What’s Worth Watching: ‘The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore’, more Summer Olympics, ’60 Days’ and more for Thursday, August 18.

The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore on Comedy Central
Larry Wilmore, Comedy Central, WWW

The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore (11:30/10:30c, Comedy Central): Under the gone-too-soon heading, file this pungently topical and admirably inclusive comedy/talk show, a casualty of low ratings in Comedy Central’s woebegone makeover of the late-night hour formerly occupied by Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. With its focus on racial issues in a polarized society, Wilmore’s droll yet biting showcase was a much-needed platform for underrepresented voices. But in the “Keep It 100” spirit, it should be noted that its format was too often limiting, including a roundtable where the participants could seem as if they were in a can-you-top-this joke-off. The timing couldn’t be worse to remove The Nightly Show at the height (or possibly depth) of an election year that Wilmore has dubbed “The Unblackening.” And the suddenness is also shocking, with the cancellation announced Monday, giving the show only four episodes to bid farewell to fans. I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ll hear of Wilmore—he’s executive-producing Issa Rae’s promising new HBO sitcom Insecure, premiering in October—but the departure of The Nightly Show leaves Comedy Central even less relevant in a year ripe for this sort of political satire.

Inside Thursday TV: Among the live events in NBC’s Summer Olympics prime-time coverage (8/7c): track and field finals including men’s shot put, women’s javelin, men’s 1500m decathlon and women’s 400m hurdles, and men’s beach volleyball final. Also on tap: women’s platform diving. … The inspirational My Final Days continues (9/8c, The CW) with profiles of courage featuring Kat, 25, a “proud lesbian” with stomach cancer, and Isabel, 21, a sociologist who continues to research her rare terminal condition while bringing awareness to others. … It’s a different sort of innocence project when A&E’s 60 Days In returns for a second season, with a two-hour opener (9/8c) introducing eight new guinea pigs who volunteer to enter the Clark County (Ind.) Jail to observe conditions behind bars first-hand. … Time for opening night of Feast on FX’s Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll (10/9c), but the festivities are bound to leave a bitter aftertaste for the members of the band.