ESPN, 9:00 a.m. ET
Beginning today, the U.S. Open invites golfers to a short, stubborn course with lots of pro golf history: the Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, PA, fairly close to my neck of the woods. But days of drenching rains have softened this course a lot, which should make it easier for players – while today, the forecast is for so much rain that, come mid-afternoon, there may be no players on the course at all. But while golf is being played, here’s where you’ll find it: starting at 9 a.m. ET on ESPN, and moving to NBC at 3 p.m. ET before returning to ESPN at 5 p.m. ET.
ABC, 9:00 p.m. ET
Game 1 was close. Game 2 was a blowout by the Miami Heat. Game 3 was a blowout by the San Antonio Spurs. What to expect from tonight’s Game 4? Perhaps the unexpected. Definitely, both teams coming at each other hard.
USA, 9:00 p.m. ET
For this 100th episode, Burn Notice presents a special flashback: going back 10 years in its characters’ lives, to show the first time Michael (Jeffrey Donovan) encountered Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), then an IRA activist. This does not fall under the category of “meet cute.” And Donovan is behind the camera as well: He directed tonight’s episode.
BBC America, 10:00 p.m. ET
Two fresh episodes are presented as a double feature tonight, and both have celebrities worth tuning in to see how they handle the host’s loose-cannon antics. On nthe first show, the guests include Jennifer Lopez. On the second, which begins at 11 p.m. ET, the guests include Dan Stevens, formerly of Downton Abbey before his character was so suddenly killed off, and Hayden Panettiere.
USA, 10:00 p.m. ET
Even though it’s inspired by true stories, and by a secret beach house used as a headquarters for undercover federal agents, there’s not much to this new USA series. I note it here only because, for some odd reason, it gave me flashbacks of a Sixties show I’d long forgotten, which also had a waterfront locale and a group of good-looking protagonists crammed into tight living quarters: Surfside 6, a 1960-62 drama that starred Troy Donahue as one of several private eyes living on a Miami houseboat. Sigh. I’m way too old.