Discovery, 8:00 p.m. ET
Since 1987, Discovery Channel has been mounting Shark Week, and it’s become one of the most tenured institutions in cable television. Spoofs and spinoffs litter the TV landscape, and even Discovery presents specials this week that are as tongue in cheek as they are sharp of teeth. The week of shark-related specials begins at 8 p.m. ET with Air Jaws: Fin of Fury, described as “the search for a missing mega shark” (think Loch Ness Monster Week), and includes, later this week, Paul de Gelder in another Shark Week special. De Gelder, a former shark-attack victim who lost an arm and a leg to a Sydney Harbor shark attack five years ago, continues to swim intentionally, and excitedly, in shark-infested waters. It reminds me of the time in 1975, right after the release of Jaws, when I got in trouble as a student intern at the Gainesville Sun in Florida, where every real-life shark attack was big news that summer. One young man had lost a leg to a shark while surfboarding off the coast, yet while interviewed afterward in the hospital, announced his determination to continue surfing as soon as possible. Editors at the paper did not appreciate the three-deck, single-column headline I wrote for that story: “ Surfer Yearns to Hang Five.” True story.
HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
Lots of damsels are in distress in this episode, which gets us even closer to the show’s impending series finale. Some of the damsels are re-born again (Anna Camp’s vampire-hater Sarah Newland), others are undead but suddenly facing the “true death” (Deborah Ann Woll’s Jessica, pictured), and still others are in danger of being bled to death for their intoxicating blood (a subset that would include both Andy’s surviving faerie daughter and the leading character of this series, Anna Paquin’s Sookie Stackhouse). Except for Sookie, all of them tonight are captured, in the hands of those who do not exactly wish them well.
FX, 10:00 p.m. ET
Eph’s scientist partner may have found events here too bloody and gruesome and deadly, and fled the hunt, but Eph and experienced monster hunter Setrakian carry on. Tonight, the trail they’re following leads to a very dark and slimy place – and I’m not speaking just metaphorically.
Sundance, 10:00 p.m. ET
This 1977 Woody Allen movie is one of the funniest, most inventive, most influential comedy films ever made. Several of its comic set pieces, from the argument-settling ambush appearance by Marshall McLuhan to the subtitled and split-screen dual perspectives, are by now iconic, and many of even the smallest roles pop with brilliance: Jeff Goldblum’s “I forgot my mantra,” for example, and Christopher Walken’s crazy silent stare (pictured). But give much of the credit to Diane Keaton in the title role. She’s superb, and lovably real, in every single scene, from her giddy “la-de-dah” to her full-length, hauntingly sung nightclub number.
WGN America, 10:00 p.m. ET
On tonight’s episode, Frank continues to push for his theory of implosion as the preferred method of triggering a nuclear “gadget,” despite dismissive responses from those above him. Meanwhile, around him, other antagonistic forces are gathering – including the base’s MPs.