1) “Ultimate Tag” season-finale, 9 p.m., Fox. To high-octane shows wrap up simultaneously. One (“Bulletproof,” listed next) is scripted; this one is action-reality. On a three-dimensional course, tag pros — really — chase contestants (shown here). All are top athletes, as are the hosts – J.J., Watt (named three times as the NFL’s top defensive player) and his brothers (also football pros), T.J. and Derek. Read more…
1) “Tell Me a Story,” 9 p.m., CW. After two years on CBS All Access, this gets a shot at a broadcast audience. It’s a good one, even if it doesn’t do what it claims – putting a modern twist on three fairy tales. That link is weak, but all three stories slowly seize our attention. One – with the always-terrific James Wolk (shown here) nudging his girlfriend toward marriage and family – ends the hour powerfully. The others have talented newcomers Danielle Campbell and Davi Santos in troubled lives. Read more…
1) “POV: Advocate,” 10 p.m., PBS (check local listings). Americans have savored stories of lawyers who make the impossible fight. Now here’s an extreme: Lea Tsemel (shown here), 75, was once a volunteer Israeli soldier, believed to be the first Jewish woman to reach the Wailing Wall. For generations, she has represented Palestinians who are accused of terrorism. “We always lose,” she once said. Still, there are slivers of triumph here. It’s a tough but solid hour, with English sub-titles. Read more…
1) “Wynonna Earp” season-opener, 10 p.m., Syfy. Life gets complicated for Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano, shown here). Her great-great-grandfather Wyatt just had to face gunfighters; she’s supposed to hunt demons and dispatch them back to Hell. Last season, her half-sister Waverly was kidnapped. To find her, Wynonna must enter Eden on a stairway that’s magic and maybe invisible. There’s lots of dry humor and then a fierce demon battle. Read more…
1) Baseball, 1:05, 4:10 and 7:15 p.m. ET, Fox. It’s the first full day of the season, the first in which all 30 teams are scheduled. Fox – which desperately needs something new this summer – celebrates with a tripleheader. The Cubs (shown here with Anthony Rizzo and Kevin Bryant) host the Brewers at 1:05 p.m., the Dodgers host the Giants at 4:10 and then – with the teams that opened the season Thursday – the Nationals host the Yankees. Read more…
1) “Great Performances: She Loves Me,” 9 p.m., PBS. At work, these two battle and bicker; at home, each has an anonymous pen pal … unaware they’re writing to each other. Yes, that sounds familiar. The story has become three movies, a play and this musical … which reached Broadway three times. This is the third one – light comedy, vibrant music, Tony-winning set and Tony-nominated performances by Zachary Levi and Laura Benanti (they’re shown here) and Jane Krakowski. It starts a five-Friday stretch of theater reruns. Read more…
1) “Blindspot” series finale, 9 p.m., NBC. Jane Doe (and the world) have been teetering for two weeks. NBC scheduled the 100th and final episode for last Thursday, then delayed it a week. That left Jane (Jaimie Alexander, show here) – who has already lost her memories once — in a room with a ZIP bomb that saps all memories. The team has stopped the evil FBI chief, who promptly killed herself. But Ivy is still out there with more ZIPs. Remember when there were hardly any evil women on TV (or, maybe, in life)? Read more…
1) “Corporate” (shown here) season-opener, 10:30 p.m., Comedy Central. Two delightful TV take-offs propel this half-hour. One is a sci-fi show that tries too hard, with sudden plot twists. The other is a kids’ cartoon that doesn’t try at all; it just keeps singing “pickles for breakfast.” Now that they own some TV shows, these fictional people try a corporate approach: Just survey viewers and give them what they want. It’s a flawed plan, they learn: Good TV is often much more – giving us what we didn’t know we wanted. Read more…
1) “World of Dance,” 10 p.m., NBC. “America’s Got Talent” is pausing for a “best of auditions” special from 8-10 p.m., but “Dance” booms ahead. This is the first half of its junior-division “duels,” including a classic mismatch — Savannah Manzel (shown here), 9, facing a large teen group. (You can guess who gets the focus and sympathy.) Other duels are more fair: The two callback survivors – The Young Cast and grvmnt – compete; MDC3 – with a terrific variation on a romantic triangle – faces Chibi Unity. Read more…
1) “The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons – Ever!” 8-11 p.m., ABC. Then again, maybe tonight should be re-titled “The Worst Seasons – Ever!!!” They focus, alas, on Brad Womack (shown here with Emily Maynard). In 2007, he dated 25 bright and beautiful women, including two nurses and four realtors … then rejected them all. In 2011 he returned, chagrined and ready to marry and settle down. He dated 30 beauties, from a Rockette to a funeral director, chose one … and had broken up with her before the episodes finished airing. Read more…
