‘The Bear’s Last Supper, ‘Wrexham’ Finale, USA vs. Turkey in World Cup, CMA Fest

The Bear

When it rains, it pours on the embattled staff of the titular Chicago restaurant in the fifth and final season of the Emmy-winning tragicomedy. Though facing a bleak future — money has run out, and master chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) has declared he’s leaving the food trade — Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) and her dedicated team start a new clock during a downpour of Old Testament proportions, preparing for one last memorable dinner service. Though it’s debatable if the series leaves us wanting more, no one can say we weren’t well fed. All eight episodes can be streamed on Hulu, with the first two episodes airing on FX, the rest following weekly.

Welcome to Wrexham

While team owners Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds nervously watch from the other side of the pond, the Red Dragons of Wrexham fight through the last four games of the season, one spot away from qualifying for the playoffs and perhaps a promotion to the Premier League. The suspense and stakes are high in the Season 5 finale, with each goal taking these scrappy underdogs a step closer to achieving what once seemed an impossible dream, and each miss sending the passionate fan base into a tailspin. However it turns out, there’s always next season — and for Welcome to Wrexham, even more, with the series already renewed for three more seasons.

World Cup

Having already secured a place in the knockout round of 32 that begins on Sunday, the U.S. Men’s National Team takes on Turkey, which has officially been eliminated, at L.A. (aka SoFi) Stadium (10 pm/ET, Fox) in what’s sure to be an avidly watched match. Other scheduled games include Ecuador vs. Germany at New York New Jersey (aka Met Life) Stadium in New Jersey (4 pm/ET, Fox), Curacao vs. Ivory Coast in Philadelphia (4 pm/ET, FS1), Tunisia vs. Netherlands in Kansas City (7 pm/ET, Fox), Japan vs. Sweden at Dallas (aka AT&T) Stadium (7 pm/ET, FS1), and Paraguay vs. Australia in San Francisco Bay (aka Levi’s) Stadium (10 pm/ET, FS1).

CMA Fest

Over four days in early June, country music royalty gathered in downtown Nashville for the 53rd CMA Fest, drawing a daily crowd estimated at 95,000 to soak up the music and fan-friendly experience. Country star Riley Green and Good Morning America‘s Lara Spencer host a three-hour highlight reel, the 23rd time the festival has aired on ABC. The roster is a who’s who of Nashville’s brightest, including Green, Blake Shelton, Gretchen Wilson, Jason Aldean, Keith Urban, Lainey Wilson, Luke Bryan, Ricky Skaggs, Shaboozey, Tim McGraw, The Band Perry, Brothers Osborne, Florida Georgia Line, The Red Clay Strays, and many more.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

The live-action adaptation of the classic animated fantasy returns for a second season, with young air-bending hero Aang (Gordon Cormier) adding a new ally — blind earthbender Toph (Miyako) — to his team’s battle against the Fire Nation invaders and their nefarious Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim). As Aang continues on his quest to master all four elements (air, earth, water, fire), the production has already wrapped a third and final season, filmed back-to-back with Season 2, which consists of seven episodes (most clocking in at an hour or more).

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• Surviving Earth (8/7c, NBC): The natural history docuseries depicts the devastating impact of a 6.2-mile asteroid hitting Earth 66 million years ago, an extinction event seen through the eyes of a tyrannosaurus pair trying to save their offspring. In the wake of the destruction would rise the age of the mammals. Followed by a “fun fact” encore edition of The Americas (9/8c), set among the Andes mountain range.
• Hudson & Rex (streaming on UP Faith & Family): Below Deck Mediterranean‘s Sandy Yawn guest-stars in the procedural as a (what else) yacht captain whose latest client, an obnoxious businessman, is murdered, with a deckhand as the prime suspect.
• Criminal Minds: Evolution (streaming on Paramount+): It’s not a good year for fictional cam boys and girls. The guys haven’t fared well on Apple TV‘s Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, and in the latest case for this long-running crime drama, two cam girls are savagely murdered, with money crammed down their throats. The BAU investigates whether this could be the work of the mysterious “Fan” whose obsession with serial killer Voit (Zach Gilford) is becoming increasingly violent.
• The A-Z Killer (streaming on Sundance Now): A two-part true-crime documentary explores how an innocent man was initially arrested for the 1992 stabbing murder of Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common, and why it took more than two decades to find the real culprit.