HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
As this season of Big Little Lies has gotten deeper into its plot, Meryl Streep has gotten deeper into her role – and she’s now established her character of the grieving mother as a kind of conniving Columbo. She’s a woman who’s constantly underestimated, but who notices everything, and always has one last question to make the people around her uncomfortable. She, too, is working on a murder case – or at least she thinks so (and correctly, it should be added), while most everyone else accepts her son’s death as an accidental fall. And hey… she’s even got a Columbo-ish coat…
Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET
Here’s another series, or miniseries, where the plot is getting to gumbo consistency this season. And here, part of the ingredients making this particular stew both thicker and tastier are the character actors, especially the women. Jill Hennessey, Kathryn Erbe and (pictured) Sarah Shahi all stand out in small roles, as do many of the men, familiar from other gritty TV dramas: Lee Tergeson from Oz, Lenny Clarke from Rescue Me, and James Remar from Dexter.
Fox, 9:30 p.m. ET
SERIES PREMIERE: This new summer series from Fox brings Fred Savage, the star of ABC’s The Wonder Years (and, much more recently, Fox’s underappreciated The Grinder), back to prime-time TV, as the host of an after-show talk show, celebrating and deconstructing the show televised just before it – a.k.a. Talking Dead after The Walking Dead on AMC. Savage is the host of What Just Happened?, a show that reacts to the events on that week’s episode of “The Flare,” a genre action series. The trick is, “The Flare” doesn’t exist, so What Just Happened? is an actual analysis of a hypothetical series. High concept? Exactly. But Savage is just the guy to have fun with it, and make us have a little fun as well…
CBS, 10:00 p.m. ET
CBS has been doubling up on its broadcast TV showings of its CBS All Access series The Good Fight, but tonight the telecasts begin being pared back to single doses, at the later hour of 10 p.m. ET. So if you’re watching here on CBS, this is the new time to watch. But I’d suggest getting the DVD, or subscribe to All Access, before watching these cut-down versions. Even so, Christine Baranski, Cush Jumbo and company are indeed worth the time – even if they and their Good Fight episodes get less time on CBS than elsewhere.
HBO, 11:00 p.m. ET
This week, Donald Trump told Vladimir Putin not to meddle in our election process – but it’s the way Trump said it that I’m looking forward to hearing John Oliver’s description and reaction.