They’ve moved Shark Week up a few weeks to put it more squarely into shark scare season. And sure enough, there’s been a half dozen incidents off the coast of the Outer Banks, to seemingly tie into the hype.
Discovery officials promised to lay off the fake documentaries that have dominated in recent years, but there’s something fishy about their latest titles as well, such as “Island of the Mega Shark” (Discovery, 9 p.m.), about “the quest to photograph the largest great white shark.” And “Monster Mako” (Discovery, 10 p.m.) about “the fastest shark in the ocean.” Seems like they’re concentrating on eye-catching titles this year, so the week starts off with “Shark Trek” (Discovery, 8 p.m.), about the supposed rise in great white sightings in Florida.
NatGeo Wild challenges the Shark Week head-to-head with its own SharkWeek where it promises “No Mockumentaries.” It begins with “Shark Alley” (Nat Geo Wild, 8 p.m.) starting the migration of sardines up the southeastern coast of Afria, and “United Sharks of America” (NatGeo Wild, 9 p.m.) exploring the beaches where sharks may be most plentiful — Florida, Hawaii, California and the Carolinas.
U.S. vs Japan (Fox, 7 p.m.) in the FIFA Women’s World Cup final ought to provide the requisite patriotic thrill to cap off Fourth of July weekend.
More sports in prime time: the Coke Zero 400 NASCAR (NBC, 7 p.m.) at Daytona. Let’s see how many fans have left behind their Confederate Flags as requested. But if there were no American Revolution, the big sport would be the British Grand Prix (CNBC, 7:30 a.m.).
The generally strong season of “Penny Dreadful” (Showtime, 10 p.m.) comes to an end with the battle of Vanessa vs. the Demon.
The story twists more sharply on “True Detective” (HBO, 9 p.m.), which gets more engrossing by the week.
“Celebrity Family Feud” (ABC, 8 p.m.) pits the family of Dr. Phil McGraw with that of Garry Marshall.
“Falling Skies” (TNT, 10 p.m.) and its attacking skitters have quietly begun a new season; this alien war will never stop.
George gets a new synthetic named Vera on “Humans” (AMC, 9 p.m.) and he’s not happy about it.
Maybe he should take it up at “BattleBots” (AMC, 9 p.m.).
Things get steamy between Demelza and Poldark on “Masterpiece” (PBS, 9 p.m.).
Alan tells Celia his secret on “Last Tango in Halifax” (PBS, 8 p.m.).
Nominations for eviction are named on “Big Brother” (CBS, 9 p.m.).
Here’s a double feature of antiwar comedy classics, “Duck Soup” (TCM, 8 p.m.) and “The Great Dictator” (TCM, 9:30 p.m.).
Baseball includes Tampa Bay at Yankees (MB, 1 p.m.) and San Francisco at Washington (ESPN, 8 p.m.).
The second stage of the Tour de France (NBC Sports Network, 7 a.m.).
Sunday Talk
ABC: Rick Perry, Sens. Tom Cotton and Ben Cardin, Reps. Tom Cole and Joaquin Castro. CBS: Rick Santorum, Sens. Bob Corker and Amy Klobuchar. NBC: Sen. Ted Cruz. CNN: Sen. Bernie Sanders, Mike Huckabee. Fox News: Gov. Chris Christie.