Return to ‘Little House,’ Jennifer Garner’s ‘Five Star Weekend,’ New Seasons of ‘Big Brother,’ ‘Real Housewives,’ ‘Celebrity Family Feud’

Little House on the Prairie

Half-Pint is back! And so, to the delight of families everywhere, is Little House on the Prairie in a new eight-part adaptation filled to the brim with sentiment, heart, and the unshakable bonds of family. Alice Halsey is the wide-eyed, adventurous Laura (aka “Half-Pint”), with ruggedly handsome Australian actor Luke Bracey as Pa, Crosby Fitzgerald as stalwart Ma and Skywalker Hughes as older sister Mary. They’re all adjusting to frontier life when the Ingalls find a new home in Independence, Kansas, although the future is unsettled because the government hasn’t yet closed a deal with the land’s indigenous inhabitants, the Osage. All Laura cares about is that she’s found a new best friend in young Good Eagle (Wren Zhawenim Gotts). Veteran actor Warren Christie steals the show as John Edwards, a moody Civil War veteran who battles the bottle and clings to the Ingalls like a lifeline. Who wouldn’t? A second season is already being filmed.

The Five Star Weekend

And now for a beach read. Elin Hilderbrand’s page-turner becomes a glossy eight-part series (all available for binge-watching), starring Jennifer Garner, who’s also an executive producer, in her element as celebrity chef Hollis Shaw, a perfectionist whose perfect life crumbles after her husband dies in a Christmastime car accident. Months later, she invites friends from different stages of her life to gather for an impromptu girls’ weekend in her staggeringly spacious seaside Nantucket retreat. The support group, each with issues and secrets of their own, includes Chloë Sevigny, Regina Hall, D’Arcy Carden and Gemma Chan. Adding the swoon factor: Timothy Olyphant as Jack, Hollis’s first love, who never left the island. Observing their reunion hug, Hollis’s daughter Caroline (Harlow Jane) remarks, “Why is my mom in a Nicholas Sparks movie with him?” Why wouldn’t she be?

Big Brother

For many reality-TV junkies, the summer is now officially started, with the launch of the 28th season of the medium’s most claustrophobic competition. Julie Chen Moonves welcomes a full house of new contestants, including several surprises to be announced on air, to live in close quarters with a vintage “Time Trip” theme. Big Brother: Unlocked returns Friday (8/7c), with regular episodes airing weekly on Wednesdays, Thursdays (including live evictions) and Sundays. For those who can’t get enough, the live feed will be available to stream on Paramount+ and Pluto TV.

Project Runway

Who’s in and who’s out? Aspiring fashion designers will soon learn their fate as the largest pool of contestants in Project Runway history, 22 in all, join the long-running reality competition pioneer for its 22nd season. Heidi Klum returns as host and judge alongside Law Roach and Nina Garcia, with Season 4 winner Christian Siriano once again the fiercest of mentors. Adding her opinion, as she’s been known to do: supermodel and America’s Next Top Model alum Tyra Banks, joining the show as a recurring judge. In the opener, the designers reveal a signature look to convince the judges they deserve to stay in the game.

Celebrity Family Feud

Game on! Steve Harvey returns for a 12th season of all-star feuds, kicking off (almost literally) with a faceoff between champions of the AFC and the NFC. Representing the AFC: Ray Lewis Jr., Terrell Suggs, Hines Ward, Melvin Blount, and Rodney Harrison. For the NFC: Michael Singletary, Isaac Bruce, Landon Dickerson, Amani Toomer, and Milton Williams. Keeping with the pigskin theme, Elizabeth Banks returns for a seventh season of Press Your Luck (9/8c) with three football superfans in the hot seat trying to avoid the WHAMMY!

The Real Housewives of Orange County

The show that launched a cottage (or should that be mansion) industry of celebrity shenanigans returns for a milestone 20th season, with OG Housewife Vicki Gunvalson returning to the gossipy fold. New to the group: Carmella Garcia, a former Playboy Playmate of the Year and WWE wrestler, the latter skill potentially useful should a catfight break out. Which has been known to happen.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• Wimbledon (8:30 am/ESPN): In the women’s semifinals, No. 7 seed Coco Gauff takes on No. 10 Karolina Muchova, followed by No 12 Marta Kostyuk vs. No. 9 Linda Nosková (approximately 10 am/ET). The winners advance to Saturday’s championship final.
• FIFA World Cup (4 pm/ET, Fox): The tournament enters the quarterfinal stage with no host countries remaining, and France taking on Morocco in Boston.
• NBA Summer League: The off-season tournament kicks off in Las Vegas with games at 3:30 pm/ET, 5:30 pm/ET and 7:30 pm/ET on Prime Video, with a game on ESPN2 (4:30 pm/ET) followed by an ESPN tripleheader starting at 7 pm/ET. See the full schedule here.
• The Man Will Burn (9/8c, HBO): A four-part docuseries depicts the history of Burning Man as the gathering in the Nevada desert becomes a cultural phenomenon.
• The Bear (9/8c, FX): Part of the roof caved in, and they can barely make payroll, but the restaurant staff still finds time for a nurturing family dinner before the all-important dinner service begins. Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is ordered to cancel some of the night’s reservations, but can he?
• SharkFest (9/8c, National Geographic): The week-long series continues with cutdowns of Shark Attack 360.

ON THE STREAM:

• Trigger Point (streaming on BritBox): “You lose someone, you keep going. It’s the way it’s always been,” says a shaken Lana Washington (Vicky McClure) after the bomb squad’s latest devastating tragedy. With another hostage missing and the bomber still at large, Lana and her remaining team head once more into danger in the unrelenting British thriller.
• Criminal Minds: Evolution (streaming on Paramount+): Shaken by his encounter with his biggest and deadliest “Fan” (Justin Kirk), jailed serial killer Elias Voit (Zach Gilford) asks his BAU handlers to keep tabs on his family in witness protection. The rest of the team heads to West Virginia, where a mommy-obsessed mortician who would give Psycho‘s Norman Bates the creeps preserves his victims in the most ghoulish way imaginable.