TCM, 6:00 a.m. ET
Lots of laughs, all day and all night: Today on TCM’s “Summer Under the Stars,” it’s a salute to the great Groucho Marx. It includes some solo projects, which are televised very early and very late in this 24-hour salute, but the tastiest meat in this meal comes when Groucho is teamed with the rest of his irrepressible siblings, The Marx Brothers. For them, the action begins at 9:30 a.m. ET with 1938’s fast-paced Room Service, which also stars Lucille Ball (seen here with Groucho) and Ann Miller. And by mid-afternoon, it’s one comedy classic after another, shown in sequential order: 1929’s The Cocoanuts (4:30 p.m. ET), 1930’s Animal Crackers (6:15 p.m. ET), 1931’s Monkey Business (8 p.m. ET), 1932’s Horse Feathers (9:30 p.m. ET), and topped by three wonderful films, 1933’s Duck Soup (10:45 p.m. ET), 1935’s A Night at the Opera (midnight ET), and 1937’s A Day At the Races (2 a.m. ET). On TV, or anywhere else, you won’t clock more LPMs than this.
TNT, 2:00 p.m. ET
Under changing and increasingly challenging playing conditions, Dustin Johnson (pictured) took the first-day lead at the PGA Golf Championship yesterday – a feat he also achieved this year at the U.S. Open and British Open, becoming the first golfer in history to take the opening lead in three consecutive majors. But though he finished yesterday with a 6-under-par 66, Johnson still has his work cut out for him, because he didn’t end up winning either of those other 2015 majors. Other notable first-day performances: David Lingmerth shot a 67, Jason Day a 68, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy shot 71s, Phil Mickelson a 72, and the still-struggling Tiger Woods a 75. Today, Day 2, with afternoon winds expected to make play tougher.
TCM, 3:30 p.m. ET
Knowing this is a rare telecast of an even rarer TV conversation only makes it sweeter: Here’s a nice bonus, as part of today’s TCM salute to Groucho Marx. Presented, in its entirety, is Groucho Marx’s appearance, as the only guest, on the Aug. 13, 1969 edition of The Dick Cavett Show.
Cinemax, 7:35 p.m. ET
Evils of standardized testing are dramatized in this hit sci-fi film from last year. Shailene Woodley, who was praised as a gifted young actress by The Descendants co-star George Clooney, carries a major genre film as a young woman who rebels against the status quo of this film’s imagined future society. It’s a world in which people are divided into caste-like factions based on their tested and identified emotions and virtues. Put me down as one of the Aloofs.
HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET
Between the new protests and violence at Ferguson, and the ongoing circus atmosphere of the current race among possible presidential contenders, there's a lot to discusss tonight. Among tonight’s scheduled guests are a few people who probably have something to say, as well as the inclination to say it: civil rights activist Talib Kweli, and former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (pictured).