years — even during the pandemic — this has delivered rousing music and big-deal fireworks (shown here). Now it’s back to live performances (with a limited crowd). Gospel great Yolanda Adams, will be there; so will Gloria Gaynor, whose 1978 “I Will Survive” fits the Covid era. Others include Darren Criss, Andy Grammer, Emily Bear and Loren Allred, who sang “Never Enough” for a lip-syncing actress in “The Greatest Showman.” Also, there’s a 65th-anniversary “West Side Story” medley. Read more…

1) USFL championship game, 7:30 p.m. ET, Fox. J’Marr Smith (shown here) went to Louisiana Tech – a place where quarterbacks go on to big things. One of them, Phil Robertson, became the “Duck Dynasty” guy; his back-up, Terry Bradshaw, became a Hall of Fame pro. And Smith? He was the conference’s offensive player-of-the-year, tried out with several NFL teams … and now has his moment, at 25. He leads the Stallions, who are 10-1 in the first year of this version of the USFL. They play the Stars, 7-4, who are led by running quarterback Case Cookus of Northern Arizona. Read more…

1) “Jailbreak Lovers,”8-10:03 p.m., Lifetime. This starts with the sort of true story that tabloids savor: Toby Young, 48, led a dog-training program for prisoners; then she fell for John Manard, 27, and helped him escape. But there’s more to it: Catherine Bell, who stars with Tom Stevens (they’re shown here), was intrigued by the notion of a good-hearted rules-follower whose one mis-step was a whopper. Bell fills the film with hints of warmth, hope and even humor. Read more…

1) “SWAT,” 8 p.m., CBS. The network’s experiment with Friday-night reality has finally ended,. CBS had set three shows for 8 p.m. Fridays; two (“Undercover Boss” and “Come Dance With Me”) aired, one (“The Activist”) didn’t. Now it’s back to its specialty – three crime shows each Friday. That starts with “SWAT” (shown here) in the spot where it will be this fall. In this rerun, the team arrests some dangerous robbery suspects – which has Tan confronting a pivotal figure from his past. Also, Luca must temporarily step in for Hicks. Read more…

1) “Westworld,” (1973), 8 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies; or “Westworld,” 8 p.m., HBO. To some of us, amusement parks are peaceful places; to Michael Crichton, they brought chaos – dinosaurs in “Jurassic Park,” killer robots in “Westworld.” Crichton’s ‘73 film starring Richard Benjamin (shown here, right) is entertaining … but no match for the existential depth of the HBO series. Dolores died at the end of the third season, but now Evan Rachel Wood has a new character. This season-opener also airs at 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; the second episode will be 9 p.m. Sunday. Read more…

1) “Right to Offend: The Black Comedy Revolution,” 9-11 p.m., A&E; reruns at 7 p.m. Thursday, leading into the second half. When Dick Gregory was a teen track star, his son says, he learned that Blacks’ times weren’t in local record books. He became an activist, then a comedian, then — in later years (shown here) — both. When most Blacks were confined to small clubs and “party records,” he was in the Playboy Club and on TV. This excellent film starts there, then ranges from Bill Cosby to Richard Pryor …whose daughter teaches a class on “History of the ‘N’ Word.” Read more…