Daily Best Bets

1) “Grantchester” season-opener, 9 p.m., PBS. Like most English villages, it seems, Grantchester has pleasant people, idyllic settings … and lots of murder. Fortunately, it also has a crimesolving vicar and his weary friend the cop. Their domain includes Cambridge University, where tonight they visit parties (shown here) and find beautiful students keeping ugly secrets. The whole thing gets solved quite easily, giving the show more time to work on lots of character details. The result is fairly entertaining, in a quietly classy way. Read more…

1) “The Last Dance,” 8 and 9 p.m., ABC. This acclaimed documentary series (originally on ESPN) concludes next week, with Michael Jordan (shown here) and the Chicago Bulls going for their final championship. First, this detour: At 30, Jordan found his life overloaded – three straight championships, the Olympics, gambling accusations and the murder of his father. He played minor-league baseball, quit basketball for a year-and-a-half … then returned to try to save the Bulls’ season. Read more…

1) “Prideland” and “The Lavender Scare,” 9 and 10 p.m., PBS (check local listings). Here’s a reverse time machine, showing us attitudes toward gays, present and past. First, Dyllon Burnside (“Pose”) journeys through his native South — he’s shown here in Texas — and finds a get-along mood. The early segments are bland, but then a church-school teacher in Mississippi passionately recalls her adjustment to learning her sons are gay. Contrast that with “Lavender,” a chilling account of an era when the federal government fired all gays. Read more…

1) “Man With a Plan” series finale, 8:31 p.m., CBS. When Matt LeBlanc’s “Friends” ended its 10-year run, it was a big deal, a time for mourning. When his “Plan” ends a four-year run … it’s sorta worth noting. This is an adequate comedy, with LeBlanc in the cliched role of a semi-bumbling husband and dad. Tonight, he plans to surprise his wife (Liza Snyder, they’re shown here in a previous episode) on their 20th anniversary, re-creating their honeymoon. Read more…

1) “What We Do in the Shadows” season-finale, 10 p.m., FX, rerunning at 11. Guillermo (wonderfully played by Harvey Guillen, shown here) has become one of TV’s best characters. He’s the long-suffering assistant (called a “familiar”) for four lazy vampires in Staten Island, protecting them (without their knowledge) by slaying other dragons. After a decade of being ignored, he’s left. The others realize they don’t know his phone nmber … or his last name … or how to wash clothes. Some oddly hilarious moments follow. Read more…

1) “Stargirl,” 8 p.m., CW. This is the sort of episode – sober, serious, unnerving – a show might have in its fourth season; here, remarkably, it’s the fourth episode of the first season. As part of a five-minute prologue, wordless and compelling, we learn why a classmate is despondent. Then Courtney (Brec Bassinger, shown here in the first episode), an upbeat type, tries to recruit her as a fellow superhero. The result is well-made and involving. Read more…

1) “Twilight: Los Angeles,” 10 p.m., PBS (check local listings). Back in 1992, another crisis raised sharp questions about police and race. The verdict in the Rodney King case brought protests and violence; in the aftermath, Anna Deveare Smith(shown here) created a one-woman play in which she portrayed the people – black and white, male and female – on both sides. Director Marc Levin added news footage and interviews. That’s one of many new and old specials that PBS has quickly added. Read more…

1) No Tonys, CBS. This was supposed to be the night CBS had the Tony awards, filled with song and dance and fun. Alas, COVID put Broadway (and the Tonys) on hold. If you still want a musical, there are choices: CBS has John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in “Grease” (1978, shown here) at 8:30 p.m., complete with singalong lyrics onscreen; FX has Hugh Jackman as “The Greatest Showman” (2017) at 8 and 10 p.m. Both have so-so stories, salvaged by vibrant music. Read more…

1) “D-Day: The Sixth of June” (1956), 6 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. On this sixth of June, we can watch a film about the attack – 76 years earlier – that changed the course of World War II. That’s entwined with a story of two officers (one British, one American) in love with the same woman. Two other movies have true stories with war as a backdrop: At 8 p.m. ET, TCM has the epic “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962, shown here with Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif); at 8, AMC has Bradley Cooper in the subtly moving “American Sniper” (2014). Read more…

1) “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” (2019), 8 p.m., Starz. In troubled times, we need the reassuring presence of Fred Rogers – and of Tom Hanks (shown here, right and left). Both remind us that people are basically good … some people exceptionally so. In this true story, a cynical reporter hesitantly meets Rogers (Hanks). Read more…