Weekly Previews

1) MTV Video Music Awards, 8-10:30 p.m. Sunday, MTV (where it reruns at 10:30 p.m. and 1 a.m.), plus several other cable channels and CW; MTV also has a preview at 6:30. Jack Harlow – who ties Kendrick Lamar for the lead with seven nominations, will perform. So will Nicki Minaj (shown here), who gets the Video Vanguard award. Also performing: Lizzo, Kane Brown, Maneskin, J Balvin, Anitta, Panic at the Disco, the K-pop group Blackpink and more. Read more…

1) “House of the Dragon” debut, 9 p.m. Sunday, HBO, rerunning at 10:10. Towering over everything else is this “Game of Thrones” prequel (shown here). HBO spent a reported $200 million on the 10-episode season, which started filming 16 months ago. Set 200 years before “Thrones,” the show has newcomer Emma D’Arcy as the princess and dragonrider. Sci-fi fans will spot Matt Smith of ”Doctor Who” and Olivia Cooke of “Ready Player One.” Read more…

1) “So You Think You Can Dance” finale, 9 p.m. Wednesday, Fox. Only two dancers remain, bringing opposite styles. Keaton Kermode, 20, is husky by dance standards; growing up in an Indiana town of 542, he was a 190-pound running back and safety in football. Alexis Warr, 21, trained at the same Utah dance studio as Derek Hough, then backed him on tour. Keaton is mainly a contemporary dancer; Warr wants to be the show’s first ballroom champ. They’re shown here, dancing together. Read more…

1) “CMA Fest,” 8-11 p.m. Wednesday, ABC. For four June days, country fans had this Nashville fest, the first in three years; now we see highlights. One host (Dierks Bentley) performs with Billy Ray Cyrus; they’re shown here. The other (Elle King) with Ashley McBryde. Other links: Wynonna Judd and Carly Pearce, Lady A and Breland, Zac Brown Band and Darius Rucker. Also performing: Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Kelsea Ballerini, Thomas Rhett, Kane Brown, more. Read more…

1) “Secret Celebrity Renovation” season-opener, 8 p.m. Friday, CBS. This was set for last week; CBS promoted it heavily … then scrambled its schedule twice after deciding to cover a congressional hearing. Now the opener is finally here: Billy Gardell, director James Burrows wrote recently, is “one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met.” He gets to do a sweet thing here (shown here), helping a friend’s mother. Rob Mariano, of “Survivor” fame, is the project contractor. Read more…

1) Sharks convergence, National Geographic and Discovery. “Shark Fest” continues on National Geographic, then pauses at 6 p.m. Sunday for a “Wicked Tuna” surge. That fits Discovery’s “Shark Week” (shown here), which starts Sunday and has new hours at 7 and 8 p.m. (great whites), 9 (a “Jackass” shark special) and 10. The week is hosted by Duane “The Rock” Johnson, who grew up in Hawaii, with a fondness for sharks via his mother’s Polynesian culture. Read more…

1) “The Bachelorette” opener, 8-10 p.m. today, ABC. These two might seem like opposites: Rachel Recchia, 26, is 5-foot-2; Gabby Windey, 31, is 5-9. Rechia is a flight instructor, working on being a pilot; Windey is a nurse who won an award for her pandemic care. But both (shown here) are ex-cheerleaders and both were “Bachelor” runners-up; now can each can choose a guy. They meet 32 tonight, including a banker, a broker, a bartender and a “meatball enthusiast.” Read more…

1) “A Capitol Fourth,” 8 p.m. today, PBS, repeating at 9:30. Even during the pandemic, this delivered rousing music, followed by big-deal fireworks (shown here). Now it’s back to live performances (with a limited crowd), with top voices. Gospel great Yolanda Adams, will be there; so will Gloria Gaynor, whose 1978 “I Will Survive” fits the Covid era. Others include Darren Criss, Andy Grammer, Emily Bear and Loren Allred, whose soaring, off-camera voice propelled “Never Enough” in “The Greatest Showman.” Also, there’s a 65th-anniversary “West Side Story” medley. Read more…

1) “Right to Offend: The Black Comedy Revolution,” 9-11 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday, A&E. This sprawls across a century of humor. The first half (rerunning at 7 p.m. Thursday) glances at the bad old days, then focuses on Dick Gregory, a teen track star who learned that Blacks’ times didn’t go in the record books. He became an activist, then a comedian, then both. It then ranges from Richard Pryor to Jimmy “J.J.” Walker. The second half visits a genial era (Cosby, Murphy, etc.) and then the sharp commentary of Chris Rock (shown here), Dave Chappelle and more.

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1) “Mark Twain Prize,” 9-10:30 p.m. Tuesday, PBS. Jon Stewart (shown here) gets the comedy prize – leading to a cascade of warmth, ribbing and hardy laughs. Stewart led “The Daily Show” for 16 years, winning 10 straight best-variety-show Emmys – which, we’re told, he kept in a cardboard box. We hear from his former correspondents (Steve Carell, Olivia Munn, Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee, John Oliver, Ed Helms), fellow comics (Pete Davidson, Dave Chappelle, Jimmy Kimmel) and more, including two songs from Bruce Springsteen. It’s a great show. Read more…