‘Outpost’ has the soul of a video game
CW introduces “The Outpost” (9 p.m., TV-14), an original mythic adventure. OK, “original” may be an exaggeration. Its very derivative story follows Talon (Jessica Green), a fetching young woman who witnessed the slaughter of her family, her village and her people when she was a young girl.
A master of martial arts and swordplay, she travels to a remote village at the end of the known world to find the men who killed her family, only to discover that she possesses special powers and may be seen as a unique threat to a fanatical religious tyrant. Developed for a worldwide audience, “Outpost” has all the action and character development of a video game.
10 HISTORIC STREETS
Nothing says summer like a road trip. The new PBS limited series “10 That Changed America” (8 p.m., TV-G) will spend the next three Tuesday nights counting down 10 roads, monuments and engineering marvels that changed the way we live, travel, work and even shop.
The list-intensive series begins with “10 Streets,” discussing roads as old as New York’s Broadway, an American Indian path and a Dutch road long before it became the “Great White Way” of theater fame.
We also explore The National Road, from Cumberland, Maryland, to Vandalia, Illinois, the first road ever commissioned and paid for by the federal government and a dependable thoroughfare used by covered wagons carrying settlers on their way to the West. Brooklyn’s Eastern Parkway emerges here as the very first parkway. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to ferry city dwellers to leafier neighborhoods. Los Angeles’ Wilshire Blvd wouldn’t only become a road for shoppers, but a consumer destination in itself. That concept would be further refined in the late 1950s with the development of the Kalamazoo Mall, the first enclosed pedestrian shopping center, a town square destination that dispensed with the town itself.
DETROIT EATS
Chef Marcus Samuelsson hosts the new travel series “No Passport Required” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-G), exploring the worlds of culinary options across America. “Passport” begins in Detroit, with a meal that showcases that city’s large Middle Eastern community.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› A mercy-killing case goes to trial on “Bull” (9 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-14).
› Jane embarks on a followup piece on her harrowing ordeal on “The Bold Type” (8 p.m., Freeform, TV-14).
› “Strange Evidence” (9 p.m., Science) enters a second season of applying rational analysis to “unexplainable” activity caught on surveillance cameras.
› The father-son renovation series “Holmes and Holmes” (9 p.m., DIY) enters its second season.
› Talents audition in a variety of styles on “World of Dance” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
› Pride learns about Hamilton’s scheme on “NCIS: New Orleans” (10 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-14).
› “The Last Defense” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14) begins examining the case of Julius Jones, a University of Oklahoma student accused of killing a businessman.
› Torres and Bishop go undercover as a couple on “NCIS” (8 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-14).
› Acts audition on “America’s Got Talent” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
› Jamie Foxx hosts “Beat Shazam” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG).
› On two helpings of “The Middle” (ABC, repeat, TV-PG), all grown up (8 p.m.), a message to the future (8:30 p.m.).
› Splintered alliances on “The 100” (8 p.m., CW, TV-14).
› Andy Cohen hosts “Love Connection”
(9 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
› On two helpings of “Blackish” (ABC, repeat, TV-14), gender bias (9 p.m.), a milestone (9:30 p.m.).
Contact Kevin McDonough at kevin. tvguy@gmail.com.