The comedy anthology Miracle Workers shifts gears again to the post-apocalyptic End Times. A&E exposes more secrets of the Playboy empire, with a spinoff taking on the Miss America organization. The Food Network gorges on barbecue with back-to-back new seasons of BBQ Brawl and BBQ USA. National Geographic’s SharkFest heads to the Bahamas to investigate shark attacks on dolphins.
TBS
Miracle Workers
Some might consider it a miracle that this comedy anthology’s long-delayed fourth season even saw the light of day, considering the post-merger Turner networks’ recent scuttling of many scripted projects. But we’re here to celebrate the End Times as the series (which previously spoofed Westerns, celestial fantasy, and the medieval dark ages) takes on the post-apocalypse with a parody of Mad Max-style carnage. Daniel Radcliffe once again leads a repertory company as road warrior Sid, who finds love in the wasteland with warlord Freya (Geraldine Viswanathan) and decides to settle in the steampunk suburb of Boomtown, which is anything but. Steve Buscemi returns as his junkyard boss, while co-star Jon Bass finds new depths of degradation as the couple’s masochistic literal lap-dog Scraps. In the night’s second episode, restless Freya takes on the homeowners’ association. Do they even have a Thunderdome?
A&E
Secrets of Playboy
The channel’s hit “Secrets of” franchise returns with a second season of exposés involving the Playboy empire, including examples of how the long shadow of being involved with the magazine brand and its founder Hugh Hefner followed women throughout their lives. The opener goes inside the 2002 Fox special Girl Next Door: The Search for a Playboy Centerfold, with several participants revealing behind-the-scenes dirt and whether being associated with the brand was worth it. Followed by the series premiere of spinoff Secrets of Miss America (10/9c), which blows the sash off what happens on the runway to a tiara and a title. First up, a 2017 whistleblower leaks fat-shaming, slut-shaming and other crude e-mails from the pageant organization’s CEO.
Food Network
BBQ Brawl
It’s a carnivore smorgasbord as the Food Network doubles down on back-to-back barbecue extravaganzas. First, a fourth season of the BBQ Brawl competition series relocates to California, with captains Bobby Flay, Anne Burrell and Sunny Anderson sampling tacos as they pick their teams, then prepare California-style feasts for judges Carson Kressley, Brooke Williamson and Rodney Scott. Followed by the second season of BBQ USA, where chef Michael Symon travels to BBQ competitions around the country, starting with the American Royal World Series of Barbecue where $85,000 in prize money is at steak—sorry, stake.
Nat Geo
Sharks vs. Dolphins: Bahamas Battleground
SharkFest heads to the Bahamas, where a third of the dolphin population is showing troubling signs of shark-bite scars. Marine experts take bite impressions from three shark species (bull sharks, tiger sharks, and giant hammerheads) to try to find a match for who’s been chomping on Flipper.
INSIDE MONDAY TV:
- Stars on Mars (8/7c, Fox): Four new celeb-ronauts crash-land on faux Mars, prompting the seven remaining contestants to follow Mission Control William Shatner’s orders to rescue the newbies.
- 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way (8/7c, TLC): A fifth season of the franchise spinoff, following Americans who move abroad to be with their one and only, introduces a couple—Brandon from Oregon and Mary from the Philippines—who have yet to meet in person.
- The Price Is Right (8/7c, CBS): The game show presents a prime-time encore of the final episode taped at Bob Barker Studio 33, its home in Hollywood’s Television City for 51 years. (The show moves to a new state-of-the-art studio in nearby Glendale for Season 52.)
- The Bachelorette (9/8c, ABC): A group date is inspired by the upcoming film Barbie. Do the guys all have to dress like Ken?
- Dark Marvels (10/9c, History Channel): A new series explores the origin stories of diabolical inventions, starting with methods of execution including the guillotine and electric chair.
- Liquor Store Dreams (10/9c, PBS): A POV documentary studies the generational conflict when children of Korean-American liquor-store owners in L.A. realize their aspirations may not mesh with those of their immigrant parents.
- Unknown: Killer Robots (streaming on Netflix): The docuseries gets its WarGames on with a behind-the-scenes look at AI in the military, from the front lines of combat to command centers.
- Cannes Confidential (streaming on Acorn TV): The scenic light-mystery series wraps its first season with two episodes, including a murder with the Cannes Film Festival as a backdrop.