Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET
DOCUMENTARY SERIES PREMIERE: This new Netflix documentary series focuses on the development and popularity of the first generation of videogames, back when Nintendo’s 8-bit game console claimed about 97 percent of the market until Sega came up with a 16-bit alternative. And while High Score is much too superficial in spots, and misses lots of opportunities for explorations of both history and social impact, it touches on enough topics to make it worth a visit. If you grew up or played videogames from the 1970s to the 1990s, in arcades or on the first home consoles, the nostalgia value alone will draw you in, and High Score treats certain game designers with the respect usually given to cinematic auteurs. So while this documentary series could be more thoughtful, it does provide interesting backstories about Donkey Kong and Tetris, Pac-Man and Space Invaders, and Sonic the Hedgehog and Mortal Kombat. I miss certain steps and games that are overlooked in this overview of the genre (wherefore art thou, Zork?) – but I kept watching anyway.
Various Networks, Check local listings
History gets made tonight, as the first woman of color is nominated officially to a presidential ticket by a major party. Kamala Harris, as the final speaker, will strive to deliver a socially distanced speech that captures the moment – but there will be other elements of tonight’s penultimate Democratic National Convention worth keeping an eye on. Yesterday’s roll call, for example, was a brilliant use of television. The roll call and delegate vote count always was one of the most eccentric and oddly entertaining elements of televised convention coverage, with each state’s representatives saying something corny about their home turf before casting their votes (“Utah, the beehive state…”). But now, under the new pandemic restrictions, a crammed convention floor was replaced by delegates who cast their votes from their home states, showing off local landscapes and architecture, and, in some cases, local food (nice calamari, Rhode Island!). Even if and when we return to “normal,” this new manner of video-distanced convention roll call should become the conventional way of doing it. C-SPAN begins its nightly, totally objective convention telecast at 8:50 p.m. ET. Cable news stations show up earlier with blanket coverage, usually at 7 p.m. ET, and the major broadcast networks join in at 10 p.m. ET.
