Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for July 27: fun, games and sharks

1) “The 1% Club” and “The Quiz With Balls,” 8 and 9 p.m., Fox. Starting now, Fox will be a no-rerun zone on Mondays through Wednesdays. First, host Joel McHale (shown here in a previous episode) is surrounded by 100 female contestants. Then “Quiz” has a rematch of sorts, with two families that were on “Extracted.” Read more…

Best-bets for July 26: sharks, zombies & rich guys

1) “The Simpsons,” 8 p.m., Fox. Now that the soccer fuss has ended, Fox gets back to its regular line-up. That includes Sunday reruns of its two funniest shows. In this one, Bart’s lab work (shown here) links him with tech billionaires who are intent on living forever. At 8:30, “Animal Control” has Frank on a late-night mission to retrieve his new dog. Read more…

Best-bets for July 24: moon, movies and murder

1) “Chasing the Moon” opener, 9-11 p.m., PBS. On Tuesdays, PBS has a terrific new documentary tracing the later years of the U.S.-Soviet space race. But now we go back to the beginning: This terrific, three-week film (from 2019) includes astronauts (Buzz Aldrin, Mike Collins, Frank Borman) and others, includinng Poppy Northcutt (shown here), a pioneering computer expert whom photographers kept focusing on. Read more…

Best-bets for July 21: kitchen nightmare, space joy

1) “Kitchen Nightmares” season-opener, 8 and 9 p.m., Fox. Who knew there was this much angst and anger in the back of basic, down-home restaurants? In the first hour, a chef faces an immensely disinterested front-of-the-house manager; in the second, an all-American diner wades in ill-will. Somehow, Gordon Ramsay (shown here) seems like the calmest guy in the room. Read more…

Best-bets for July 20: lotsa games, new and reruns

1) Celebrity Family Feud,” 9-11 p.m., ABC. Last Thursday, “Feud” — one of TV’s best game shows– had its season-opener.s Now those episodes rerun today, emphasizing football — AFC and NFC champs — and music — En Vogue (shown here at its peak) vs. Sheila E, Lisa Lisa vs. Taylor Dayne. OnThursday, a new episode will pit the U.S. men’s and women’s Olympic hockey teams. Read more…

Best-bets for July 19: Messi soccer, gory vampire

1) World Cup championship, 3 p.m. ET, Fox. Argentina, the current champs, are back in the finals — barely. Lionel Messi (shown here) and his teammates needed a last-minutes, come-from-behind surge to edge England, 2-1. The Argentines have been in six previous finals, winning three times. Now they face Spain, which won its only previous finals, back in 2010. Read more…