What to watch, and more! Week of July 3 – July 9
A teen’s “Last Resort,” America turns 250 & a sizzling Burning Man doc!
FRIDAY, July 3
Summer’s Last Resort
Jerry O’Connell and Sophia Bush star in this summer-shenanigans film (above) about a teen (Violet McGraw) trying to break up romance between her mom and her high school principal (Tubi).
Touch Me
Two codependent best friends become addicted to the heroin-like touch of an alien narcissist who may or may not be trying to take over the world. Starring Olivia Taylor Dudley, Jordan Gavaris and Lou Taylor Pucci (Shudder).
SATURDAY, July 4
America Made in Virginia: 250 Years Together
Live performance, music, historic interpretation and large-scale visual spectacle celebrates the ideas, people, and defining moments that gave rise to the United States (8 p.m., PBS).
Ralph Lauren’s American Icons
Thirty-minute documentary explores the legendary designer’s curation of a collection of 13 United States Postal Service stamps honoring iconic American imagery (7:30 p.m., History Channel).
SUNDAY, July 5
Sharkfest
The 14th year of fin-tastic programming (above) kicks off tonight with Hammerhead Sharks Up Close with Bertie Gregory, followed by more programming through the month across Disney+, Hulu and NatGeo platforms (Disney+ and Hulu).
Sparks of Tomorrow
Animated tale is based inside an alternate reality at the dawn of the 20th century in Tokyo, which has unfolded without electricity and instead relies on steam (Netflix).
MONDAY, July 6
Inspector Ellis
Sharon D Clark returns for season two of the British crime drama and murder mystery series (Acorn TV).
TUESDAY, July 7
Breaking the Deadlock: How to Fix an Election
Panelists explore hypothetical scenarios around election issues and government integrity, against the backdrop of America’s 250th anniversary (9 p.m., PBS).
WEDNESDAY, July 8
Guy’s Grocery Games: Global Games
Guy Fieri hosts eight all-star masters of world cuisines competing in the new five-part tournament for a chance to win the trophy and a $50,000 grand prize (8 p.m., Food Network).
Wardriver
A hacker (Dane DeHaan) lured into a million-dollar cyberheist discovers it’s actually a deadly game of digital-code cat and mouse, above (Paramount+).
THURSDAY, July 9
Five Star Weekend
Jennifer Garner stars in this new drama series about old friends and life that turns out differently that you planned. With D’Arcy Carden, Gemma Chan, Regina Hall, Chloë Sevigny, Harlow Jane and Timothy Olyphant (Peacock).
The Man Will Burn
Documentary about the Burning Man festival and its growth from anarchic counterculture roots in San Francisco to a globally recognized spectacle (HBO Max).
Little House on the Prairie
New take (above) on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s iconic semi-autobiographical Little House books, previously made into an iconic NBC TV series of the 1970s and ‘80s (Netflix)
READ ALL ABOUT IT
How well do you know your goddesses? Goddess of the World (McFarland) examines the deities once regarded as humanity’s supreme beings, cultures in which they still hold the throne, and the traces of the feminine cloaked inside major modern religions.
Meet Raymond Hoser, known as Australia’s “snakeman,” a serpent wrangler who later discovered and named thousands of new species, more snakes than any scientist. Snake Men (W.W.Norton) is his story, a fang-tastic tale of a triumph of taxidermy…and accusations that Hoser was a rebellious interloper short-circuiting the tightly coiled scientific process.
In The Future of Bananas (Melville House), professor James Dale explains how the world’s most-eaten fruit is imperiled by disease and climate change, and what’s being done to ensure it sticks around.
Robyn Hitchcock, a self-described rock ‘n’ roll “surrealist” who considers his songs “paintings you can listen to,” recounts the wild ride of his life and career in Stranded in the Future (Akashic), his second memoir. It’s a rollicking trip down memory lane, hinged on the 1970s and his influential alt-rock band the Soft Boys.
If you’ve forgotten about all the scary movies of the previous decade, well, here’s some handy-dandy help. John Kenneth Muir’s Horror Films of the 2010s (McFarland), is loaded with info and insight about, well, just about every horror film of the era, from indie flicks to blockbusters and franchise faves. And it’s also a spotlight on how the anxieties of the times shaped horror movies, and how horror movies responded and reflected their times.
For centuries, clowns have been everywhere—at the circus, on TV, in freak shows, and sometimes in our nightmares. In Beyond Bozo (McFarland), you’ll all about these pop-cultural pranksters and how they’ve excited our imagination across the ages.
We remember all those birds menacing Tippi Hedren, Cary Grant running from a crop duster, and James Stewart peering from his wheelchair out his Rear Window. But how well do we remember what they were wearing? Hitchcock fans and film buffs will love Fashioning Hitchcock (Bloomsbury Academic), in which author Caroline Young examines the clothes carefully chosen for the characters in the director’s classic movies, exploring the larger role of costume design in filmmaking.
BRING IT HOME
A young couple’s wedding plans take a hilariously unexpected turn in The Drama (A24), starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, who’ll reunite later this month in the big-screen take on Homer’s The Odyssey! Alana Haim plays a maid of honor.
Pamela Baywatch Anderson shines in The Last Showgirl (Lionsgate Home Entertainment) as a past-her-prime Las Vegas dancer facing the end of her career. Can she make a comeback…or accept her “new” life? With Jamie Lee Curtis. Buy it HERE.