Daily Best Bets

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…

Best-bets for Aug. 4: It’s country’s night

1) “CMA Fest,” 8-11 p.m., ABC. Thomas Rhett and Kelsea Ballerini host and do two songs apiece. One of hers is with the Chainsmokers, in a night stuffed with duets. Brothers Osborne and Brooks & Dunn do two, one adding Ashley McBryde. There’s Tim McGraw with Luke Combs, Maren Morris with Brandi Carlisle, Carrie Underwood with Joan Jett, Keith Urban with Billy Ray Cyrus and Lil Nas X. There are also solo stars – Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Dierks Bentley and more. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 3: Globetrotting and a Globetrotter

1) “Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted,” 11 p.m. ET, National Geographic. After spending lots of time grumbling and cursing in kitchens, Ramsay (shown here) headed out to the world. The opener took him to the mountains of Peru; this one (which debuted Sunday) takes him to New Zealand. Ramsay – who did a lot of fishing in his Scottish boyhood – tries to catch and cook seafood in the style of the naive Maori. With interesting people and gorgeous settings, the result is fairly entertaining. Next, on Sunday, is Morocco. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 2: “SHIELD” saves the world

1) “Agents of SHIELD” season-finale, 8 and 9 p.m., ABC. Epic in scale and (presumably) in budget, “SHIELD” has had modest ratings. Still, it’s been renewed annually, possibly because Disney (ABC’s parent company) owns Marvel and makes profits selling sci-fi shows overseas. Now “SHIELD” has been given one more 13-episode season for next summer. Tonight, ABC says, the team tries “to stop the end of everything.” That seems like a worthy goal. Read more…

Best-bets for Aug. 1: A farewell to zombies

1) “iZombie” series finale, 8 p.m., CW. For the second straight night, CW ends one of its best shows. On Wednesday, it was “Jane the Virgin”; tonight is “iZombie.” Both are bright-looking, with a smart and likeable woman at the core; only one, however, has someone munch the brains of murder victim, hoping to absorb memories and attitudes. That’s Liv (shown here), a doctor and inadvertent zombie who works in the morgue and helps police. Now she has a bigger goal — preventing a war between humans and zombies. Read more…

Best-bets for July 31: Farewell to “Jane”

1) “Jane the Virgin” series finale, 9 p.m., CW. Jane’s grandmother (shown here with her daughter and granddaughter) has always loved telenovela finales. “The good people get what they deserve,” she says. “And there’s usually a wedding.” Now we get all of that and more. It’s the 100th episode (if you count the 8 p.m. hour of interviews as No. 99) and many of the key issues were settled in No. 98. Still, there are a few surprises … including a bizarre wedding vehicle. Eventually, good people — and good viewers — do get what they deserve. Read more…

Best-bets for July 30: Close Encounters with space and politics

1) “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (shown here) and “Star Wars” (both 1977), 8 and 10:30 p.m., Turner Classic Movies. It’s a splendid night for space. PBS’ “American Experience” concludes its rerun of the excellent, three-part “Chasing the Moon” (8-10 p.m.). And TCM has these masterpieces from Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, respectively. And yes, 1977 was a fun year to go to the movies. Read more…

Best-bets for July 29; “Big Bang” is back, “Bachelorette” departs

1) “The Bachelorette” finale, 8-10:01 p.m., ABC; concludes Tuesday. On the eve of the finale, we still see Hannah Brown, 24, (shown here) with three guys to choose from. Peter Weber, 27, is a pilot from California; Tyler Cameron, 26, is a contractor from Florida; Jed Wyatt, 25, is a singer-songwrier from Tennessee. Tonight, she dumps one and takes the others to meet her family. On Tuesday, we see her choice. Read more…

Best-bets for July 28: Music, sharks and more

1) “Masterpiece: Grantchester,” 9 p.m., PBS. This season has had mini-glimpses of the new vicar. Its first two mysteries were tackled by the original guy, the third by his assistant. Now, at last, Will Davenport (Tom Brittney, shown here) takes over. Riding a motorcycle and listening to rock, he gives this late-’50s, English village a jolt. He has no plans to help solve crimes … until a boy, silent and blood-stained, arrives. With one exception (the boy’s over-the-top father), the result is skillfully written and played. Read more…

Best-bets for July 27: A slice of ‘Heaven’

1) “Heaven,” 8-10 p.m., Lifetime. Starting with “Flowers in the Attic,” Lifetime has soared big with movies based on V.C. Andrews novels. Now it will fill five straight Saturdays with her stories of the Casteel family. In this first one, Heaven Casteel (Annalise Basso, 18, shown here) is the oldest of five siblings in a mountain shack. A tragedy forces her into new worlds. Read more…