U.S. In the Knockout Round, ‘Brilliant Minds’ Finale, a Younger ‘Elle,’ a More Grown-Up ‘Enola Holmes,’ ‘X-Men ’97’

World Cup

Watch Party alert! It’s make-or-break time for the U.S. Men’s National Team, whose strong performance in the Group Round catapulted them into the Knockout Round, a level the U.S. hasn’t moved past since 2002. They face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the San Francisco Bay Area (aka Levi’s) Stadium in a prime-time match at 8 pm/ET (Fox) that’s destined to be among the most-watched men’s soccer matches in U.S. TV history. Earlier in the day, England plays DR Congo in Atlanta (12 pm/ET, Fox), and Belgium takes on Senegal (4 pm/ET, FS1).

Brilliant Minds

From the gone-too-soon files: This provocative medical drama goes out on a high and emotional note when neurologist Dr. Oliver Wolf (Zachary Quinto) steps in to treat almost-boyfriend and Bronx Medical Chief Josh’s (Teddy Sears) father, Duke (an affecting Ed Begley Jr.), whose dementia and mood swings have escalated. Wolf’s imaginative course of therapy leans into nostalgia and sentiment, and brings the second season to a satisfying if premature conclusion. (Unfortunately, the final few scenes set up storylines for a Season 3 that will never happen and should probably have been trimmed.) We’ll miss this one.

Elle

OMG, look who’s got her own show: Elle Woods, the pretty-in-pink heroine of Legally Blonde so memorably played in 2001 by Reese Witherspoon. She’s an executive producer of this eight-episode prequel, starring Lexi Minetree as a Sweet 16 Elle, who’s knocked off of her privileged Beverly Hills perch when her parents (Tom Everett Scott and June Diane Raphael) suddenly relocate from sunny Southern California to rainy Seattle, which in 1995 is Grunge Central. “I’m feeling very blonde,” she frets on her first day at a hostile new school where her femme-out-of-water perkiness makes her a pariah. She’ll show them, but the learning curve is going to be steep.

Enola Holmes 3

Having put Stranger Things in the rear-view mirror, Millie Bobby Brown returns to her other Netflix franchise for a third time in a rollicking new adventure for Sherlock Holmes’ (Henry Cavill) younger sister, who’s now old enough to take a husband. The action shifts to Malta, where Enola is set to become the bride of the adoring Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge), when she learns the alarming news that Sherlock has been kidnapped. Vows can wait, because it’s Enola to the rescue!

X-Men ’97

The acclaimed animated superhero saga returns for a second season, with the X-Men separated by time, some stranded in Ancient Egypt and others flung far into a perilous future. The heroic mutants’ goal: Get back to the ’90s and stop Apocalypse before the supervillain can change history. The season launches with three episodes.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• Renovation Resort Showdown (9/8c, HGTV): The competition series returns for a third season, with Rock the Block‘s Scott McGillivray and builder Bryan Baeumler guiding four teams of designers and builders as they tackle neglected vacation homes in Canada’s Kawartha Lakes region, with a $100,000 cash prize and weekly rewards at stake.
• The Face Doctors (10/9c, TLC): Cases in the docuseries’ Season 1 finale include a surgeon using tissue from a patient’s leg to repair his face, and a prosthetist creating a new eye for a patient.
• The Kimberley: Australia’s Wild West (10/9c, PBS): The nature series ends with heat and fire as Traditional Owners use ancient burning practices to protect endangered species, while displaced crocodiles clash in cluttered rivers.

ON THE STREAM:

• Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed (streaming on Apple TV): Orange is not a great look for Paula (Tatiana Maslany), who’s been arrested on suspicion of the cam boys’ murders — and their actual killer’s body has gone missing, which makes finding a witness and bringing them to the police incredibly urgent. So much for laying low.
• Worst Neighbor Ever (streaming on Netflix): A new Worst Ever series uses body-cam footage and animation to illustrate firsthand horror stories of not-so-neighborly interactions.
• Christmas at Sea (streaming on Hallmark+): Superfans mingle with their favorite stars on a holiday cruise to Cozumel in a second season of the reality series.
• The Prisoner (streaming on the Criterion Channel): The trippy 1960s thriller, starring and created by Patrick McGoohan, spins its surreal web on the prestige streamer.
• Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (streaming on Pluto TV): The 2023 action fantasy makes its free streaming premiere.
• Heroes (streaming on Netflix): With Brilliant Minds ending, revisit the series that made Zachary Quinto a star, playing the villainous Sylar in the NBC superhero fantasy (2006-2010), with all four seasons arriving on the streaming giant.