‘Family Feud’ Retrospective, Melissa Etheridge’s Prison Concert, Sharks’ ‘Deadliest Bite,’ ‘Boyfriend’ from Japan

Season Premiere

9/8c

First, at 8/7c, is The Best of Family Feud: Decades of Laughs. Steve Harvey, a practiced master of the double take and side-eye through his 14 years as host of the enduring Family Feud game show, hosts a rollicking retrospective of the most awkward, outrageous, and just plain silly moments during the show’s nearly 50-year history. You’ll see glimpses of the past hosts—particularly kissing bandit Richard Dawson, who Harvey quips “spent more money on Chapstick than he paid out in prize money”—as well as Ray Combs (occasionally picked up by excited contestants like he’s a stuffed toy), Louie Anderson, Richard Karn, John O’Hurley, and (briefly on Celebrity Family Feud) Al Roker. But this special belongs to Harvey, who shares, “The first rule hosting this show: You cannot save a man from himself.” The survey says he’s right. Immediately following it is Celebrity Family Feud. The ubiquitous Steve Harvey opens the celebrity version’s 10^th season with a musical face-off between teams led by Megan Thee Stallion and Ne-Yo. In the second half-hour, with a nod toward the Summer Games in Paris later this month, Olympians play for charity opposite NFL stars.

Documentary Premiere

The Grammy-winning rocker/activist, who grew up in the shadow of Leavenworth Prison in Kansas, returns to her home state to perform for incarcerated women at the Topeka Correctional Facility in an uplifting two-part docuseries. Inspired and moved by letters she received from inmates, many struggling with addiction issues (such as the opioid addiction that cost her own son his life), Melissa Etheridge writes and performs an original song during a concert that literally rocks their world. As she puts it: “The best I can do is to be a light that holds these people up and says, ‘You matter.’”

Feast on another night of original Shark Week specials, starting off at 8/7c with Deadliest Bite (pictured above), a study of the species’ jaw mechanics, as scientists and shark experts explore the lethal secrets of the jaws and teeth of bull, tiger, hammerhead, and great white sharks. Followed by 6000lb. Shark (9/8c), where marine biologists seek the heaviest hitters of New Zealand’s shark population, studying their scat to determine their feeding habits; and Monster Hammerheads: Species X (10/9c), with researchers in Turks and Caicos investigating a possible new species of aggressive hammerhead sharks.

Series Premiere

The first same-sex reality dating show from Japan, which has yet to legalize same-sex unions, is said to emphasize friendship as much as romance during an experiment where nine young men cohabitate in a beach house, called the “Green Room,” while operating a coffee truck during the day. Forging bonds and possible relationships during a summer of exploration, in a format similar to Japan’s popular Terrace House, this appears to be far removed from the meat-market mentality of so many U.S. dating shows.

INSIDE TUESDAY TV:

• Bobby’s Triple Threat (9/8c, Food Network): The cooking competition’s third season opens with celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson taking on host Bobby Flay’s three Titans—Brooke Williamson, Tiffany Derry, and Michael Voltaggio—in head-to-head rounds.
• My Big Fat Fabulous Life (9/8c, TLC): The reality series’ 12^th season opens with Whitney Thore anticipating her 40^th birthday while acknowledging her friends are all moving on with marriage and babies.
• Password (10/9c, NBC): More celebrity game-show fun as The Daily Show alum Roy Wood Jr. joins Jimmy Fallon to play the spirited word game.
• From Here/From There (De Aquí/De Allá) (10/9c, PBS): From Voces, a documentary profile of Luis Cortes Romero, who as a DACA recipient became an immigration lawyer and made history as the first undocumented lawyer to argue a case (involving a challenge to DACA) before the Supreme Court.
• Sasha Reid and the Midnight Order (10/9c, Freeform): A docuseries tracks the efforts of criminologist and developmental psychologist Dr. Sasha Reid and her all-female team to use their forensic science skills to tackle cold cases.
• IF (streaming on MGM+ and Paramount+): Arriving on the heels of Netflix’s The Imaginary, director John Krasinski’s family film stars Ryan Reynolds with Cailey Fleming as 12-year-old Bea, who can see a community of imaginary friends who’ve been left behind by their now grown-up companions. (These “IFs” are voiced by such boldface names as George Clooney, Steve Carell, the late Louis Gossett Jr., Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Maya Rudolph and more.)
• Get laughs from stand-up sets on Netflix (Hannah Berner: We Ride at Dawn) and Prime Video (Sam Morril: You’ve Changed).