TV Best Bets

Saturday, July 18: Getaways Get Transformed in HGTV’s ‘Vacation House Rules’

HGTV

Saturday, July 18

Vacation House Rules
HGTV, 8pm
New Series!

You don’t need a million bucks to buy the vacation house of your dreams. Real estate expert and contractor Scott McGillivray, with his years of smart real estate and renovating experience, shows viewers how. McGillivray explains how to take a vacation property purchase and unlock its full rental potential. Through his Vacation House Rules, even the most neglected and unlivable of spaces can be transformed into unique and buzzworthy pieces of paradise.

NASCAR Racing
FS1 & NBCSN, beginning at 3pm Live

A NASCAR doubleheader at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth begins with the Xfinity Series My Bariatric Solutions 300 on NBCSN. Then in primetime on FS1, Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series drivers compete in the Vankor 350.

World’s Deadliest Weather Marathon
Weather Channel, beginning at 5pm

Spend the evening getting caught up in the weather, as the network airs four back-to-back episodes of Season 1 of the riveting series.

Murder in the Vineyard
Lifetime, 8pm
Original Film!

Emma and her teenage daughter Beatrice have moved from the big city to a smaller town. But things go downhill when Beatrice is hazed by an unknown assailant at a party. No one can understand why she is being increasingly bullied and harassed. Emma will do anything to protect her daughter from the mysterious bullies, but is a mother’s love enough to save her when things turn deadly? Stars Helena Mattson, Emma Fuhrmann, Matthew Erick White, Daniel Hall and Daniel Covin.

Bogie in ’41
TCM, beginning at 8pm
Catch a Classic!

Humphrey Bogart gave enduring performances in films over many years, but 1941 really seemed to see him begin to hit his stride. TCM features two Bogie classics from that pivotal year for the legendary actor tonight. First is The Maltese Falcon, director John Huston’s Oscar-nominated mystery featuring Bogart as private eye Sam Spade alongside Mary Astor, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet. The iconic movie helped start the film noir boom of the ’40s and ’50s. Huston also cowrote the second Bogie classic on tonight’s bill, the film noir High Sierra.

My Cat From Hell: Cat Sh#t Crazy!
Animal Planet, 9pm

Jackson Galaxy must navigate a new normal and help families with their cats that have gone out of control during quarantine … without entering their homes. Bring on the surveillance cameras!

NTT IndyCar Series: Iowa 300
NBCSN, 9pm Live

The NTT IndyCar Series is back at Iowa Speedway for a second night of racing as Scott Dixon, Simon Pagenaud, Josef Newgarden and other stars compete in the Iowa 300.

Sunday, July 19

NASCAR Cup Series: O’Reilly Auto Parts 500
NBCSN, 3pm Live

Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and other top NASCAR Cup Series stars head to Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 on NBCSN.

Cannonball: “When Ducks Attack: Network Cut”
NBC, 7pm

Cannonball athletes compete for $10,000 in the wildest and wettest challenges ever created.

Mile High Escorts
Lifetime, 8pm
Original Film!

Following the death of a coworker, a young woman working for a private airline learns the owner’s secret and becomes the next target. Stars Christina Moore, Saxon Sharbino, Kara Royster and Nicholas David King.

World’s Biggest Tiger Shark?
Nat Geo, 8pm

Kick off Sharkfest 2020 by following Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Andy Casagrande and marine biologist Kori Garza as they journey to a remote lagoon in French Polynesia to dive with the “tigers of Tahiti” in search of the world’s largest living tiger shark, Kamakai. While there, they capture cooperative hunting tactics between two juvenile tiger sharks for the first time ever on film! Sharkfest 2020 includes five weeks of action-packed shark programming with 17 original premieres and the best shark programming from National Geographic/Nat Geo Wild’s massive library as part of its biggest ever shark spectacular.

Western Comedies
TCM, beginning at 8pm
Catch a Classic!

Westerns aren’t only always deadly serious flicks about shootouts and cattle rustlers, as tonight’s two hilarious entries in the genre demonstrate. First up is Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969), a parody of certain Western tropes starring James Garner as a gunfighter who takes the job of sheriff in a lawless frontier town. Next up this evening is another 1969 Western comedy, Sam Whiskey, starring Burt Reynolds as an Old West adventurer who is seduced by a widow (Angie Dickinson) into retrieving a fortune in gold bars from a sunken riverboat.

America: Our Defining Hours: “Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself”
History, 9pm
Miniseries Finale!

As the 20th century continues, America faces perhaps its most daunting challenges yet. When the 1930s brings the greatest economic crisis in the nation’s history, FDR offers the troubled country a New Deal, but clouds of war are on the horizon. Those clouds burst when Pearl Harbor is attacked and America enters World War II. Later in the century, the U.S. elects its youngest commander-in-chief, 43-year-old John F. Kennedy, while Martin Luther King Jr.’s fight for civil rights faces a fierce test. Then, early in the 21st century, on a bright September morning in 2001, America is suddenly thrust into a devastating new crisis.

Grantchester
PBS, 9pm
Season Finale!

When a body is found on Jesus Green, the trail of clues leads Will and Geordie to an oppressive convent, where Will must finally confront his own demons.

The Alienist: Angel of Darkness
TNT, 9pm
Season Premiere!

Psychologist Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Daniel Brühl), newspaper illustrator John Moore (Luke Evans) and police secretary Sara Howard (Dakota Fanning) are back for a sequel season to 2018’s The Alienist. Set in 1897, Angel of Darkness finds Sara in charge of her own private detective agency and leading the search for a Spanish diplomat’s kidnapped infant daughter. Aided by Kreizler and Moore, Sara’s investigation leads them down a sinister path of murder and deceit, heading towards a dangerous and elusive killer.

NOS4A2: “Bruce Wayne McQueen”
AMC, 10pm

Vic McQueen (Ashleigh Cummings) returns to the lakehouse only to ride straight into a deadly trap. Charlie Manx (Zachary Quinto) cashes in his favor. Tonight’s episode has viewers meet the Hourglass Man, a powerful strong creative.

United Shades of America With W. Kamau Bell
CNN, 10pm
Season Premiere!

W. Kamau Bell returns to host Season 5 of the Emmy-winning docuseries that follows the sociopolitical comedian as he explores communities across the country to understand the unique challenges they face. In the extended season premiere, Bell examines white supremacy and systemic racism in America. Over subsequent installments of the eight-episode season, he will explore independent farming, the gig economy, reparations, the homeless crisis in L.A., the public education system, and the experiences of Iranian Americans in New York City and Venezuelans in Florida.

Collector’s Call: “Meet Sheri Goldstrom — Vintage Cars”
MeTV, 10pm

Collecting antique cars has been a family affair for Sheri Goldstrom since she was a little girl. About 15 years ago she built a car museum to show off an amazing collection that ranges from a 1918 dump truck to a 1956 Chevy. Chris Clyne has his own massive collection of antique and hot-rod cars. He will not only try to put a dollar amount on Sheri’s collection, but will also see if he can trade a 1940 Ford that he brought with him for a vehicle that is close to Sheri and her family’s heart.

Beecham House
PBS, 10pm
Season Finale!
Daniel, Margaret and Chandrika desperately try to help John, but only the emperor can release him. When John finally returns home, he discovers the house has been attacked and tragedy has struck yet again.

Monday, July 20

Star of the Month: Tony Curtis: “Historical Dramas”
TCM, beginning at 8pm
Catch a Classic!

Tony Curtis’ flair for the dramatic is spotlighted tonight in films featuring outstanding performances from the actor. First up is Stanley Kubrick’s Oscar-winning epic Spartacus (1960), featuring Curtis in a smaller but notable role as a Roman slave. Then, Curtis portrays Native American Ira Hayes, one of the Marines who famously raised the flag on Iwo Jima during World War II, in the 1961 biopic The Outsider; gives a chilling, Golden Globe-nominated performance as The Boston Strangler (1968); and costars with Yul Brynner in Taras Bulba (1962).

POV: “We Are the Radical Monarchs”
PBS, 9pm

Meet the Radical Monarchs, a group of young girls of color on the front lines of social justice. Follow the group as they earn badges for completing units on such subjects as being an LGBTQ ally, preserving the environment and disability justice.

Buried Worlds With Don Wildman: “Curse of the Druids”
Travel Channel, 9pm

Wildman inspects a new find: ancient “witches marks” in an English cave. To explore ties to the supernatural, he visits magical wells and dives the wreck of “the first Titanic,” then meets modern Druids to see if a bloody battle ended with a deadly curse.