Daily Best Bets

Best-bets for Aug. 14: Troubled teen, privileged pros

1) “David Makes Man” debut, 10 p.m., Oprah Winfrey Network. In books and movies, Winfrey leans toward complex people in depressing circumstances. So it’s logical that she linked with Tarell Alvin McCraney, whose play was the basis for the Oscar-winning “Moonlight.” With his own boyhood as an example, McCraney gives us a brainy 14-year-old (shown here), commuting from a tough housing project to a magnet school. One mentor (Phylicia Rashad) is a teacher, another is imaginary. It’s not an easy story. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 13: A genial visit to Detroit and Florida

1) “Family Pictures,” 8 and 9 p.m., PBS. This wraps up a two-night, three-hour series, taking a genial look at contrasting places. In Detroit, we range from a long-time hat store (shown here) to the daughter of a music-shop owner who recorded the sermons of C.L. Franklin and two spirituals by his teen daughter Aretha. Then Florida ranges from a cowboy to a former migrant kid who’s principal of a migrant school. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 12: “Infamy” blends horrors stylishly

1) “The Terror: Infamy” debut, 9 p.m., AMC. Two horrors – one supernatural, the other real and historical — blend. The backdrop is the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. On an island and at the camp, the terror begins – ill winds, ominous predictions, sudden blindness or death. This clearly isn’t for everyone, but it’s well-crafted. Despite his surname and his past credits (“Narcos”), Josef Kubota Wladyka has family roots in Japan; he directed this beautifully. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 11: Teens soar and sing

1) U.S. Gymnastics Championships, 8-10 p.m., NBC. After three nights on cable, the event jumps to NBC for its finish; this is the women’s championship, the key part for American viewers. This often showcases future Olympic stars; past winners include Simone Biles, five times; Shawn Johnson and Jordyn Wieber (shown here) twice each; Dominique Dawes; and Mary Lou Retton. Now we’ll see another champion — a year before the Olympics. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 10: Heaven’s last stand

1) “Fallen Hearts,” 8-10 p.m., Lifetime. We’re at the mid-point of the five-part saga based on V.C. Andrews’ Casteel Family novels. This film is the last one to center on Heaven Casteel, played by Annalise Basso, 20 (shown here). In “Heaven” (rerunning at 4 p.m.), she was dirt-poor; her mom fled and her dad sold the five kids separately – in her case, to a cruel family. In “Dark Angel” (6 p.m.), she moved to a Philadelphia mansion. In “Fallen Hearts,” she’s happy and married … and lured back to the mansion. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 9: Splendor in Vienna

1) “Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert,” 9 p.m., PBS. This isn’t what you’d expect: The setting and the orchestra are Austrian, the conductor is Venezuelan, the soloist is Chinese … and most of the music is from American composers. Really. Gustavo Dudamel (shown here) opens spectacularly with Bernstein’s “Candide” overture and Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” with pianist Yuja Wang. She pauses for a Chopin waltz, but then we’re back to Sousa, Steiner and more, beautifully played and filmed. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 8: “Big Bang” is back

1) “The Big Bang Theory,” 8 p.m., CBS. Life is almost back to normal at CBS. “Love Island” has ended –it will be back next summer — and only “Big Brother” (9 p.m. today) gets in the way of comedy reruns. “Big Bang” is back in its Thursday spot and has a couple extra episodes Monday. Tonight brings a tough decision for Leonard and Penny (shown here in the finale); her ex-boyfriend wants him to be a sperm donor. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 7: Shows start, stop, reboot

1) “BH90210” debut, 9 p.m. Fox; rerunning at 8 p.m. Friday. Summer is the time to try something odd, toying with TV’s reality. Fox does that Sundays (with “What Just Happened?”) and now has a new twist. Former “Beverly Hills, 90210” stars –Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling (shown here), plus Shannen Doherty, Jason Priestley, Brian Austin Green, Gabrielle Carteris and Ian Ziering – play versions of themselves. After a fan fest, they talk about rebooting the series. Soon, old feuds and romances are re-ignited. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 6: The chaotic joy of Woodstock

1) “American Experience,” 9-11 p.m., PBS. Five weeks before Woodstock, promoters had a mega-list of performers — and nowhere to play. Banned in one town, they scrambled to find another. They barely got the stage finished … never did get the fences … and saw the masses swarm in. Food was scarce, mud was abundant and traffic was so snarled that the performers needed helicopters. This could have been a disaster, but people who were there recall it fondly. Here’s a terrific, 50th-anniversary portrait. And for a full Woodstock story, scroll down this page or jump to the “stories” category. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 5: Bachelors and “Big Bang”

1) “Bachelor in Paradise” opener, 8-10:01 p.m., ABC. TV is determined to stuff our summer with blue sky, sunshine and folks who look nice in swimwear. This starts wih 11 women (most of them shown here) and nine men. The opening focus is on Blake Horstmann, 30, who was runner-up in last year’s “Bachelorette.” He gets the first date card, stirring things with past acquaintances Hannah Godwin and Caelynn Miller-Keyes, both 24. Then his ex-girlfriend (Kristina Schulman, 27) arrives. That complicates things … which is how TV likes it. Read more…