Worth Watching: ‘Talent’ Goes Live, ‘Stargirl’ and ‘Greenleaf’ Finales, ‘Hard Knocks’ in L.A.
A selective critical checklist of notable Tuesday TV:
America’s Got Talent (8/7c, NBC): The show must go on, but as the summer’s top-rated talent competition heads into its live shows at Universal Studios Hollywood, the production encountered another setback with judge Simon Cowell‘s injury over the weekend. Still recovering from back surgery, Cowell will reportedly miss this week’s first two live episodes‑a performance show followed by a results show on Wednesday (8/7c) — but judges Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Sofia Vergara and host Terry Crews will be on hand to welcome back 11 of the top 44 acts, including several introduced online during remote auditions. Also returning for the first live show: Golden Buzzer recipient Roberta Battaglia, the 10-year-old Canadian vocal powerhouse. Five will make it through to the semifinals, and on Wednesday, fans have the opportunity to save one of their favorites.
Finales: The well-regarded superhero adventure DC’s Stargirl (8/7c) wraps its first season — it has been renewed — with Courtney (Brec Bassinger) and her Justice Society of America crew facing off against Icicle (Neil Jackson) and the Injustice Society… OWN’s sudsy Greenleaf (9/8c) says one last hallelujah before closing shop for good, with Grace (Merle Dandridge), Lady Mae (Lynn Whitfield) and the rest of the family trying to make peace with their stormy past as they look to the future. Followed by Greenleaf: The Homegoing Celebration (10/9c), an emotional behind-the-scenes farewell that looks back at the series while the cast prepares their goodbyes.
Greenleaf (Credit: OWN)
Hard Knocks: Los Angeles (10/9c, HBO): As if this weren’t already a challenging year for pro sports, NFL Films pulls double duty in the 15th edition of the unfiltered docuseries, following both of Los Angeles’ pro-football franchises, the AFC West’s Chargers and the NFC West’s Rams. Hard Knocks documents the training camps for each team as they get ready for an unpredictable season like no other.
Inside Tuesday TV: Discovery’s Shark Week is riding a wave of celebrity cameos, the latest being Will Smith: Off the Deep End (9/8c), in which the movie star takes a dive into shark-infested waters… As her character, Liza, in TV Land’s Younger, Broadway superstar Sutton Foster tackles the issue of age discrimination on a weekly basis. She guests on ABC’s hidden-camera What Would You Do? (10/9c) to observe a scenario Liza could relate to, when a middle-aged woman applies for a bartending job and is told in front of patrons that she’s too old to work there… PBS’s Frontline (10/9c, check local listings at pbs.org) tells a moving story of Love, Life & the Virus, as 30-year-old Zully fights to survive COVID-19 and see the newborn baby she gave birth to while on a ventilator. Followed by the documentary short Undocumented in the Pandemic, a report about an immigrant family’s ordeal when the father is detained by ICE in a facility where the virus is spreading… In the former Saturday Night Live star’s first Netflix comedy special, Rob Schneider: Asian Momma, Mexican Kids, he reflects on his family life and performs with his daughter, singer-songwriter Elle King, in a climactic duet.
