‘Evil’ at Midseason, Summer Games, ‘Eden’ on Earth, An Animated Tig Notaro, ‘Good Witch’ Casts a Final Spell

Evil

SUNDAY: We can’t get enough of this clever supernatural thriller, now in its second season. But we’ll have to wait for more, because after Sunday’s sixth episode, “C Is for Cop,” Evil is taking a midseason pause for the next month, returning for the remainder of its 13-episode run on Aug. 29. The good news: It goes out on a high, as a timely case involving a racially charged police shooting coincides with more ghoulish fallout from Kristen’s (Katja Herbers) complicity in the murder of serial killer Orson LeRoux (Darren Pettie). Is she being haunted by guilt or something more sinister, she wonders as her friend, Detective Mira Byrd (Kristen Connolly), continues investigating the LeRoux case. We’ll be counting the weeks until Evil’s return.

SATURDAY & SUNDAY: Let the Games officially begin. It’s a loaded first weekend, with Men’s Team Gymnastics, Swimming Finals and the ever-popular Women’s Beach Volleyball dominating Saturday night’s prime-time lineup on NBC (8/7c). On Sunday, Women’s Team Gymnastics and Men’s Triathlon (7/6c) will be followed on NBC by Women’s and Men’s Swimming Finals (9:30/7:30c) and Women’s Street Skateboarding. Through the day, many other sports including Men’s Volleyball, Cycling, Handball, 3X3 Basketball, Softball, Table Tennis, Women’s Soccer, Tennis and more can be found on NBC as well as on USA, CNBC, NBCSN, Olympic Channel and Peacock. All events stream live on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app. (For the most complete detailed listings, visit nbcolympics.com/schedule.)

Eden: Untamed Planet

SATURDAY: The Crown’s Helena Bonham Carter narrates a visually entrancing six-part natural history series, from the producer of Blue Planet II, which visits some of the very few regions of the world that have been left unspoiled. The travelogue begins in the “Sacred Forest” of Borneo, a rich rainforest that’s home to 60,000 species of plants and animals, 6,000 unique to the area. Among the vignettes: Monkeys transporting their babes across a treacherous river full of hungry saltwater crocodiles.

Tig Notaro: Drawn

SATURDAY: Expect the unexpected with stand-up comedian and sometimes-actor Tig Notaro (Star Trek: Discovery and Netflix’s Army of the Dead). While animation doesn’t immediately come to mind when experiencing her droll, deadpan style of storytelling, she turns herself into a wry cartoon clown in an innovative but unnecessary animated expansion of her latest act. Illustrating her stories and her appreciative (though not always comprehending) audience, Drawn sometimes over-literalizes her gags, but the material is strong. The approach works best in a long riff on the absurdity of the Kool-Aid Man, but her stories of being abandoned during wisdom-tooth surgery and regaling fellow comic Jenny Slate with her many personal disasters are winners, drawings aside.

Good Witch

SUNDAY: Fans are still reeling from the channel’s sudden announcement that the seventh-season finale is now the series finale, abruputly arriving after 13 years of TV-movies and episodic adventures. In the last episode, Cassie (Catherine Bell) works with magical cousins Abigail (Sarah Power) and Joy (Katherine Barrell) to overcome the mysterious force over Middleton. On a personal note, Cassie and husband Sam (Jamie Denton) make a big decision about their future.

History of the Sitcom

SUNDAY: From The Mary Tyler Moore Show’s newsroom to the dysfunctional paper company of The Office, workplace families have proven to be as reliably funny as those we grew up in. The latest episode of the comedy-genre overview explores the workplace sitcom’s most memorable moments, including 30 Rock, Veep, WKRP in Cincinnati and Designing Women among many others.

The White Lotus

SUNDAY: How to get revenge on an impossibly demanding guest? For harried hotel manager Armond (Murray Bartlett), the perfect solution to put spoiled honeymooner Shane (Jake Lacy) in his place is to book the needy Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) and her box of ashes on Jake and bride Rachel’s (Alexandra Daddario) romantic sunset cruise.

Inside Weekend TV:

• Destination Fear (Saturday, 9/8c, Travel Channel, also streaming on discovery+): The paranormal team is on the road again, seeking places that will scare them out of their wits during overnight visits. First stop: Louisville’s notorious Waverly Hills Sanitarium, a spooky former tuberculosis hospital that once had a body chute to dispose of the many corpses.
• A Discovery of Witches (Sunday, 8/7c, AMC): While visiting his combative father Philippe (James Purefoy) in the past, Matthew (Matthew Goode) is goaded to reveal his blood rage issues to Diana (Teresa Palmer). After the familial dust settles, Philippe gives his blessing for the couple to wed.
• Unforgotten (Sunday, 9/8c, PBS, check local listings at pbs.org): Cold-case detective Cassie’s (Nicola Walker) search for “the best route to the truth” leads her and partner Sunny (Sanjeev Bhaskar) to interrogate the four suspects connected to the victim 30 years early during their police training. The first round of questioning doesn’t go well.
• Wellington Paranormal (Sunday, 9/8c, The CW): It’s a full moon for the clueless cops on New Zealand’s supernatural beat in this hilarious horror parody, and you know what that means: werewolf and she-wolf action. “Do we look like animal control to you?” barks Officer Minogue (Mike Minogue) to a pizza delivery guy who was attacked by a dog—until he reveals the canine was wearing jeans.