Juneteenth Specials, ‘Great American Recipe,’ Travel with Colman Domingo, ‘Happy Valley’
Among the many TV specials celebrating Juneteenth: a concert airing on CNN and OWN, a new edition of ABC’s Soul of a Nation marking the 50th anniversary of hip hop and a two-night series on E! about the diversity of Black pop culture. PBS introduces new diverse flavors in the second season of The Great American Recipe cooking competition. Fear the Walking Dead star Colman Domingo travels to meaningful places from his life journey in AMC’s You Are Here. A killer is on the loose in the penultimate episode of the great crime drama Happy Valley.
Juneteenth: A Global Celebration for Freedom
The Roots co-founder and Oscar winner Questlove serves as music director with Grammy and Emmy winner Adam Blackstone for a concert at L.A.’s Greek Theatre celebrating the federal holiday that observes the historic end of slavery. Highlights include remarks from Vice President Kamala Harris, a tribute to Tina Turner from grown-ish star Chlöe Bailey and performances from headliners including Miguel, Nelly, Kirk Franklin, SWV, Davido, Coi Leray and Jodeci. (For more shows marking Juneteenth see below.)
The Great American Recipe
Expand your palette in the second season of the multicultural cooking competition, featuring nine ethnically diverse home chefs who present their favorite dishes to judges Leah Cohen, Tiffany Derry and Graham Elliot. Host Alejandra Ramos welcomes the new cast in the season opener, which celebrates cultural influences including Guyanese, Greek, Libyan, Lithuanian, Caribbean, Native American, traditional Hawaiian—and, not to be left out, Midwestern cuisine. The winner will grace the cover of a new edition of The Great American Recipe Cookbook.
You Are Here
Fear the Walking Dead’s Colman Domingo (an Emmy winner for his guest role on Euphoria) has never forgotten his roots. In a four-part series that’s part memoir and part travel journal, he returns to places that hold special meaning. In the first two episodes, he heads to Savannah, Georgia, where he reflects on the end of Fear with co-star Kim Dickens. Then it’s off to his hometown of Philadelphia to reunite with family and friends. (Episodes set in New York City and Chicago will air June 30.)
Happy Valley
In the superb crime drama’s penultimate episode, escaped killer Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) relishes his freedom, but when he’s warned to steer clear of policewoman Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire), will he listen? Not if it keeps him from his goal of reuniting with his son, and her grandson, Ryan (Rhys Connah). In the season’s other main case, coach Rob Hepworth (Mark Stanley) becomes the prime suspect when his wife Joanna’s (Mollie Winnard) body is discovered, though we know he’s innocent. That’s a lot of plot churning with only one episode left.
AMONG OTHER JUNETEENTH HIGHLIGHTS:
- Hip-Hop @ 50: Rhythms, Rhymes & Reflections — A Soul of a Nation Presentation (10/9c, ABC): The docuseries returns to honor Juneteenth and Black Music Month with a retrospective of a half-century of hip-hop. The special features roundtable discussions on pertinent social issues featuring rappers Master P, The Lox, E-40, Lola Brooke, Coi Leray, Joey Bada$$, Fat Joe and MC Lyte.
- Black Pop: Celebrating the Power of Black Culture (8/7c, E!): The breadth and diversity of Black pop culture, from music and TV to sports and film, is explored in a four-part series (continuing Tuesday) narrated by La La Anthony and executive produced by Stephen Curry. The first hour covers music from Motown to the evolution of hip-hop, with the second hour devoted to Black images on TV in groundbreaking shows from Good Times and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to Pose and Abbott Elementary.
- The 8th Annual Black Music Honors (7/6c, Bounce): Honorary awards go to Jeffrey Osborne (Legends Award), The Hawkins Family (Gospel Music Icon Award), SWV (Urban Music Icon Award), Missy Elliott (Music Innovator Icon Award) and Evelyn “Champagne” King (R&B Music Icon Award) in a ceremony that also salutes hip-hop’s 50th anniversary.
- Xernona Clayton: A Life in Black and White (9/8c, Bounce): A documentary profile chronicles the life and career of the civil-rights and broadcasting pioneer who worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King and wife Coretta before moving into television, where she became the first Southern African-American host of a prime-time talk show. After joining Turner Broadcasting, she founded the Trumpet Awards in 1993.
- America’s Hidden Stories: The Black Wild West (8/7c, Smithsonian Channel): A replay of the episode exposing the lost history of the Black cowboy is followed by an encore of Cassius X: Becoming Ali (9/8c), a documentary that follows the celebrated boxer’s rise to fame while on a spiritual journey that would change his public identity forever.
INSIDE MONDAY TV:
- Street Outlaws: Mega Cash Days (8/7c, Discovery): The nation’s best and bravest street racers hit the starting line to compete for a $100,000 cash prize. Stick around for the new companion doc series Street Outlaws: After Hours (10/9c).
- America’s National Parks (9/8c, National Geographic): The season finale travels to Minnesota’s Voyageurs National Park, accessible only by boat and home to a bounty of wildlife including wolves, moose and great grey owls.
- Take Care of Maya (streaming on Netflix): A disturbing documentary examines a medical mystery and family tragedy (recently featured on the cover of People magazine) that begins when 9-year-old Maya Kowalski was admitted to the hospital with a rare illness that resulted in her mother being suspected, falsely, of Munchausen syndrome by proxy.