FBI’s 100th, Voice Finales, HBO Max Becomes Max, Meet Netflix’s ‘MerPeople,’ Music Contests on Fox

Season Finale

8/7c

The crime drama ends its fifth season with a milestone 100th episode, and it’s one of the team’s creepiest assignments, chasing a serial killer with a “God complex” (the episode’s title). Adding to the tension: Agent Scola (John Boyd) faces a life-and-death decision when Nina (Shantel VanSanten), who’s eight months pregnant with their baby and recovering from a shooting, experiences another serious medical emergency. Followed by the Season 2 finale of FBI: International (9/8c), where the Fly Team works to intercept a stolen Russian missile on the black market in their Budapest home base; and the fourth-season finale of FBI: Most Wanted (10/9c), with FBI’s Alana De La Garza making a guest appearance when Remy (Dylan McDermott) goes hunting for the true killer of his brother 25 years earlier.

Season Finale

8/7c

After 23 seasons, Blake Shelton vacates his rotating red chair, retiring after a successful coaching career that netted nine wins for Team Blake along the way. His farewell will likely upstage the crowning of this year’s winner, when America’s votes decide whether Gina Miles, Noivas, D. Smoothe, Sorelle or Grace West takes top honors. It’s an all-star affair when CeeLo Green, Maroon 5 (featuring Adam Levine) and other familiar Voice personalities—Camila Cabello, Jennifer Hudson, Nick Jonas, John Legend, Gwen Stefani, Usher, Pharrell Williams and Dolly Parton—take the stage to salute Blake. He’ll also perform with his artist along with fellow current coaches Chance the Rapper, Kelly Clarkson and Niall Horan.

Series Premiere

Ariel, beware! This fascinating four-part docuseries profiles a community of entertainers who are purposefully all wet: professional and aspiring mermaids and other mer-people who do their best work wearing costumes and undulating underwater. Described as a “danger art,” this vocation is no joke to those who dream of escaping under the surface to dazzle their audience.

Season Premiere

8/7c

Another sign that broadcast TV’s off-season is upon us: the return of Fox’s musical game shows. With Jamie Foxx recovering from medical issues, he and daughter Corinne step back from the name-that-tune series for the Season 6 premiere, with The Masked Singer’s Nick Cannon filling in as guest host and Kelly Osbourne acting as DJ. Followed by Don’t Forget the Lyrics! (9/8c), now in its second season, with Niecy Nash-Betts hosting the finish-that-song (with the right words) contest.

WELCOME TO MAX:

• Or, as we formerly knew it, HBO Max, undergoing a rebranding as the streamer merges with Discovery+ for a hybrid of mainstream wallpaper TV and the prestige offerings of the premium channel. To commemorate the change, Max drops a Netflix-worthy amount of new programming in one day. Among the new shows: Smartless: On the Road, a six-part docuseries following the national tour of the hit podcast featuring Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett; What Am I Eating? With Zooey Deschanel, a six-episode unscripted series from Candle Media’s ATTN: in which the comic actress goes beyond the label to explore the secrets behind the food we consume, including fruit, cereal, greens, grains, chocolate and, yes, fats, which aren’t all bad for you; a revival of the animated Clone High and a new animated prequel Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai; and the three-part true-crime docuseries How to Create a Sex Scandal, in which a small Texas town is rocked by rumors of a pedophile sex ring that may not be genuine.

INSIDE TUESDAY TV:

• Frontline (9/8c, PBS): Marking the 20^th anniversary this spring of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the documentary series presents Once Upon a Time in Iraq: Fallujah, a follow-up to the Emmy-winning Once Upon a Time in Iraq special that focuses on the war’s bloodiest battle.
• Gotham Knights (9/8c, The CW): The team rallies to save one of their own who’s captured by the Court of Owls.
• Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (10/9c, HBO): A new installment of the monthly sports series includes reports on high-school football injuries that may be caused by playing on artificial turf, on stuntpeople who were once elite athletes, and a profile of Zion Clark, born without legs and training to be a professional MMA fighter.

 ON THE STREAM:

• Wanda Sykes: I’m an Entertainer (streaming on Netflix): “Sick of going high, I want to go low. I want to have some fun,” says the comedian in her latest stand-up special, filmed in February at Philadelphia’s Miller Theater. She riffs on politics, parenthood and culture in her inimitable outspoken fashion.
• Victim/Suspect (streaming on Netflix): A disturbing documentary tracks journalist Rae de Leon’s research into a disturbing trend, in which young women alleging sexual assault are threatened with arrest for filing a false report.
• Afghan Dreamers (streaming on Paramount+): An inspiring documentary, a hit on the film-festival circuit, profiles an all-girls’ robotics team from Afghanistan, competing in international tournaments and escaping the oppressive Taliban regime that forbids women these sorts of opportunities.