Natalie Portman in ‘Lady in the Lake,’ Team USA Olympics Preview, a Tasty ‘Omnivore’ Journey, A&E Doubles Down on True Crime

Lady in the Lake

DGA Award-winning director Alma Har’el adapts Laura Lippman’s acclaimed 2019 novel, an evocative mystery that follows the parallel fates of two women from very different strata of 1960s’ Baltimore society. Natalie Portman stars as Maddie Schwartz, a restless Jewish housewife who abandons her family to start anew, hoping to break into the boys’ club of journalism as an investigative reporter. Moses Ingram (The Queen’s Gambit) is Cleo, a struggling but proud Black single mother whose demise—and enigmatic identity as the murdered “lady in the lake”—is foreshadowed in portentous voice-overs. As their stories intertwine, Lady in the Lake delivers a provocative portrait of racial and sexual inequality in turbulent times. Launches with two episodes.

Inspiring America: Team USA

A week from now, we’ll be cheering on teams from across the globe as they participate in the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics along the river Seine in Paris. As a preview, NBC News personalities Lester Holt, Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb get up close and personal with some of the stars of Team USA. Expect updates on breakouts including gymnastics comeback queen Simone Biles, swimming sensation Katie Ledecky, track’s Noah Lyles and members of the starry basketball squads, with Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry among the men and Brittney Griner among the women.

Omnivore

“Food is never just food,” says celebrity chef René Redzepi of the world-renowned restaurant Noma. He’s the tour guide to a flavorful worldwide exploration of the essential ingredients that over history have shaped entire societies. In eight episodes filmed on five continents—sites include Peruvian salt flats, schools of tuna off the Spanish coast and Rwandan coffee forests—Redzepi celebrates staples including salt, rice and corn as well as coffee, chile, banana, tuna and pig. It’s a feast for the mind and soul.

Cold Case Files: DNA Speaks

A new true-crime series, narrated by veteran journalist Bill Kurtis, explores unsolved murder cases that were ultimately cracked using DNA evidence. The opener revisits the brutal 1995 murder of 14-year-old Nacole Smith in the woods of Atlanta, left unresolved until a second assault decades later led to the discovery of her killer. Followed by the series premiere of Tell Me How I Died (10/9c), a true-crime series focusing on the work of pathologists who discover leads through autopsies and studying victims’ bodies. In the opener, a pastor’s second wife dies in a car crash, raising doubts about the death of his first wife. Enter Pennsylvania pathologist Dr. Wayne Ross, who never shook his suspicions of the earlier death.

Betty la Fea, The Story Continues

We knew her as Ugly Betty on ABC from 2006-10, one of many international adaptations of the popular Spanish-language telenovela Yo soy Betty, la Fea. The original returns 20 years later with a sequel reuniting the cast, including Ana Maria Orozco as Betty, the former Plain Jane who’s now in the process of repairing her relationship with her estranged husband Armando (Jorge Enrique Abello) and her teenage daughter.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• The Big Bakeover (8/7c, The CW): The Season 1 finale brings bakery expert Nancy Birtwhistle into the lives of a married couple who sunk all their bread into a struggling 45-year-old bakery. Nancy’s goal: Turn their fortunes around by modernizing their recipes.
• Deb’s House (10/9c, We TV, streaming on ALLBLK): The competition ends with music mogul Deb Antney picking the next great female rapper. But first, the remaining players put on a show at S.O.B’s nightclub and submit for an interview with TT Torez on New York’s Hot 97.
• Real Time with Bill Maher (10/9c, HBO): After a busy political week, Maher interviews Transportation Secretary and former mayor and presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, with comedian/producer Larry Wilmore and Florida Rep. Byron Donalds on the panel.

ON THE STREAM:

• Find Me Falling (streaming on Netflix): Harry Connick Jr. stars in a romcom as a faded rocker who buys a cliffside home in scenic Cyprus to get away from it all. He didn’t count on reigniting romance with an old flame (Agni Scott).
• Skywalkers: A Love Story (streaming on Netflix): A very different sort of death-defying love match unfolds in this documentary about daredevil couple Angela and Vanya, Russian “rooftoppers” whose illegal climbs of towering heights—indulging a 2,220 feet super-skyscraper in Kuala Lumper—binds them together. “The fear never goes away. You just get better at facing it,” says Angela.
• Too Hot to Handle (streaming on Netflix): Airing in three batches, the reality not-quite-dating show that tests nymphos’ self-restraint (or lack thereof) introduces a new virtual sidekick, “Bad Lana,” to further stir things up for the horny contestants.
• Feature films getting their streaming debuts include the horror comedy Abigail (Peacock), the steamy Love Lies Bleeding (Max) and the inspirational sports biopic Young Woman and the Sea (Disney+).