‘Turner & Hooch’ Next Gen, Jonas Brothers’ ‘Olympic Dreams,’ A Beastly Dating Game, ‘Married’ in Houston
Disney repurposes another of its vintage titles with a series version of the cop-meets-dog comedy Turner & Hooch. Netflix puts a Masked Singer twist on the dating genre with Sexy Beasts. As an Olympics curtain-raiser, the Jonas Brothers train with Olympians to realize their athletic dreams. Lifetime’s hit Married at First Sight relocates to Texas for its 13th season.
Turner & Hooch
Reboot mania has gone to the dogs with a comedy series based on the 1989 Tom Hanks movie about a detective and his slobbery best canine friend. In the new version, Josh Peck (grown up since his Drake & Josh Nickelodeon heyday) plays Scott Turner 2.0, the son of Hanks’ character, now a by-the-books Deputy U.S. Marshal who’s none too thrilled to be saddled with a rambunctious French Mastiff. Until, of course, Hooch helps save the day in the case of a witness who’s kidnapped from Marshal protection. Could be the beginning of another memorable slapstick team.
Olympic Dreams Featuring Jonas Brothers
The network wants you to know the Olympics are coming, and in that spirit, they’ve enlisted the musical sibling trio—Joe, Nick and Kevin Jonas—to train alongside Team USA athletes in gymnastics, track and field and BMX racing. The ultimate goal is for the guys to be able to compete with each other, with Rich Eisen and Terry Crews acting as commentators for the Battle of the Jonas Bros. Among the Olympians helping them prepare: Gymnastics medalists Laurie Hernandez and Nastia Luikin, Olympic hurdler and world-record holder Sydney McLaughlin, four-time Gold Medalist track star Sanya Richards-Ross, and Silver Medalist BMX racer Alise Willoughby. May the best brother win.
Sexy Beasts
It’s one thing to be catfished, but what if your blind date shows up looking like one? Therein lies the premise of TV’s latest silly variation on the dating game, in which willing singles agree to go out with strangers who, like them, are cloaked in elaborate prosthetics that make them look like animals, aliens, even dinosaurs. It’s The Masked Romantic! The idea being, much like the hapless costumed participants in Judge Wackner’s court on the new season of The Good Fight, that no one will be able to judge the other on their looks or other superficial traits. At least it beats falling for the manufactured angst of shows like The Bachelor.
Married at First Sight
Speaking of shows that take bad relationship ideas seriously, Lifetime blows out the 13th-season premiere of their instant-nuptials reality series with a three-hour opener, perhaps reflecting the show’s move to everything’s-bigger Texas. Five new couples in Houston are introduced, including the franchise’s first Asian-American pair, Bao and Johnny, who mark their unconventional tying of the knot with a traditional tea ceremony. Betcha at least one of their parents will do a spit-take.
Inside Wednesday TV:
- Women’s Olympic Soccer: Getting a jump on Friday’s Opening Ceremonies in Tokyo, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team takes on arch-rival Sweden, who knocked them out of the 2016 Games in the quarterfinals. If you missed the game when it aired live on USA at 4:30 am/ET, it repeats at 6 pm/ET on NBCSN, where USA vs. Canada Softball is scheduled to air live at 8 pm/ET. (All times approximate.)
- Kung Fu (8/7c, The CW): The first season of the martial-arts thriller ends with Nicky (Olivia Liang) racing the clock to learn how to open and infiltrate the Forge, where the eight mystical weapons she’s been hunting down were created. Back at home, an emergency threatens to disrupt Althea (Shannon Dang) and Dennis’ (Tony Chung) tea ceremony.
- Expedition Discovery (8/7c, Discovery): A new season of the historical mystery series begins with Josh Gates deconstructing the legend of notorious mobster John Dillinger, including a trip to his family farm which could reveal information about the still-missing millions of stolen loot.’
- Hunting Atlantis (9/8c, Discovery): Could the fabled Lost City truly exist? Volcanologist Jess Phoenix and fellow expert Stel Pavlou travel to the Black Sea, a mysterious Greek island and archeological sites along the Croatian coast among other exotic locales to try to solve this ancient mystery.
- Fasten Your Seatbelt (10/9c, A&E): Up, up and awry. Robert Hays (Airplane) hosts a clip series, launching with back-to-back 30-minute episodes, revealing some of the more shocking and regrettable moments involving that ordeal we know of as air travel. Expect a mile-high smorgasbord of bad behavior and emergency landings.
- Match Game (10/9c, ABC): The bawdy game show returns from a long nine-month hiatus with new episodes. Celebrity panelists include host Alec Baldwin’s wife Hilaria, Christie Brinkley, Vivica A. Fox and Saturday Night Live veteran Fred Armisen.
- Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Loki (streaming on Disney+): Go behind the scenes of the hit Marvel series with insights from the stars, creators and technical wizards who brought the mysterious world of the Time Variance Authority to life.
- Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (streaming on Netflix): An animated sequel from Guillermo del Toro brings together the heroes of Trollhunters, 3Below and Wizards to battle the Arcane Order for control of the magic that binds them all.