A ‘Cursed’ Treasure Hunt, Women Athletes Speak out, the Making of a KPOP Girl Group, ‘Monkey’s Game Changer

Series Premiere

8/7c

A three-part docuseries (airing consecutively) from BBC Studios tells the remarkable story of Tommy Thompson, an American treasure hunter who gained fame and notoriety after spearheading the successful search for the 1857 shipwreck of SS Central America, which was carrying tons of gold from the California Gold Rush when it sank off the Carolina coast. Thompson’s triumph in 1989 was clouded by legal troubles when 500 gold coins went missing and the explorer became a fugitive from justice, ultimately landing in prison.

Season Premiere

10/9c

After weeks of us cheering on Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, the stars of women’s basketball and track and so many other Olympians, this series giving voice to women athletes is particularly well timed for its Season 2 launch. Hosted by sports reporter MJ Acosta-Ruiz and Fox Sports’ Joy Taylor, the series spotlights elite athletes who’ve excelled in their field, starting with Mexican flag football star Diana Flores, an NFL ambassador who was one of this year’s Olympic torch bearers and advocated for her sport to make its debut at the 2028 Los Angeles games.

Series Premiere

The entertainment company that unleashed BTS and the KPOP phenomenon on the world is at it again, as HYBE collaborates with the U.S.-based Geffen Records to create a global girl group using the KPOP industry’s techniques and training. An eight-part reality docuseries depicts the grueling development process over a year, with more than 120,000 hopefuls from around the world auditioning for a spot. Those who survive the cut learn dance and vocal fundamentals, knowing they could be bounced at any time. The series builds to a performance finale where the Top 10 learn who’ll be in the final lineup of KATSEYE.

My favorite late-summer diversion, a winning adaptation of Carl Hiaasen’s riotous comedy-mystery novel set in Florida and the Bahamas, takes a major leap forward in its third episode, as disgraced detective Yancy (Vince Vaughn) and Miami medical examiner Rosa (Natalie Martinez) continue their investigation into the poor soul whose severed arm was fished out of the ocean. Though Yancy concedes, “No one cares that a two-bit con man scamming insurance companies got what he deserved.” The trail leads to a shady doctor named Israel O’Peele (“That’s too ridiculous to be fake,” Yancy quips), played by Zach Braff, reuniting with Scrubs executive producer Bill Lawrence (Ted Lasso), Monkey’s showrunner. The big twist in this episode isn’t monkeying around.

9/8c

Not sure anything can top last week’s $1 million win (with an assist from host Jimmy Kimmel) by Celebrity Jeopardy! champ Ike Barinholtz and his dad Alan, but a new episode features an Everybody Loves Raymond reunion, with TV brothers Ray Romano and Brad Garrett taking the hot seat, followed by Jason Ritter with Natasha Leggero.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras (8/7c, MTV): The Challengers find classic elimination challenges from each of the show’s eras awaiting them when they arrive at the Arena.
• The Real CSI: Miami (9/8c, CBS): When Miami nightclub owner Butch Casey is found dead in a 1994 execution-style murder with two young women, Sharon Anderson and Marie Rogers, detectives also discover a hidden security camera that captured the entire crime on videotape.
• The Ark (10/9c, Syfy): A distress call beckons the crew to a remote planet where surprises await.

 ON THE STREAM:

• Women in Blue (streaming on Apple TV+): Maria (the terrific Bárbara Mori) takes a sinister phone call from the Undresser serial killer, then watches her personal life fall apart, in an eventful episode of the Spanish-language crime drama set in 1970s Mexico City. While Maria and her fellow “women in blue” police officers follow a lead on a new suspect, the male detectives in charge finally go public that the killer is still on the loose after having arrested the wrong man.
• Sunny (streaming on Apple TV+): A poignant episode of the Japanese-set futuristic mystery sheds light on the backstory of Suzie’s (Rashida Jones) missing and presumed-dead roboticist husband, Masa (Hidetoshi Nishijima). Also on Apple TV+: the final two episodes of the fantastical Time Bandits, in which young Kevin (Kal-El Tuck) and the Bandits head to the Fortress of Darkness to save the boy’s parents.
• Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War (streaming on Netflix): Ed Harris narrates a hybrid documentary with dramatic reenactments, tracking Wild West lawman Wyatt Earp’s vendetta and showdown with Cowboy gang outlaw Ike Clanton in the aftermath of the infamous O.K. Corral gunfight.