Eyesore Houses, 1990s Teen Sensations, ‘Bachelorette’s Fiji Trip, Dog Has His Day in ‘End Times’
Retta hits the road to find America’s ugliest house in a summer road trip for HGTV. National Geographic’s Rewind the ’90s revisits the decade’s teen crazes. The Bachelorette takes her final three prospects to Fiji as her decision draws near. The human pet dog named Scraps learns his surprising origin in the post-apocalyptic parody Miracle Workers: End Times.
Ugliest House in America
Season Premiere
Like Food Network’s Worst Cooks in America, this tongue-in-cheek series revels in bad choices. Comedian Retta, who regularly stole scenes in Parks and Recreation and Good Girls, hits the road for a new season of the show that finds humor in cringe-worthy home design, layout and décor. She’ll visit five locations to inspect 15 unfortunate homes, each nominated by their abashed owners, with the ultimate winner (or is that loser) receiving a $150,000 renovation from Windy City Rehab‘s Alison Victoria in the season finale.
Rewind the 90s
Remember The WB? This nostalgic docuseries does, devoting the first of two hours to teen fads and sensations of the 1990s. Dawson’s Creek led the way on the youth-oriented network, and the episode also pays tribute to the genre-tweaking Scream movies, the House Party dance craze, and indelible characters like Alicia Silverstone’s Cher from Clueless. The second hour explores “Future Shock” in the countdown to Y2K, with spooky conspiracy-minded series like The X-Files fueling the nation’s paranoia.
The Bachelorette
A popular location for Survivor, exotic Fiji is the backdrop for the penultimate episode of the hit dating show. (The finale airs August 21, after next week’s “Men Tell All” detour.) Fun in the jungle and on jet skis keeps Charity and her final three suitors (Dotun, Joey, and Xavier) busy while she ponders her next cut. Which of the guys will survive to the finale?
Miracle Workers
The silliest season yet of the genre-bending anthology, set in a Road Warrior-like post-apocalypse, has earned some of its weirdest laughs from the character of Scraps the War Dog, played with abandon by repertory cast member Jon Bass. Subject to all manner of humiliation, the human pet may be the last character you expect to hear saying, “Is it too much to ask for a little dignity and respect?” But when Scraps is kidnapped and taken to the village of his origin, the dog learns what it means to be a man—and he’s not sure he’s a fan. Saturday Night Live’s Ego Nwodim guests as an admirer from his home village, who knew him when as local hero Roland Proudheart. The subplot, in which ex-warrior Sid (Daniel Radcliffe) becomes too attached to his new ride, is even goofier.
INSIDE MONDAY TV:
- Jeopardy! (streaming on Pluto TV): Ken Jennings’ 74-game winning streak from 2004 is playing on Pluto’s 24/7 Jeopardy!
- Futurama (streaming on Hulu): The animated comedy pokes fun at Western clichés when Professor Farnsworth (Billy West) ropes the crew into a trip to the Wild West to cash in on a crypto mining gold rush.
- #TextMeWhenYouGetHome (8/7c, Lifetime): Ashley Judd is the new narrator for Season 2 of the true-crime series about women who are abducted, abused or even murdered on what started out as an ordinary day. Back-to-back episodes are followed by a new season of Meet Marry Murder (10/9c), narrated by Helen Hunt.
- The Great American Recipe (9/8c, PBS): With only three home cooks remaining, host Alejandra Ramos joins judges Graham Elliott, Tiffany Derry, and Leah Cohen for the final tasting to decide a winner.
- Breeders (10/9c, FX): “Fifty” is the word not to be spoken in the Worsley home as Ally (Daisy Haggard) approaches the dreaded milestone birthday. Husband Paul (Martin Freeman) avoids the issue by helping son Luke (Oscar Kennedy), a soon-to-be dad himself, learn to drive.
