TV Best Bets

Friday, June 12: A Smuggling Operation Goes Awry on ‘Trackers’

Cinemax

All Times Eastern.

Friday, June 12

Trackers: “Episode 2”
Cinemax, 10pm

Lemmer (James Gracie) notices they’re being tailed as he, Laurens and Flea (Gerald Steyn, Trix Vivier) continue transporting their cargo in the new “Episode 2.” Still facing the possibility of an agency shutdown, Janina (Sandi Schultz) keeps pursuing all available leads. She gets strong assistance from Milla (Rolanda Marais), despite distracting threats from the latter’s abandoned husband, Christo (Morné Visser).

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts
Netflix
Season Premiere!

The animated series created by Radford Sechrist and adapted from his 2015 webcomic returns for Season 2. The series follows the adventures of 13-year-old Kipo Oak, who is searching for her father after being forced to flee from her underground city. She travels through an overgrown postapocalyptic urban wasteland ruled by sentient mutant animals with her friends Wolf, Mandu, Benson and Dave.

Pokémon Journeys: The Series
Netflix
Season Premiere!

Beginning today with Season 23, upcoming seasons of this long-running animated series will air exclusively on Netflix. The first 12 episodes launch today, with remaining episodes added quarterly to Netflix for the remainder of the season.

The Song of Bernadette/The Robe/Francis of Assisi
FXM, beginning at 8:15am
Catch a Classic!

It’s a triple-header of classic films based on religious figures today. First, Jennifer Jones gives an Oscar-winning performance as eventual saint Bernadette Soubirous in The Song of Bernadette (1943). Then, Richard Burton stars in the Oscar-winning biblical epic The Robe (1953) as the leader of the Roman unit responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion. Finally, Bradford Dillman plays the lead role in Francis of Assisi (1961), about the life of the eventual saint loved by people and animals alike.

The Great Food Truck Race: “Burger Brawl”
Cooking Channel, 8pm

Tyler Florence gives the five remaining food truck teams a terrifying gator challenge in Fort Myers, Fla. They have to step up their game with a burger that takes creative risks and face a secret chef judge. One team breaks away from the pack to sell in an unexpected location, but the move could end up sending them home.

Battlestar Galactica: “Pegasus”
Comet, 8pm

Is 2005’s “Pegasus” one of the Syfy reboot’s best hours? So say we all, and so will you after seeing Adama (Edward James Olmos) take on a brutal admiral (Michelle Forbes) leading a ship long thought destroyed.

Masters of Illusion: “Crossbow Roulette and Magic Just for the Funovits”
The CW, 8pm

Oooh and ahhh from your couch as magicians wow a studio audience. (The episode was shot pre-stay-at-home orders.) The six performers include illusionist Michael Turco with cocktail trickery, mentalist (and dermatologist!) Angela Funovits and Ben “OK, Shoot That Crossbow at Me” Blaque.

RINGSIDE
Showtime, 8:30pm

This documentary, filmed over nine years, chronicles the dramatic upbringing of boxing prodigies Kenneth Sims Jr. and Destyne Butler Jr., and follows the divergent paths they take as they navigate life’s uncertainties on the South Side of Chicago. Filmmakers captured pivotal moments as the young men’s choices and circumstances changed, leading one toward a promising boxing career and the other through the prison system.

Prideland
PBS, 9pm

Follow queer actor Dyllon Burnside on a journey to discover how LGBTQ Americans are finding ways to live authentically and with pride in the modern South.

Saturday, June 13

Agatha Christie’s Partners in Crime
Ovation, 7pm
New Series!
Tommy and Tuppence Beresford were Agatha Christie’s coolest sleuths. Nothing like fuzzy village spinster Miss Marple or fussy Belgian egotist Hercule Poirot, but young adventurers — occasional spies, in fact! The husband and wife (David Walliams and Call the Midwife’s Jessica Raine) need each other: He’s stolid and not the cleverest of thinkers; she’s bright but impulsive. In this six-parter from 2015, the contemporary intrigues of Christie’s 1922 novel The Secret Adversary and 1941’s N or M? have moved into the Cold War era. If the Beresfords’ brand of detection relies a bit heavily on luck and the ineptitude of their foes, well, that can be forgiven.

Their Killer Affair
Lifetime, 8pm
Original Film!
Detective Maxine “Max” Peyton has been enlisted to investigate the murder of a member of Adeline Lilly — a website dedicated to matching together married adults who are looking to cheat on their spouse. Perplexed by a charm left on the corpse, Max wonders if there is more to this case than a simple murder. Stars Melissa Archer, Alyshia Ochse, Brandon Beemer and Lauralee Bell.

Kipling Classics
TCM, beginning at 8pm
Catch a Classic!

Two classic films based on famous written works by Rudyard Kipling air tonight. First up is the legendary 1939 adventure film Gunga Din, adapted from Kipling’s 1890 poem Gunga Din, as well as from elements of his short story collection Soldiers Three. Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. star as three British sergeants in colonial India who, with their native water bearer Gunga Din (Sam Jaffe), battle a murderous cult. Next is Kim (1950), an adventure film starring Errol Flynn and Dean Stockwell, and based on Kipling’s 1901 novel.

Love in the Forecast
Hallmark Channel, 9pm
Original Film!

On-air weather reporter Leah Waddell (Cindy Busby) is getting weary of her bleak dating life and inability to be taken seriously as a budding meteorologist. She makes the decision to stay single and focus on her career for a full year. As soon as she makes this commitment, it literally starts pouring rain and men. As Leah deflects multiple romantic offers, she befriends her new neighbor Mark (Christopher Russell), a handsome dairy farmer who teaches her methods to forecast the weather by observing signs in nature.

Saved by the Barn: “Reuniting the Herd”
Animal Planet, 9pm

Construction has taken a full year, but the Barn Sanctuary’s “pig palace” is finally complete, so it’s time for Dan McKernan’s fine swine to move into their new accommodations in the new episode “Reuniting the Herd.” The turkeys also are gifted with musical instruments, while, on a far more  bittersweet note, the staff holds a memorial service in honor of Andy the cow, after the beloved bovine passes away.

Sunday, June 14

NASCAR Cup Series: Dixie Vodka 400
FOX, 3:30pm Live

Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and other NASCAR Cup Series stars compete in the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Hollywood Game Night: “7 Seconds of Kressley”
NBC, 7pm

Carson Kressley, Laverne Cox and Jeremy Sisto face off against Jay Ellis, Sam Richardson and Lauren Lapkus in comical party games. Host Jane Lynch serves as gamemaster as the two teams go head-to-head for a $25,000 grand prize.

The Top Ten Revealed: “Yacht Rock”
AXS TV, 8pm

Get swept away with Christopher Cross, Chicago and more mellow artists in this look at the best of the relaxing “yacht rock” genre.

Prince Albert: A Victorian Hero Revealed
PBS, 8pm

Discover the little-known yet profound role Prince Albert played in shaping Victorian Britain. Professor Saul David examines Albert’s influence and innovative ideas, which transformed the nation’s fortunes and created a legacy that lives on today.

Let’s Go for a Run
TCM, beginning at 8pm
Catch a Classic!

Running is hard work, so why not sit back and watch others do it in a couple of films tonight that feature distance running? First up is Best Picture Oscar winner Chariots of Fire (1981), based on the true story of two runners competing for different personal reasons at the 1924 Olympics and boasting an Oscar-winning musical score by Vangelis that has become nearly synonymous with race-running. Then, 1962’s The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner follows a youth in a detention center whose skill at running helps him reevaluate his life.

Quiz, Episode 3
AMC, 9pm
Series Finale!

Persecuted and hounded by the public and press, Charles (Matthew Macfadyen), Diana (Sian Clifford) and Tecwen (Michael Jibson) head to court. As their trial begins and Paul (Mark Bonnar) seeks to triumph over those who attempted to hack the game show that is his life’s work, it seems the case for the prosecution is a slam dunk when even the judge is making “is that your final answer” jokes. But in life, as on a game show, the answers to even the most apparently straightforward questions are not always obvious.

Live From Daryl’s House: “Aloe Blacc”
AXS TV, 9pm

Host Daryl Hall chats and performs with multitalented musician Aloe Blacc.

30 for 30: “Long Gone Summer”
ESPN, 9pm

In the summer of 1998, the St. Louis Cardinals’ Mark McGwire and the Chicago Cubs’ Sammy Sosa embarked on a historic chase of Roger Maris’ iconic record of 61 home runs in a single season. This 30 for 30 documentary recalls how seismic and emotional the story was, even as the legitimacy of McGwire and Sosa’s accomplishments would later be called into question. “Long Gone Summer” includes in-depth interviews with both McGwire and Sosa, who talk at length about the subject for the first time in over two decades.

Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition
Food Network, 9pm
Season Finale!

They’ve come a long way since getting their hands marked by a red Sharpie for poor knife skills. Now the final two stars vie to win $25,000 for charity.

Timeless Love
Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, 9pm
Original Film!
Megan (Rachel Skarsten) seems to have the perfect life with a wonderful husband named Thomas (Brant Daugherty) and two adorable children. She then finds herself awakening from a coma — and discovers she is not and has never been married. But when she meets Thomas for real, she seizes the chance to help him fall in love with her, again — for the first time.

I Know This Much Is True
HBO, 9pm
Series Finale!

The family saga based on Wally Lamb’s bestselling novel and starring Mark Ruffalo as twin brothers Dominick and Thomas Birdsey concludes.

World War II: Race to Victory
History, 9pm
New Miniseries!

This three-part, six-hour documentary series marks the 75th anniversary of VE Day — the end of World War II in Europe — with a look at the race between Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin to not only defeat Hitler and win the war, but also to gain power and an ideological stronghold in the world. It explores how the three superpowers those men led found themselves in an uneasy alliance fraught with power struggles, false promises and deadly suspicions of each other.

Grantchester
PBS, 9pm
Season Premiere!

In the Season 5 opening episode, a student from an all-female college is found dead, and Will and Geordie must infiltrate the murky world of campus politics and university drinking societies to find the killer.

Billions
Showtime, 9pm
Midseason Finale!

Due to the suspension of production during the COVID-19 pandemic, Season 5 of the hit show starring Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti will take a pause, with remaining episodes to air later this year.

Snowpiercer: “Justice Never Boarded”
TNT, 9pm

Tensions between Third Class and First Class are boiling as Melanie (Jennifer Connelly) stages the trial of the Snowpiercer killer. Third Class threatens a work stoppage, demanding representation on the jury, and Melanie makes a fateful decision about which side to favor.

Collector’s Call: “Meet Karen — Marilyn Monroe”
MeTV, 9:30pm

Karen has been collecting Marilyn Monroe memorabilia for over 30 years and has amassed a collection of more than 2,000 items — all proudly displayed in her museum-like “Marilyn Room.” She shares some of her most treasured pieces, including one of Monroe’s bodysuits; eyeliner and mascara once used by Monroe; a design sketch from the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes; as well as a rare book inscribed to Monroe and her playwright husband Arthur Miller.

Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted: “South Africa”
Nat Geo, 10pm

Chef Ramsay gets up close with rhinos, giraffes, zebras and hippos in the wilderness of South Africa as he learns the secrets of the traditional cuisine of Zulu warriors and masters using a local “braai.” He leaps from a helicopter into the raging Indian Ocean, harvests mussels on treacherous rocks and immerses himself into the local township culture, all before cooking with beloved local chef Zola Nene for a revered Zulu chief.

Beecham House
PBS, 10pm
New Series!
Former soldier John Beecham is determined to leave the past behind him and start a new life in Delhi at his estate home, Beecham House. But John is not alone; he arrives with a baby of mixed parentage whose very existence is shrouded in secrecy.

Insecure
HBO, 10:20pm
Season Finale!

Season 4 of the Issa Rae-helmed comedy comes to an end. HBO has already renewed the series, saying, “We’re thrilled that Issa, Prentice [Penny] and the whole Insecure team will be getting back together for a fifth season. As we laugh and cringe with recognition, their stories make us all feel a little less alone in the world.”