Bill Maher Receives the Mark Twain Prize, Dunking With Shaq, More ‘Kitchen Nightmares,’ Final ‘AGT’ Auditions

Bill Maher: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor

Equal-opportunity offender Bill Maher, of HBO‘s Real Time with Bill Maher, takes the stage of the embattled Kennedy Center to accept the 27th Mark Twain Prize in a star-filled ceremony filmed last month. Among those saluting the topical comedian: former fellow late-night host Jay Leno, who cracks, “His guests are as diverse as Marjorie Taylor Greene and Joe Scarborough, and as remarkably similar as Jon Hamm and Kevin Bacon.” Comic Whitney Cummings describes Maher as being in a “very committed, very toxic relationship with the United States of America,” with more roast-like tributes from Louis C.K., Woody Harrelson, Stephen A. Smith, John Mellencamp, Arianna Huffington, and presidential impersonator Matt Friend.

Dunkman

Master of the dunk Shaquille O’Neal has established the first-ever professional dunk league, showing off these high-flying talents in a new league competition that plays out over four weeks of live group stage contests. The tournament culminates in a World Championship finale scheduled for August 25 with a $500,000 grand prize for the most jaw-dropping dunker. Adam Lefkoe hosts, providing commentary alongside dunk icon Vince Carter, NBA star Draymond Green, and online creator CashNasty. The first group to take the court includes China’s top dunker Dengxing Chen, Doug Anderson, high jumper Shelby McEwen, Cam Hazzard, Jonathan Edwards, and Joel Henry.

Kitchen Nightmares

Yes, Chef? When Gordon Ramsay barks, restaurateurs had better listen. That’s the message of this reality show, returning for its third season with Ramsay bestowing his withering wisdom on Midwestern eateries who’ve seen better days. He has a beef with the debt-ridden owner and the feuding manager and head chef of Freddy’s Steak House in Hammond, Indiana, advising them to start working together to keep the lights on. In the second episode, he travels to Cortland, Ohio’s 4 Star Diner, where standards have slipped, and the owner’s attitude is costing him, staff, and regular customers. Makes you wonder how The Bear would have fared if it had landed on his itinerary.

America’s Got Talent

The ever-popular auditions on the summer’s top-rated talent show head into their final week, and among the scheduled acts is a Howie Mandel impersonator going by Howie Blandel. (Will Howie or any of the other judges find it funny? We’ll see.) Other hopefuls include an extreme contortionist named Maria, a skateboard act titled Manramp, a singer calling himself Pynk Beard — with, you guessed it, a pink beard — a mariachi band, and the usual assortment of musicians, dance troupes, magicians, and novelty curiosities hoping to make it through to the next round.

The Real Housewives of London

Imported from NBCUniversal’s European all-reality Hayu streaming service, yet another iteration of the ubiquitous Real Housewives brand introduces a gaggle of posh London ladies who bond, bicker, and booze it up. (A second season has already wrapped production.) In the opener, skincare entrepreneur Amanda Cronin hosts a lavish cocktail party for International Women’s Day in her stunning townhouse. To everyone’s non-surprise, bad behavior breaks out when the barbed-tongued Panthea Parker calls out Aussie-born singer and lifestyle “imaginator” Juliet Mayhew. What’s a Housewives show without a little catfighting?

INSIDE TUESDAY TV:

• Becoming Hines Ward (7 pm/ET, SEC Network): An SEC Storied special profiles Super Bowl MVP and current Arizona State associate head coach Hines Ward, depicting his return with his family to his South Korean birthplace.
• In the City (8/7c, Bravo): Andy Cohen moderates the first of a two-part cast reunion reliving the highs and lows of their first season.
• Extreme Buyers Club (9/8c, HGTV): Texas real estate agent Noel Collier tries to fulfill her demanding clients’ bizarre wish lists in a new reality series, opening with a recent divorcée looking for a place that can shelter her dozens of llamas.
• People Magazine Investigates: The Cult of the Soulful Journey (9/8c, Investigation Discovery): A two-hour special investigates the Minnesota-based New Age spiritual cult led by self-help guru Soulaire Allerai.
• Once Upon a Time in Space (9/8c, PBS): The docuseries’ second episode revisits the now hard-to-imagine collaboration between Russia and the U.S. involving the crews of NASA’s Space Shuttle program and cosmonauts aboard the Soviet space station Mir.
• Password (10/9c, NBC): Comedian Tiffany Haddish, who’s never at a loss for words, plays opposite Jimmy Fallon in a new round of the secret-word game.

ON THE STREAM:

• WWE: Unreal (streaming on Netflix): The docuseries’ third season follows superstar John Cena on his farewell tour and final match as the WWE looks to nurture a new generation of fan favorites.
• Return to Paradise (streaming on BritBox): Mack’s (Anna Samson) latest mystery involves a rock star found murdered in a locked theater.
• Stucky (streaming on MHz Choice): Likened to an Italian Columbo, this six-part crime drama from Italy stars Giuseppe Battiston as a detective whose deceptively disheveled appearance masks a cunningly perceptive wit.