Daily Best Bets

1) “Great Performances: Gloria – A Life,” 9-11 p.m., PBS (check local listings). It’s been a big life, actually. Once a Toledo kid dreaming of being a Rockette, Gloria Steinem helped alter the possibilities for American women. Christine Lahti (shown here) portrays her, with six actresses taking all the other roles. It’s a good (if flawed) show that ends with a twist: Steinem, strong and sharp at 86, arrives. She takes comments from people in the audience … many of them witnesses to a world she transformed. Read more…

1) “Council of Dads,” 8 p.m., NBC. Basically, everyone is mad at everyone: Luly (shown here) rages at Anthony, for never mentioning that he (not Scott) is her father. Theo fumes at Anthony for ignoring his dreams of being a chef. Everyone’s mad at Anthony for leaving and at Luly because her family essay went online. Now all of that peaks as a hurricane roars in … and a baby is due … and much more. You can gripe about overkill and about too many lunk-headed moves, but it still adds up to a gripping hour. Read more…

1) “Taking the Stage: African American Music and Stories That Changed America,” 8-10 p.m., ABC. Who knew that 2017 – just three years ago – would already be sweet nostalgia? This reruns a special at the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (shown here). The line-up of beloved souls includes Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks, Stevie Wonder and the Obamas. There’s more – Common, Usher, Ne-Yo, Christina Aguilera, John Legend, Dave Chappelle, Mary J. Blige and the Foo Fighters. Read more…

1) “World of Dance,” 10 p.m., NBC. The bad news is that Fox’s first-rate “So You Think You Can Dance” has made it official: It will have to skip this summer. Fortunately, this show is a solid substitute, with smart judges and gifted dancers. Tonight, the callbacks have 10 teams competing for four spots. Our only complaint is a lack of variety: With a few exceptions – including Latin rhythms from Showstoppers (shown here) – there’s a sameness to the numbers. Read more…

1) “Independent Lens: Pipe Dreams,” 10 p.m., PBS (check local listings). Here’s a documentary formula that has worked well lately: Pick a competition, meet some contestants in advance, then follow them and hope you get lucky. That’s worked for a spelling bee, a crossword contest, a science fair and even duck-stamp artists. Now it works wonderfully for a pipe-organ competition. “Dreams” (shown here with Alcee Chriss) has great visuals, powerful music and interesting people from the U.S., China and Germany. You’ll root for them. Read more…

1) “United We Sing,” 8-10 p.m., CBS. Harry Connick Jr. and his filmmaker daughter Georgia (they’re show here) take a road trip to honor workers. They meet famous friends (Oprah Winfrey, Brad Pitt, Queen Latifah, Drew Brees) and hear music from the greats of jazz (Herbie Hancock, Jon Batiste, Wynton and Branford Marsalis) and more (Tim McGraw, Cyndi Lauper. John Fogerty, Andra Day, Jame Foxx, Little Big Town). Then Connick, Irma Thomas and Trombone Shorty perform in iconic New Orleans locations. Read more…

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. Fresh from her Emmy triumphs, Phoebe Waller-Bridge hosted the season’s second “SNL.” She had some great sketches – including a gem (shown here) involving wartime letters – and had Taylor Swift as the music guest. It added up to one of the year’s best “SNL” episodes … a neat follow-up to winning three Emmys as the “Fleabag” writer-producer-star. Read more…

1) Juneteenth” programs, ABC, FX, FXX and FXM. There’s fresh interested in Juneteenth, marking the day (June 19, 1865) Texas slaves finally learned they were free. At 8 p.m., ABC News has a special, looking at the history and at current celebrations. Also, the FX channels have replaced their schedules with a simulcast of movies (“Hidden Figures” at 7 a.m., “Selma” at 10 a.m., “Get Out” latenight at 12:47 and 3:17 a.m.) and TV reruns – “Black-ish” from 1-8 p.m., “Atlanta” from 8 p.m. to 12:47 a.m. Read more…

1) “In the Dark,” 9 p.m., CW. Occasionally – not often– an OK show turns terrific. That’s happened in the second season of this story. Previously (shown here) Murphy, who is blind, was almost caught slipping drugs to her ex-boyfriend Mas in . When her ex-boyfriend Max  in prison. Now forces converge – Max … a crooked cop … an almost-honest cop … Nia and Josiah, the competing drug lords … Jess, the ex-friend … Ben, the druggie employee. The first seven minutes and the final minute are sensational; the rest is very good. Read more…

1) “Agents of SHIELD” (shown here), 10 p.m., ABC. In its seventh and final season. “SHIELD” keeps changing decades … and maybe changing genres Tonight, ABC implies, will be in the “film noir” style. Dumped into 1955, the team realizes that date is key to SHIELD history. The animated “Toy Story 3” (2010) precedes this at 8 p.m. Read more…