All Times Eastern. PBS programming varies regionally.
Wednesday, July 5
Human Footprint
PBS, 9pm
New Series!
Biologist Shane Campbell-Staton hosts this six-episode documentary series that takes viewers from high-tech labs to sweltering street markets, from farms to restaurants, and from primeval forests to the back alleys of New York to explore the ways humans have transformed the planet and what those transformations tell us about who we are as a species. The premiere episode, “Strangers in Paradise,” shows examples of how humans have introduced and must now deal with invasive species.
Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire
Disney+
New Series!
This 10-part sci-fi series (all installments available today) is an animated anthology of short films from leading African directors. Featuring stories by creators hailing from Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe, Kizazi Moto promises to take viewers on an unforgettable ride into Africa’s future, presenting visions of the continent as never seen before. The films draw on Africa’s rich and diverse histories and cultures to present sci-fi and fantasy tales featuring new worlds of advanced technology, aliens, spirits and monsters.
Back to 15
Netflix
Season Premiere!
In Season 2 of the Portuguese comedy, Anita (Maisa Silva) needs to go back to age 15 to try and fix her sister Luiza’s (Amanda Azevedo) life. However, Joel (Aeric Azana) hacked into her Floguinho account and also became a time traveler. After a disastrous day in which he interferes with everyone’s lives, Anita returns to 2021, only to discover that her perfect moment in Paris with Henrique (Caio Cabral) is no more. Everything is different. Now, Anita and Joel must join forces to put everything back on track and fix the future.
Wham!
Netflix
In 1982, while still teenagers, best friends George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley became the pop music duo Wham! and set out to conquer the world. By June of 1986 they played their very last gig at Wembley Stadium after having done exactly that. This documentary uses unprecedented access to both George and Andrew’s personal archives to tell the amazing story of how in four years they dominated the charts around the world with hits like “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” “Freedom” and, of course, the ubiquitous holiday radio station favorite, “Last Christmas.”
LA Fire & Rescue: “The Real Baywatch”
NBC, 8pm
The lifeguards of the L.A. County Fire Department join forces with the specialized Air Ops team on a dramatic rescue during the Malibu triathlon. Plus, Watts Station 16 shows how much they value caring for their community.
The South on Film — Part 1: “Race in the South”
TCM, beginning at 8pm
Catch a Classic!
Wednesday nights in July, Turner Classic Movies will feature lineups of films set in, and dealing with themes related to, the American South. Tonight’s five titles deal with Southern America’s especially problematic — to say the least — history with racial issues, featuring stories spanning the Civil War through the Civil Rights era. In some cases, the movies themselves were made during times that featured more overt and accepted racism and stereotypes, affecting the portrayal of their stories and characters, and that should be noted when watching. Starting the evening is the Best Picture Oscar-winning drama Driving Miss Daisy (1989), led by Best Actor nominee Morgan Freeman and Best Actress winner Jessica Tandy in a tale that follows the relationship between an old Jewish woman in Atlanta and her Black chauffeur over roughly 25 years, from the late 1940s to early ’70s. The film explores racism against Black people, as well as antisemitism in the South. After that is another Best Picture winner: the 1939 Civil War epic Gone With the Wind. While the drama is impressively made, and led to Best Supporting Actress winner Hattie McDaniel becoming the first Black actor to be nominated for and win an Oscar, it not only glosses over the horrors of slavery in the South at that time, but also tends to glorify the antebellum South and often uses its Black characters as sources of humor. Up next is The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, a 1974 TV movie starring Emmy winner Cicely Tyson in the title role as a 110-year-old former slave telling her life story during the early 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Following that is Intruder in the Dust (1949), which is based on noted Southern author William Faulkner’s novel and filmed in Oxford, Mississippi, where Faulkner mostly lived. The story is about a Black man (Juano Hernandez) who is falsely accused of murdering a white man; with the help of two teenage boys, the town’s lawyer and an elderly woman, he works to prove his innocence. The lineup concludes with Storm Warning (1950), a film noir thriller about a traveling dress model (Ginger Rogers) who witnesses the murder of a journalist by the Ku Klux Klan in a small Southern town, and tries to help the district attorney (Ronald Reagan) bring the killers to justice. Doris Day also stars.
New SharkFest Specials
Nat Geo, beginning at 9pm; also stream on Disney+ & Hulu
In the new SharkFest special Shark Below Zero (encoring July 24 on Nat Geo Wild), with white sharks having been spotted across Canada as far north as the coast of Newfoundland, and the first suspected white shark attack in Canada in over 150 years, experts investigate what drives these creatures’ journey to the very northern limit of their range. Then, in Sharkano: Hawaii (encoring July 24 on Nat Geo Wild), biologists free dive with one of the most dangerous sharks — the tiger shark — to find out why they are drawn to Hawaii’s volcanoes.
Orangutan Jungle School
Smithsonian Cannel, 9pm
Season Premiere!
In “A Wild Education,” enter a jungle schoolground, where orphaned orangutans are taught to climb, nest, make friends and survive in the wild. From nursery to graduation, witness the emotional journey orphaned orangutans go on at Borneo’s unique jungle school.
Mission: Impossible Behind-the-Scenes Special
CBS, 9:30pm
Get a sneak peek inside the new action film Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson. Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: to track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens humanity. The movie premieres in theaters July 12.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: “Risk E. Rat’s Pizza & Amusement Center”
FXX, 10pm
In this new episode, the Gang takes a trip to their favorite pizzeria/arcade from their childhood, but they find it’s not nearly as risky as it was in the 1980s.
Thursday, July 6
The Lincoln Lawyer
Netflix
Season Premiere!
The legal drama’s sophomore season finds intrepid L.A. attorney Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) in an unusual spot: on an upswing. “You see a Mickey that starts confident,” says Garcia-Rulfo, referring to Mickey’s winning the big Season 1 case. “He’s at the top of his game.” But you’re only as good as your last verdict, and this season, drawn from Michael Connelly’s 2011 novel The Fifth Witness, Mickey takes on the high-profile murder of a polarizing real estate developer. The first part of the 10-episode season is available today; Part 2 arrives Aug. 3.
Wake Up, Carlo! (Acorda, Carlo!)
Netflix
New Series!
In this kids series, 7-year-old Carlo goes to sleep for 22 years and wakes up to learn his best friends have become serious adults. With his positivity, free spirit and total lack of knowledge about life’s basic instincts — aside from eating guava-filled cookies — Carlo awakens in his childhood friends the desire to be as free as he is.
TCM Birthday Tribute: Janet Leigh
TCM, beginning at 7:45am
Catch a Classic!
Iconic actress/dancer/singer Jeanette Helen Morrison — better known as Janet Leigh — would have turned 96 today (she was born July 6, 1927, in Merced, California; she died Oct. 3, 2004, at age 77, in Beverly Hills). Starting this morning, Turner Classic Movies celebrates the star with a seven-film lineup of movies demonstrating her versatility across various genres. Featured titles are: Two Tickets to Broadway (1951), a musical with choreography by the legendary Busby Berkeley; the romantic comedy Strictly Dishonorable (1951); Angels in the Outfield (1951), the original baseball-themed comedy also starring Paul Douglas and Keenan Wynn; Confidentially Connie (1953), a romantic comedy also starring Van Johnson; The Naked Spur (1953), director Anthony Mann’s Oscar-nominated Western led by James Stewart and also starring Robert Ryan; Pete Kelly’s Blues (1955), a musical/crime drama costarring Jack Webb, Edmond O’Brien and Peggy Lee; and An American Dream (1966), a drama also featuring Stuart Whitman, Eleanor Parker and Barry Sullivan.
The Blacklist: “Arthur Hudson”
NBC, 8pm
Cooper (Harry Lennix) is caught on the defensive when summoned by the Attorney General. Meanwhile, Red (James Spader) visits dear friends.
When Sharks Attack … and Why
Nat Geo, 9pm; also streams on Disney+ & Hulu
New Series!
This eight-part series (new episodes air each night today through July 12) explores how shark attacks around the world are becoming more unpredictable. Many of these attacks occur suddenly, in large numbers and in unexpected locations, puzzling locals and scientists alike. Experts investigate these mysterious incidents to discover what the causes might be. The series encores on Nat Geo Wild beginning July 26.
Breaking the Ice
WE tv, 9pm
New Series!
In this new sports reality show, Rory Flack, the first African American woman to win the U.S. Open Professional Figure Skating Championships, spearheads a competitive synchronized skating team as its coach. The series follows her and the diverse team of teens during a rigorous training season as they push past mental and physical obstacles.
True Crime Story: Look Into My Eyes
SundanceTV, 10pm; also streams on AMC+ & Sundance Now
Season Finale!
In “Step Four: The Outcome,” pressure mounts against the school board to take accountability; Dr. Kenney leaves North Port for what seems like the final time; the community grapples with guilt and grief; and Stephen offers an intimate look into Kenney’s hypnosis practice.
My Adventures With Superman
Adult Swim, 12am (late-night); streams next day on Max
New Series!
This animated series is a serialized coming-of-age story that catches up with 20-somethings Clark Kent (voice of Jack Quaid), the bright and driven Lois Lane (Alice Lee) and their best friend Jimmy Olsen (Ishmel Sahid) as they begin to discover who they are while working as an investigative reporting team at the Daily Planet. The story follows Clark as he builds his secret identity as Superman and explores his own mysterious origins. All the while, he and Lois are falling in love … as Lois gets closer and closer to uncovering his superhero alter ego.
Friday, July 7
The Out-Laws
Netflix
Original Film!
In this comedy/crime film from Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison production company, Adam Devine plays strait-laced bank manager Owen, who is about to marry the love of his life, Parker (Nina Dobrev). When Owen’s bank is held up by the infamous Ghost Bandits during his wedding week, he believes his future in-laws (Pierce Brosnan and Ellen Barkin), who just arrived in town, are the culprits.
The Horror of Dolores Roach
Prime Video
New Series!
Sweeney Todd with a side of salsa! Justina Machado (One Day at a Time) headlines this twisted eight-episode adaptation of the hit podcast about a woman’s descent into a gory gourmet nightmare. After 16 years in prison, Dolores heads home to a gentrified Washington Heights in New York City and reunites with pal Luis (Alejandro Hernandez), an empanada shop chef. Having developed a knack for working out folks’ knots in jail, Dolores accepts his offer to run a massage parlor below the shop, but the plan develops a kink when their scummy landlord (Marc Maron) crosses the line, leaving Dolores with a mess … and new meat on Luis’ menu. It’s a delicious turn by Machado, who sinks her teeth into the role. “My favorite part is her absolute rawness,” she fittingly adds. “I feel so free playing her.”
Tough as Nails: “Zink About It”
CBS, 8pm
In the new episode “Zink About It,” the contestants are under a lot of pressure when they’re tasked with designing and welding a structure that can withstand the crushing force of 1 ton of weight.
Family Law
The CW, 8pm
Season Premiere!
Season 2 of this comedy series about a divorced, recovering alcoholic lawyer who goes to work for her estranged father and half siblings in Vancouver premieres tonight.
Star of the Month: ’70s Stars
TCM, beginning at 8pm
Catch a Classic!
Each Friday night in July, Turner Classic Movies will bring out some of the brightest movie stars of the 1970s, starring in films arranged by various themes. This first evening begins with two films featuring “Love On and Off Screen,” beginning with The Getaway (1972), Sam Peckinpah’s heist thriller starring Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw. The stars began a relationship while working on the film and got married in 1973, but were divorced by 1978. Something similar happened to Richard Pryor and Pam Grier, the stars of tonight’s next film: Greased Lightning (1977), a biopic with Pryor as Wendell Scott, the first Black NASCAR race winner. He and Grier began dating after being cast in the film, but their relationship was much shorter-lived than McQueen and MacGraw’s, with Pryor marrying another woman in 1977. Tonight’s next three films featuring major ’70s stars focus on an “Anything for Love” theme among their fictional characters. First is the Best Picture Oscar-nominated Dog Day Afternoon (1975), led by Best Actor nominee Al Pacino and John Cazale, followed by Badlands (1973), with Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen, and Zandy’s Bride (1974), starring Gene Hackman and Liv Ullmann.
Moonshine
The CW, 9pm
New Series!
This Canadian comedy/drama series, which focuses on a dysfunctional group of half siblings fighting to take control of the family business, premieres tonight with the episode titled “Standby Out of Newark,” in which Lidia (Jennifer Finnigan) returns home from New York for her aunt’s funeral and ignites a family feud.
The Proof Is Out There: “Alien Pilots, Carolina Lights and Stone Cold Animals”
History, 10pm
Did a man in Turkey capture footage of alien pilots in a UFO cockpit? What are the strange lights repeatedly spotted over Brown Mountain in North Carolina since before the Civil War? Did an Australian man stumble upon an alien corpse on the sidewalk? And who or what turned these animals to stone? TV journalist Tony Harris and his team of experts examine the evidence to find the truth.
Painting With John
HBO, 11pm
Season Finale!
In the Season 3 finale “The Night Hunters,” John Lurie shares his appreciation for his longtime assistant and friend Nesrin Wolf and his epic collection of luminary toast.
Saturday, July 8
MLB Baseball
FS1 & FOX, beginning at 4pm Live
The Cincinnati Reds are at the Milwaukee Brewers on FS1, followed by a primetime regional game on FOX featuring either the Seattle Mariners at the Houston Astros or the Atlanta Braves at the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Greatest Geek Year Ever: 1982
The CW, 8pm
New Series!
This nostalgic four-part docuseries about the best films of 1982 features exclusive interviews and never-before-seen footage of the biggest films of the year.
A Royal Christmas Crush
Hallmark Channel, 8pm
Original Film!
Ava (Katie Cassidy) accepts the opportunity of a lifetime to work at the Royal Ice Hotel, which leads her to a surprise whirlwind romance with a prince (Stephen Huszar).
V.C. Andrews’ Dawn
Lifetime, 8pm
New Limited Series!
Based on V.C. Andrews’ Dawn Cutler books, this new four-part film series is a dark family drama about a young woman whose life gets thrown upside down when she discovers that the parents who raised her kidnapped her as a child, and that she really comes from a wealthy and twisted family of hotel owners. Starring Brec Bassinger as Dawn and Donna Mills as the malevolent matriarch of the Cutler family, Lillian Cutler, each film dives further into the families’ pasts as Dawn navigates her new life. Secrets of the Morning, Twilight’s Child and Midnight Whispers will follow Dawn on Saturdays.
From Here to Eternity
MOVIES!, 8pm
Catch a Classic!
In this legendary 1953 drama, passion and tragedy collide on a military base as a fateful day in December 1941 draws near. Pvt. Prewitt (Best Actor Oscar nominee Montgomery Clift) is a soldier and former boxer being manipulated by his superior and peers. His friend Maggio (Frank Sinatra, in a role that established the beloved singer’s acting career) tries to help him but has his own troubles. Sgt. Warden (Best Actor Oscar nominee Burt Lancaster) and Karen Holmes (Best Actress Oscar nominee Deborah Kerr) tread on dangerous ground as lovers in an illicit affair (their embrace in the surf remains an iconic Hollywood scene). Each of their lives will be changed when their stories culminate in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The film won eight of the 13 Oscars for which it was nominated, including Best Picture, Best Director (Fred Zinnemann), and Best Supporting awards for Sinatra and for Donna Reed as a not-so-wholesome “club hostess.”
Extraordinary Birder With Christian Cooper: “Palm Springs”
Nat Geo Wild, 10pm
Raptors, ravens, hummingbirds and more are in store in this episode as Christian Cooper heads to the oasis of Palm Springs, California, to discover the wild and wonderful world of desert birds. From working with a bird of prey that is man’s best friend, to digging a condo for a tiny owl, to seeing majestic nesting migratory great blue herons, Christian learns what it takes for these feathered creatures to survive in the desert.