1) Baseball’s All-Star Game, 7:30 p.m. ET, Fox; pre-game at 7. It’s time for baseball’s best to go Hollywood, with the game in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ stadium. Appropriately, two Dodgers (Mookie Betts, shown here, and Trea Turner) were voted starters; so were two Los Angeles Angels (Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani). the Dodgers also have pitchers Clay Kershaw and Tony Gonsolin. Read more…
A new Jane Austen movie (sort of) has just debuted on Netflix.
It has the same title (“Persuasion”) and the same characters as Austen’s novel; it has the look and elegance of the same 1817 era. Still, it’s thoroughly different: Some people will enjoy it (as I did); others have already complained.
The biggest difference is attitude: From the first moment – when we learn that the baron (Richard E. Grant) savors any reflective surface, because he can see his image – this has verbal wit. Often, his daughter Anne (Dakota Johnson, shown here) talks directly to the camera, just as Phoebe Waller-Bridge did in the award-winning “Fleabag.” Read more…
1) “American Ninja Warrior” (shown here), 8-10 p.m., NBC. The semi-finals begin. In five weeks of qualifiers, only seven people conquered the “Mega Wall.” Now they – and others – move on; they’ll face up to 10 obstacles, including the new Kaleidoscope, Ghost Town and Spin Zone. Read more…
1) “Dark Winds,” 9 p.m., AMC. A terrific mini-series ends with a so-so hour. Joe Leaphorn (shown here) and his two tribal-police deputies have figured out a complex plot that involved a bank robbery, a helicopter escape and hidden loot. Now comes the prolonged finale, with some too-convenient timing. Read more…
1) “Transplant” season-finale, 8 p.m., NBC. It’s a pivotal episode for this well-made Canadian show, with huge changes, plus cliffhangers. Bash (shown here), a Syrian refugee, saved the life of Bishop (the emergency room chief), who later vouched for him despite a lack of paperwork. Then there’s the intense Mags … and the closed-off Jane … and Hunter, who retreated to a far-away job. There are also key moments from patients, including great scenes with one in her 90s. Read more…
Every person, we’re told, has a story. Every life would make a good movie.
Perhaps, but TV and movies keep telling one life-story over and over. That’s Elvis Presley.
The latest example is Baz Luhrmann’s glittery, jittery “Elvis”(shown here) now in theaters. Some critics found it too frenetic, but most approved; with a few reservations, I liked it a lot. 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) American Film Institute tribute, 8 and 11:45 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies. Sure, Julie Andrews is known for “The Sound of Music.” This tribute includes five of her kids in the film, plus Cynthia Erivo singing “Edelweiss.” But TCM shows us Andrews’ range, in a pair of films with James Garner: At 9:15 p.m., it has “Victor/Victoria” (shown here, 1983), one of seven comedies she did with her husband, Blake Edwards; at 1 a.m. is “The Americanization of Emily” (1964), a smart, black-and-white drama. Read more…
So now the Emmy nominations are out there – approximately 3.4 billion of them.
You can catch the full list at www.emmys.com or other sites. But amid the avalanche, let met point to a few things:
— Some summer shows timed this perfectly: Their new seasons are airing now, just as nominations arrive for the previous ones. “Better Call Saul” (9 p.m. Mondays, AMC) is up for best drama. Up for best comedy are two delights — the jaunty “Only Murders in the Building” (shown here with Selena Gomez, Tuesdays on Hulu) and the wonderfully weird “What We Do in the Shadows” (10 p.m. Wednesdays, FX). Try them. Read more…
1) “Call Me Kat,” 9:30 p.m., Fox. Popping into what will be its timeslot in the fall, this likable show reruns its season-opener. It’s a good one that give Mayim Bialik (shown here), starring as Kat, a chance to reunite with her old “Blossom” castmates. Joey Lawrence, Jenna von Oy and a self-deprecating Michael Stoyanov play themselves, in some goofy bits at the start of the episode. Read more…
Best-bets for July 11: a Messi moment for Cup 
Best-bets for July 10: perspectives on “BB,” JFK 
Best-bets for July 9: It’s the summer’s busiest night 
