All Along with Agatha, ‘Golden Bachelorette,’ ‘Survivor,’ Big Cats on PBS, Bill Gates on Netflix

Series Premiere

Attention, all WandaVision fans: Consider this an invitation to ease on down the road—the Witches’ Road—with one of that Marvel series’ most entertaining characters: Agatha Harkness (the great Kathryn Hahn), an ancient witch of many disguises, who was stripped of her powers and placed in a distorted spell in the series climax. The colorful spinoff opens with an extended genre parody (reminiscent of WandaVision’s classic-sitcom spoofs) that eventually reveals Agatha’s frustrated state of limbo. Encouraged by a young, excitable and enigmatic Teen (Heartstopper’s Joe Locke), Agatha decides to venture onto the fabled Witches’ Road, at the end of which travelers will be granted their greatest desire. But first, she needs to gather a coven, and in the first two episodes launching the series, she assembles a fabulous supporting cast including Broadway legend Patti LuPone, Saturday Night Live alum Sasheer Zamata, That ’70s Show’s Debra Jo Rupp, The Diplomat’s Ali Ahn and Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation) as Rio, her most challenging frenemy. Theirs is a road of trials and perils, but also laced with the humor and whimsy you’d expect from a WandaVision offshoot.

Series Premiere

8/7c

If at first you don’t succeed, try again to see if a love match among willing seniors is possible in a TV dating show. Joan Vassos, 61, who left The Golden Bachelor early for family reasons—considering how things turned out for Gerry and Theresa, this may have been a blessing in disguise—is hoping for better luck as she welcomes 24 suitors ranging in age from 57 to 69. (Bachelor Nation regulars will recognize Mark as Kelsey’s dad from the most recent Bachelor season.) Let the wooing begin.

Season Premiere

8/7c

The reality competition that launched the prime-time craze is back for a 47th round, with 18 contestants divided into three tribes of six as they endure deprivation and grueling challenges against the beautiful backdrop of the Fiji Islands. The best-known castaway is Pod Save America co-host Jon Lovett, a former Obama administration speechwriter, but Survivor has a way of making everyday folk famous—or infamous. The new cast includes an e-sports commentator and a sports reporter, a flight attendant, a radio show host, a corporate lawyer, an ER doctor, a nurse and an AI research assistant. After this week’s two-hour opener, the series returns to a 90-minute format.

Season Premiere

8/7c

Lions and leopards and cheetahs, oh my! Over six weeks, a PBS/BBC nature series immerses viewers in the world of Africa’s mighty big cats, filmed night and day over six months in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. With cameras on the ground and in the sky, using low-light camera technology to capture animal life 24/7, the series opens with the big cats and the production team threatened by a wildfire.

Series Premiere

“It’s getting hard to write science fiction,” film director/explorer James Cameron tells tech mogul and visionary Bill Gates, host of a five-part docuseries examining some of today’s most pressing issues—and possible solutions—with an eye toward innovation and a message of hope. In conversation with medical and science professionals, politicians and celebrities including Bono and Lady Gaga, Gates tackles subjects including the potential and warning signs of artificial intelligence, misinformation in an age of social media, income inequality, the climate crisis and breakthroughs in curing diseases. “We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he concludes.

A surprise yet most deserving winner of an Emmy for writing in a drama series, the brilliant spy dramedy kicks into high gear at the midpoint of Season 4, with River Cartwright (Emmy nominee Jack Lowden) held against his will and in peril in France, where he becomes aware of just what’s behind the intrigue of Les Arbres. Back in London, Slough House leader Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman, also an Emmy nominee) runs afoul of Emma Flyte (Ruth Bradley), the new head of the internal affair “Dogs,” while hapless new MI5 boss Claude Whelan (James Callis) tries to do a runaround to keep “Second Desk” Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) out of the loop. Bad idea.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• Bad Monkey (streaming on Apple TV+): “My problem is I try to do the right thing but in the wrong way,” explains a sheepish Yancy (Vince Vaughn), confronting his Miami PD nemesis Mendez (Gonzalo Menendez), while back in the Bahamas, Yaya (L. Scott Caldwell) discovers the Dragon Queen’s (Jodie Turner-Smith) land scam.
• Women in Blue (streaming on Apple TV+): In the penultimate episode of the gripping Spanish-language crime drama about the first women police officers in Mexico City, the discovery of the Undresser serial killer’s identity comes too late to protect one of their own.
• MasterChef: Generations (8/7c, Fox): In the two-hour season finale, the top three chefs prepare a three-course meal, reflecting their generational backgrounds and skills, with a $250,000 grand prize awaiting the winner.
• The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City (9/8c, Bravo): Season 5 welcomes back Mary Cosby to the gossipy gang, with a fashionable new housewife (Bronwyn Newport) and two friend-adjacent hopefuls (Britani and Meili) also vying for on-camera time.
• Wild West Chronicles (10/9c, INSP): Bat Masterson (Jack Elliott) relates the exploits of train-robbing Bronco Bill and his gang.