MADtv returns on different network
Summer’s over, fall has arrived. And the first “new” network show of the season is more than 20 years old. The CW reboots “MADtv” (8 p.m., WLMT-TV Channel 30), the sketch comedy series that ran on Fox from 19952009.
The new series features an ensemble of eight comics including Carlie Craig, Chelsea Davison, Jeremy D. Howard, Amir K, Lyric Lewis, Piotr Michael, Michelle Ortiz and Adam Ray. The old “MAD” was a late-night-Saturday affair often more cutting edge, and with a far more diverse cast, than “Saturday Night Live.” It remains to be seen if a prime-time slot results in a tamer sensibility.
Television turns everything into television. Evidence of that can probably be found watching coverage of the Democratic National Convention (7 p.m., PBS, C-SPAN, Fox News, MSNBC, CNN; 9 p.m., ABC, CBS and NBC).
And that goes double for reality television, a genre where the varieties of human experience seem whittled down to familiar patterns.
The good news is that the series “Born This Way” (9 p.m., A&E) showcases seven young people born with Down syndrome as they explore friendships and passions and make their way in a society that is not always understanding.
At the same time, the documentary is processed through reality TV conventions that have been around since “The Real World.” After all, this show airs right after the fourth season premiere of “Married at First Sight” (7:45 p.m., A&E), a series more contrived that it sounds.
“Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel” (9 p.m., HBO) devotes an entire show and four correspondents to the upcoming Rio Olympics. Just more than a week off, the games will unfold against political chaos in Brazil, concerns about an exotic new virus, numerous scandals at the heart of the International Olympic Committee and a growing consensus that the social, political and financial costs of hosting the games have become unbearable.
All that said, let the games begin!
Faced with nonstop ghoulish mayhem, Deb and the counselors do what anybody would do — go camping deep in the woods — on “Dead of Summer” (8 p.m., Freeform), where most of the characters seem addled, at least from the neck up.
TV-themed DVDs available today include season one of the Australian detective series “Jack Irish” starring Guy Pearce and Marta Dusseldorp.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
Is it wrong of me to wish that the great white monster from “Jaws” (6 p.m., AMC) could gueststar on “Below Deck Mediterranean” (8 p.m., Bravo), wrapping up its first season tonight?
Twelve acts perform live on “America’s Got Talent” (7 p.m., WMC-TV Channel 5).
“Zoo” (8 p.m., WREGTV Channel 3) airs an encounter with a black market in venom.
“Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern” (8 p.m., Travel) visits Shanghai.
Tensions rise on the eve of a big heist on “Animal Kingdom” (8 p.m., TNT).
Syfy continues its countdown to Sunday and “Sharknado 4” with the 2016 spoof “Ice Sharks” (8 p.m.) about Arctic creatures capable of murderous mayhem way below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
A private investigator gets to the heart of mysteries — be they murders, affairs or family estrangements — on the series “Cry Wolfe” (9 p.m., ID), and all within a half-hour!