‘Reservation Dogs’ Homecoming, ‘Hijack’s Final Act, ‘Big Brother’ Opens Its Doors, TCM’s ‘Psycho’ Star

Reservation Dogs

“I’m like a Greek chorus with a loincloth,” announces spirit guide William Knifeman (Dallas Goldtooth), proud narrator to the poignantly comical exploits of the Indigenous youths who bring such heart to FX’s Peabody and AFI Awards-winning sleeper comedy. The third and final season opens with the four friends from the Oklahoma reservation—Elora (Devery Jacobs), Bear (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), Cheese (Lane Factor) and the irrepressible Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis)—stranded in L.A. after paying homage to their late friend Daniel, until Auntie Teenie (Tamara Podemski) comes to fetch them. The road trip home proves especially memorable for Bear, whose unexpected detour in the second episode introduces him to the enigmatic Maximus (Graham Greene), whose head is in the stars and maybe the clouds.

Hijack

The shocks just keep coming in the seventh and final hour of the enjoyable airborne thriller, when professional negotiator Sam (Idris Elba) and even the remaining hijackers are taken by surprise after another passenger enters the cockpit with ill intent. Can Sam, or possibly the intrepid Alice (Eve Myles) on the ground with Air Traffic Control, talk down this latest threat? Or will authorities have to shoot down the errant jetliner?

Big Brother

“Oh brother,” as non-enthusiasts regard the 25^th season of the reality-TV staple. Julie Chen Moonves welcomes a new cast of 16 Houseguests to this year’s exercise in claustrophobic contrivance. Players include a Deaflympics gold medalist, an Australian DJ and an exterminator—who could come in handy with all those bugs in the house recording their every move, flirtation and betrayal. Episodes air Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (the latter featuring the weekly elimination), with a $750,000 grand prize on the line.

Summer Under the Stars

The movie channel’s monthlong Summer Under the Stars series, devoting a full 24 hours each day in August to a singular star, for the first time pays tribute to Anthony Perkins (1932-1992), with his defining role as the tormented Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 masterpiece Psycho as the prime-time centerpiece. Stay tuned afterward for another compelling performance, in 1957’s Fear Strikes Out (10/9c), as conflicted baseball player Jim Piersall.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• LA Fire & Rescue (8/7c, NBC): While the Air Ops team flies into action, Stations 41 and 46 work together to extinguish a residential house fire.
• The Wonder Years (9/8c, ABC): Dean (Elisha “EJ” Williams) decides to join the drama club—but the real drama may be at home, when his dad Bill (Dulé Hill) and sister Kim (Laura Kariuki) become concerned after older brother Bruce (Spence Moore II) starts campaigning for a local politician.
• Riverdale (9/8c, The CW): Josie McCoy (Ashleigh Murray) comes to town—in this retro version as a movie star promoting her latest film, with Veronica (Camila Mendes), Kevin (Casey Cott) and Clay (Karl Walcott) squiring her around.

ON THE STREAM:

• Physical (streaming on Apple TV+): In the third and final season of the 1980s-set dark comedy, liberated workout guru Sheila D. Rubin (Rose Byrne, fresh from Apple’s Platonic) faces intense competition from fitness star Kelly Kilmartin (New Girl’s Zooey Deschanel)—yes, that’s her on the cover of a fake TV Guide Magazine—who gets in Sheila’s head, threatening her hard-earned empire.
• The Afterparty (streaming on Apple TV+): The focus in the stylized mystery-comedy falls on Sebastian (Jack Whitehall), the victim’s suave but shady best man and business partner, whose story takes the form of a flashy crime caper. The depth of his deceptiveness becomes clear the minute he opens his mouth.
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (streaming on Disney+): The presumed final film in the hit Marvel movie series makes its streaming debut. Also new to Disney+: six new episodes of Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures, also airing on Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD.
• Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food (streaming on Netflix): An alarming documentary exposes flaws in the food industry and regulatory agencies. If you don’t already wash everything you purchase from the grocery, you will after watching this.