‘Slow Horses’ Explosive Return, ‘MasterChef’ Heats Up, Pretty Little College ‘Lies,’ ‘Outlast’ Alaskan Adventure

Season Premiere

Much has changed in the world of this brilliant and darkly funny spy drama, nominated for a Best Drama Emmy, though the essential blend of humor and suspense is as sharp as ever in the fourth season, with episodes rolling out weekly. There’s a new and very nervous “First Desk” at MI5 (Battlestar Galactica’s James Callis), though his Number Two, “Lady Di” Taverner (the icy Kristin Scott Thomas), is still very much in charge. Good thing, too, when a bombing at a shopping center threatens to expose one of the intelligence agency’s darkest secrets. Over at Slough House, where a ragtag team of disgraced spies toils under the curmudgeonly leadership of the appallingly disheveled Jackson Lamb (Emmy nominee Gary Oldman), there’s a twitchy new agent (Tom Brooke) and an imperious new office manager (Joanna Scanlan) filling in for the fed-up Catherine Standish (Saskia Reeves). But for agent River Cartwright (Emmy nominee Jack Lowden), his greatest concern is his grandfather and former master spy David (Emmy nominee Jonathan Pryce), whose increasing state of paranoid dementia makes him a liability. Lowden is a scheduled guest on CBS’s Late Show with Stephen Colbert (11:35/10:35c).

8/7c

In a double episode, Hot Ones host Sean Evans is the guest judge when the Top 10 contestants tackle a fiery mystery box challenge. Next, the eight remaining chefs get little chance to cool off when their new task involves working in teams of two, attempting to cook identical dishes while separated by a wall.

Season Premiere

The syllabus is heavy on lust and retribution as Season 2 of the steamy college romantic melodrama gets underway with two episodes. Lucy (Grace Van Patten), entering sophomore year at Baird College, admits, “I was in some sort of delusional state last year,” regarding her stormy relationship with her now ex-flame, Stephen (Jackson White), and while she vows their dangerous spark has dimmed while finding a new focus for her affections, they’re thrown together again when he becomes a TA in one of her classes.

Season Premiere

“Money can make people pretty evil,” declares one of the contestants during the second season of the grueling reality competition. You think? Teamwork and survival skills are essential in Outlast, with 16 lone-wolf adventurers fending for themselves in the Alaska wilderness, but with the twist that in order to win and split a million-dollar prize, they’ll have to be part of a team. Which doesn’t mean they can’t switch teams or form new ones. And if the situation grows too dire, anyone can bow out by shooting a flare into the sky. The last team standing wins. After this week’s six-episode drop, the final two episodes premiere on Sept. 11.

Wisecracking hero Yancy (Vince Vaughn) barely escapes one dilemma when he discovers he’s a wanted man and goes off the grid with Rosa’s (Natalie Martinez) help, meeting her colorful family in the process. The comedic adventure also finds femme fatale Bonnie (Michelle Monaghan) on the run, reuniting with a character from her past, and back in the Bahamas, young Neville (Ronald Peet) tries to steer clear of the brutal and bad Egg (David St. Louis). Also on Apple TV+: the finale of the bizarre futuristic mystery Sunny.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• LEGO Pixar: Bricktoons (streaming on Disney+): A series of five animated shorts revisits the worlds of Pixar hits Finding Nemo, Cars, Brave, The Incredibles and Coco, with fan-favorite characters now taking LEGO form.
• Style Kings (8/7c, AspireTV): A “Power Players” hour of reality TV begins with a series profiling interior designer Justin Q. Williams and custom clothier Dedrick Thomas as they tend to celebrity clients, followed by Cut to It (8:30/7:30c), set in an L.A. barbershop that also attracts a famous clientele.
• How (Not) to Get Rid of a Body (10/9c, Investigation Discovery): The latest true-crime series depicts the lengths killers take to try to get away with murder. The opener’s title, “Cemented in Fear,” suggests the fate of an Ohio man who vanishes without a trace.
• Wild West Chronicles (10/9c, INSP): Gunslinger-turned-reporter Bat Masterson (Jack Elliott) is back for a fourth season, spinning stories about the Wild West’s most colorful characters, including (in weeks to come) Bass Reeves, Bronco Bill and U.S. Deputy Marshal Ada Curnutt.
• Mysteries of the Abandoned (11/10c, Discovery Channel): The docuseries returns with a visit to a Polish castle that becomes a focal point in the search for lost Nazi treasure.