1) Vienna Philharmonic, 9 p.m., PBS. Each year, PBS has a lush, end-of-summer concert (shown here), amid palace gardens. This time, Lorenzo Viotti, 36, a second-generation, Swiss conductor has a busy program, from a cavalry overture to encores with a high-octane Brazilian piece and a Strauss waltz. Also, baritone-bass Bryn Terfel ranges from Tevye to Satan. Read more…
1) “Adults” season-openers, 9 and 9:34 p.m., FX and FXX. Five friends (shown here) share a house in Queens; in their mid-20s, they face the looming possibility of grown-up lives and jobs. That’s been done before (from “Real World” to “Friends”), but never with such exuberant twists. Some people will find it too gen-Z or too R-rated; others will find it hilarious. Read more…
1) “Freddie Mercury — The Final Act,” 8-10 p.m., CW. For the second straight year, CW announced it was airing the Miss Teen USA and Miss USA pageants, then bailed out. This time, the reversal was just six days before the teen pageant. Now that reverts to the internet (8 p.m. today, apparently charging about $35); CW reruns a film that focuses on Mercury (shown here) — his death and the massive the memorial concert. Read more…
1) “American Masters,” 9-10:30 p.m., PBS. In her childhood, Mary Oliver (shown here in her early years) found despair at home and joy in nature. She became a poet at 15, worked on Edna St. Vincent Milay’s papers at 17, then became a Pulitzer Prize-winner and the best-selling American poet. This fascinating profile is filled with admirers, from Stephen Colbert to John Waters Read more…
1) “American Ninja Warrior,” 8-10 p.m., NBC. The summertime reality shows are starting to wrap up now. For “Ninja” (shown here in a previous episode), this is the last of three semi-final rounds, with side-by-side races; next week, the survivors go for $250,000. Read more…
1) “The Walking Dead: Dead City,” 9 p.m., AMC. In this post-apocalyptic world, zombies are a mere inconvenience; other problems loom. Last week ended with an earthquake taking away much of the food supply; this one ends with Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, shown here) launching a fresh and intensely personal crisis. It’s well-made, but messy. Read more…
1) “The Run For a Million,” 8-10 p.m., CBS. Two pieces of rodeo life overlap. On CW (7:30-10 p.m.), it’s NBR bull-riding. (An NBR event is shown here.) And on CBS, 16 horse-riders try elaborate courses, competing for $1 million, The latter is produced by Taylor Sheridan, who does both fiction (“Yellowstone,” “Dutton Ranch”) and non-fiction (“The Road,” “Pure Grit,” “The Last Cowboy”). Read more…
(NOTE: Also Aug. 21 is a National Geographic special re-uniting people from 9/11; see “Stories.))
1) “Conan O’Brien Must Go” season-opener, 9 p.m., HBO, rerunning at 11:03. After two streaming-only seasons on Max, the travel series adds HBO. First, the previous seven episodes air, starting with Norway at 4 p.m. Then comes this new one, in India, where (shown here) a 6-foot-4 redhead might stand out. The next three Fridays visit the Netherlands, Morocco and the Philippines. Read more…
1) “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951), 8 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. This may be the best-acted movie ever. It won Oscars for Vivien Leigh (shown here), Kim Hunter and Karl Malden. There were 11 nominations over all, including ones for best picture and for the searingly brilliant work of Marlon Brando (shown here), whose films are on TCM all day today. Read more…
1) “The Lion” opener, 9 and 10 p.m., National Geographic. Brilliantly crafted, this is an epic two-week, four-hour documentary. Jon Favreau, who directed the non-cartoon “Lion King,” produced it; Hans Zimmer — who won an Oscar for the animated “Lion King” — did the music. (The photo here is not from the film, however.) For four years, a crew got great footage of a young cub’s rise to power. Read more…
