The Media Tourist

July 12 – July 18

All about Faye, 80s pop culture, mafia spies & gladiators

All times Eastern.

FRIDAY, July 12
The Serpent Queen
Season two begins tonight of the delightfully wicked drama series, starring Samantha Morton and Minnie Driver as regal rivals in 19^th century France (Starz).

The Very VERY Best of the 80s
Celeb commentators including Anson Williams, Todd Bridges, Jodie Sweetin, Dee Wallace and Mindy Cohn guide this rundown of pop culture moments that defined a decade (8 p.m., AXS).

SATURDAY, July 13
Sister Wife Murder
A young woman (Dia Nash) falls for a charismatic pastor (Matthew Daddario) but learns he has a dark side (8 p.m., Lifetime).

Faye
Doc about the legendary actress Faye Dunaway, in which she candidly discusses her career, her challenges, her breakout roles in Bonnie & Clyde and Chinatown, and the movie that she calls a critical career misstep (Max).

Mammals
The great David Attenborough narrates this sweeping new natural history series about this remarkable group of animals (us included) and how mammals conquered the Earth after dinosaurs went bye-bye (8 p.m., BBC America).

SUNDAY, July 14
Tulsa King
Sylvester Stallone (above) stars in this gritty drama series—originally on Paramount+—as a New York mafia capo exiled in the Midwest (8 p.m., CBS).

The Emperor of Ocean Park
Set in the worlds of politics, elite academia and the beaches of Martha’s Vineyard, this new drama series follows an esteemed law professor (Grantham Coleman) whose quiet life is shattered by the questionable death of his father, a well-known judge (10 p.m., MGM+).

MONDAY, July 15
The Critics Choice Real TV Awards
Let’s get real! MTV’s Ru Paul’s Drag Race and Peacock’s The Traitors lead the nominations for this sixth annual awards presentation to nonfiction and reality television programming. Also in the running: Will Arnett (Lego Masters), Terry Crews (America’s Got Talent) and Keke Palmer (Password). Streaming on the Critics’ Choice YouTube, X and Facebook channels. 

TUESDAY, July 16
Mafia Spies
Six-part docuseries (above) about the real-world spies, gangsters, honeypots and mistresses behind a hidden conspiracy between the CIA and the Chicago mob to assassinate Cuba leader Fidel Castro at a crucial part of the Cold War of the 1960s (Paramount+).

The Ark
No, not Noah’s. This planetary colonization drama, which kicks off season two, finds the spaceship crew reaching their destination but finding it uninhabitable and forced to survive long enough to find a new home (10 p.m., SyFy). 

WEDNESDAY, July 17
UnPrisoned
Season two opens with the Alexander family still a mess, Paige’s therapy practice in trouble and Finn’s anxiety through the roof. Can a “radical family healing coach” help turn things around? Kerry Washington stars (Hulu).

Wild Wild West
Outer space is the new wild West in this doc about scientists, companies and entrepreneurs in a celestial land grab—sending satellites into orbit to map and claim space in space and control the skies above our heads (Max).

THURSDAY, July 18
Lucky 13
Gina Rodriguez and Shaq O’Neal host this new high-stakes primetime quiz competition, testing contestants’ knowledge with 13 true or false questions—and a twist (9 p.m., ABC).

For Those About to Die
Sir Anthony Hopkins leads the cast of this sprawling new dramatic series from director Roland Emmerich about the dirty work of entertaining the masses of ancient Rome with the blood sports of the arena. Let the games begin! (Hulu).

BRING IT HOME

Adriannnnnnnn! Get ready to go the distance with The Rocky Ultimate Knockout Film Collection (Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment), and re-experiences the big-screen, heart-tugging boxing saga of Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) punching his way through almost impossible odds—and six films. The generous extras include an hour-long documentary on the making, and commentary by Stallone, deleted scenes and alternative endings.

READ ALL ABOUT IT

What do movies from another era like The Tender Trap, Pillow Talk, The Seven Year Itch and The Marriage-Go-Round have in common? They all used “sexual relations” (shhhhh!) as a crux for laughs, as you’ll find out in Hollywood Sex Comedies 1953-1964 (McFarland) by Hal Erickson. It’s an engaging look at a time when bedroom romps were mostly forbidden fruit in Hollywood…unless you seasoned them with comedy.

NOW HEAR THIS

John Lennon‘s landmark 1973 album gets the deluxe treatment in Mind Games: The Ultimate Collection (Universal Music Group), an eight-disc set of wide-ranging Lennon-abilia including remixed tracks, studio outtakes, audio commentary, two Blu-rays and artwork reproductions from the late former Beatle and his wife, Yoko Ono. His son, Sean, oversaw the production of this lavish tribute.