U.S. Open Men’s Semifinals, ‘Minx’ Finale, Star Trek Day Brings ‘New Worlds’ to CBS, Apple’s ‘Changeling’

This year’s Open has introduced a new star to the courts of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center: Ben Shelton, the 20-year-old American upstart and potential giant killer who faces Grand Slam master and No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic in the semifinal round. The other marquee game pits last year’s champ, No. 1 seed Carlos Alcaraz, against No. 3 Daniil Medvedev. While most expect a replay of the Wimbledon final between Alcaraz (also 20) and Djokovic at Sunday’s finals, many fans would relish a contest between the 20-year-olds who are changing the face of tennis.

Season Finale

9/8c

With erotic women’s magazine Minx going global, change is in the air as the spicy ’70s-era comedy closes its second season. Editor/founder Joyce Prigger (Ophelia Lovibond) is “Woman of the Hour” at the global launch, but she’s feeling more marginalized by the mag’s cosmopolitan owner Constance (Elizabeth Perkins), and she’s not alone, with much of the rest of the staff in open revolt over the latest issue’s regressively homophobic revisions. Publisher Doug Renetti (Jake Johnson), who’s even more convinced he’s on the way out, has a showdown with Constance, with surprising results. And the stage is set for an entertaining publishing war should there be a third season.

Season Premiere

8/7c

Star Trek fans look forward each year to September 8, christened “Star Trek Day” in honor of the date the original series premiered on NBC. (This year, it’s also the 50th anniversary of the launch of Star Trek: The Animated Series.) Among the highlights: a first-time airing on broadcast TV of the terrific prequel set aboard the USS Enterprise in the decade before Kirk took the helm (though in later episodes, a young Kirk occasionally appears, played by Paul Wesley). CBS presents the first two episodes, introducing Anson Mount as Capt. Christopher Pike, leading a colorful team including younger versions of classic characters Spock (Ethan Peck) and Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding). If the industry strikes go on much longer, CBS should consider airing more episodes of this accessible throwback to a simpler time of TV sci-fi.

Series Premiere

Atlanta’s LaKeith Stanfield stars in a bizarre fable that bills itself as a modern fairy tale but soon detours into a postpartum horror story. Whether you make it past the first three (of eight) episodes launching this week will be a matter of taste, endurance and curiosity. It begins promisingly when an antique-book dealer and enthusiast with the mythic name of Apollo (Stanfield) falls for librarian Emma Valentine (Clark Backo) in Queens, but their love story is clouded by family trauma and possible curses that turn their domestic bliss into a nightmare after they welcome a baby into their new family. Where it goes from here is anyone’s guess.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• Bella! This Woman’s Place Is in the House (9/8c, PBS): The long-running American Masters series begins a run of political biographies with a profile of the outspoken liberal feminist firebrand Bella Abzug, who served in the House of Representatives through most of the turbulent 1970s. Her bid for a Senate seat in 1976 was unsuccessful, but that didn’t stop her activism.
• Guiding Emily (9/8c, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries): Grey’s Anatomy’s Sarah Drew stars as Emily, whose struggle with blindness after a rock-climbing accident is mirrored in the steep learning curve of guide-dog-in-training Garth (voiced by Will & Grace’s Eric McCormack).
• The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper (9/8c, CNN): As the official NFL season heads into its first weekend, the new installment “Hard Hits: Can Football Be Safe?” features sports anchor/correspondent Coy Wire reporting on new innovations designed to make the popular but grueling sport safer for those taking hits on the field.
• Sitting in Bars with Cake (streaming on Prime Video): This tear-jerker takes the cake, depicting the Beaches-like friendship of wallflower Jane (Yara Shahidi, grown-ish) and life of the party Corinne (Odessa A’zion), who convinces Jane to use her baking expertise to meet people by taking her yummy cakes into bars. Somehow, it works. But their year of “cake barring” hits a tragic snag when Corinne takes a turn for the worse. Co-starring Bette Midler for even more of a Beaches vibe.
• Spy Ops (streaming on Netflix): Secret agents in the CIA, MI6 and other international ops go on camera to tell the inside stories of missions ranging from taking down Taliban spies and Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to stopping a plot to kill the Pope. Also new to Netflix: a second season of reality series Selling the OC.