Worth Watching: ‘America’s Got Talent’ Goes Live, Tiffany Haddish & ‘They Ready,’ ‘Supermarket Stakeout’
A selective critical checklist of notable Tuesday TV:
America’s Got Talent (8/7c, NBC): After weeks of auditions and all of those Golden Buzzers, America finally gets a chance to weigh in when the summer’s top-rated talent competition goes live with the first Quarterfinal round. Among those expected to once again wow the judges and the voters: Kodi Lee, the 23-year-old blind pianist and singer whose rendition of Donny Hathaway’s “A Song for You” has reportedly been viewed more than 300 million times on social media platforms since bringing the panel to tears. Good luck to everyone else.
Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready (streaming on Netflix): It’s always refreshing when someone who’s achieved the big time takes an opportunity to pay it forward, and that’s the case as the newly ubiquitous Haddish — who’ll soon be seen going ultra-mainstream as host of ABC’s revival of Kids Say the Darndest Things — introduces six of her favorite comedians, who could someday be household names themselves. Headlining their own half-hour comedy specials: Chaunté Wayans, April Macie, Tracey Ashley, Aida Rodriguez, Flame Monroe and Marlo Williams.
Supermarket Stakeout (10/9c, Food Network): Attention, shoppers: Game show in Aisle 3! That’s about the size of it as Iron Chef and Chopped judge Alex Guarnaschelli hosts a new competition series that begins with contestants ambushing grocery-store customers to buy whatever’s in their shopping bags, sight unseen. With a $500 budget, they move on to two more rounds where they negotiate items out of shoppers’ bags and carts and try to make something delicious of the ingredients. I’m hoping to hear someone say before it’s over: “Leggo my Eggo!”
Inside Tuesday TV: VH1 Hip Hop Squares (8/7c) returns for a third season, rocking the classic Hollywood Squares format with back-to-back episodes. In the first, Amanda Seales occupies the center square, with Rick Ross getting the honor in the second… John Wells wrote and directed a pivotal episode of TNT’s Animal Kingdom (9/8c), in which no-doubt-unpleasant surprises await the Cody clan as they head out to pull off Smurf’s (Ellen Barkin) mystery caper… The CW’s Mysteries Uncoded (9/8c) teams Navy vet-turned-P.I. Jennifer Marshall with paranormal medium Stephanie Bingham to look into infamous enigmas, starting with the classic hatchet job of the Lizzie Borden ax murders… When last we saw Blanca (Mj Rodriguez) on FX’s Pose (10/9c), she was distraught that her House of Evangelista had become an empty nest. To lift her spirits, Elekta (Dominique Jackson) decides it’s time for a girls’ day at the shore. Do these divas even know how to swim?
