‘Riverdale’ & ‘Nancy Drew’ Finales, HBO’s ‘BS High,’ ‘Invasion’ Returns

Nancy Drew

Another end of a CW era as two of the more bizarre adaptations of pop-culture icons come to an end, signaling a programming sea change at the network. First, Nancy (Kennedy McMann) and her Drew Crew race one last time to save Horseshoe Bay from an evil fueled by its dark past. A shocking discovery seals the fate of her future with Ace (Alex Saxon).

Riverdale

And then it gets even weirder as Riverdale, the darkly subversive and revisionist twist on the Archie Comics gang, jumps forward from the 1950s to the present day as 86-year-old Betty (Lili Reinhart) relives her last day of Senior Year with her friends.

BS High

Oscar-winning directors Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe (Two Distant Strangers) present one of the strangest sports stories of recent times, exploring the reality behind the fiction of the fraudulent Bishop Sycamore High School. BS High lived up to its name, achieving notoriety in 2021 when a nationally televised football game against IMG Academy turned into an embarrassing blowout. The fallout put the phony school and its shyster head coach Roy Johnson—and the entire football prep industry—under the media spotlight.

Invasion

Even by streaming standards, the first season of this lavishly produced sci-fi alien-invasion series from 2021 was often a painfully slow burn—with just enough jolts and an intriguing international focus to merit a second season. The action ramps up with a time jump of several months, as the alien invaders escalate their attack on Earth, sparking a human rebellion. In the Season 2 opener, Mitsuki (Shioli Kutsuna) finds herself in the Amazon, being taken to an alien ship, while doctor/mother Aneesha (Golshifteh Farahani) finds refuge for her family with a group calling itself the Movement.

Reservation Dogs

What were the elders of Okern, Oklahoma like back in the day? Turns out they were just as confused and restless as the young heroes of this droll and poignant comedy about reservation life. The main cast is nowhere be seen in an episode that feels closer in experimental tone to FX’s Atlanta, transporting us back to 1976, when much younger versions of characters we’ve come to know and mostly love party, bicker and in one instance, experience a life-changing hallucination. Unless it’s real.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• MasterChef: United Tastes of America (8/7c, Fox): A two-hour episode brings back the Mystery Box, as the remaining chefs try to make a gourmet treat out of Army rations. Then it’s time for the tag-team challenge.
• Abbott Elementary (8/7c, ABC): A four-episode binge from Season 2 includes the season opener on “Development Day,” and at 9/8c, the staff’s eventful trip to a teachers’ conference.
• Republican Primary Debate (9/8c, Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network): Eight GOP candidates for the presidential nomination square off in Milwaukee—but minus the front runner.
• Dr. Pimple Popper (9/8c, TLC): In the season finale, Dr. Sandra Lee deals with an extreme facial birthmark, a shoulder lump and bumps poking through a “man bun.” Followed by the season finale of My Strange Addiction: Still Addicted? (10/9c), where a raw meat fixation and adult breast-feeding are among the unusual behaviors on display.
• The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On (streaming on Netflix): If you need a reality TV show to tell you if you’re ready to tie the knot, you’re already in trouble. Regardless, a second season of the relationship experiment introduces five new couples in which one is eager to wed, the other not so sure, so they hook up with another partner from one of the other couples for a trial relationship. Sounds like a plan from hell. Hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey observe the messy fallout. Launching with eight episodes, with the finale and reunion set for August 30.