Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET
SERIES PREMIERE: Today on Netflix, the entire first season of Narcos is available for streaming. It’s the story, based on actual events but strongly fictionalized, about the rise of cocaine in the 1970s – and, in particular, the rise of ruthless drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. “Pablo says the gringos will fall in love with this sh**,” one of his couriers tells another the first time a packet of the white powder makes its way to Miami. Brazilian actor Wagner Moura plays Escobar, and while he’s not as instantly magnetic as James Gandolfini was in The Sopranos, he’s certainly interesting to watch, and the details of how these drug kingpins rose to power, and were investigated by authorities, make for an interesting narrative. Much of Narcos is either narrated in English, by the DEA agent (played by Boyd Holbrook) charged with bringing down Escobar, or presented with subtitles. The target audience here, for Netflix, is global more than local – but it’s a show worth sampling anyway, to see if it pulls you in.
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
Ingrid Bergman is the star being saluted today by TCM, on one of the final days of its month-long Summer Under the Stars. And in prime time, we get two of her best performances, in movies that are, in their own ways, positively iconic. First up, at 8 p.m. ET: 1942’s Casablanca, a drama about people caught in a romantic triangle, in the midst of WWII, in a North African hideaway. Humphrey Bogart and Paul Henreid co-star with Bergman, and this movie remains one of the most famous movies of all time for good reason.
ABC, 10:00 p.m. ET
According to on-air promos, tonight’s 20/20 will be devoted to Wednesday’s shooting of a TV crew in Virginia.
HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET
Tonight’s scheduled lineup includes one very high-profile guest – though not as high profile as he might hope, according to recent political polls. The guest? Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, a candidate in the Republican presidential contest.
TCM, 10:00 p.m. ET
After showing Casablanca in prime time tonight, TCM presents another Ingrid Bergman movie that’s become duly beloved for generations: 1944’s Gaslight, in which she plays a newlywed who begins to fear that her husband may be plotting to kill her, or drive her insane. And just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. Charles Boyer, Angela Lansbury co-star.