After what seems like months of preliminary battles the NBA Finals are finally here, with Cleveland vs. Golden State (ABC, 9 p.m.) for the third season in a row. Game 1 comes alongside a pregame “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC, 8 p.m.) with an NBA theme and Kevin Hart as guest.
More intense competition may be found in the finals of the 90th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee (ESPN2, 10 a.m.; ESPN, 8:30 p.m.) from National Harbor, Md. Already out of the competition is that 6-year-old home schooled girl from Oklahoma. Perhaps there will be a single winer this year — for the past three, there has been ties. Winning words in recent years have been feldenkrais, gesellschaf and covfefe, oddly enough.
The fifth season of “Nashville” (CMT, 9 p.m.) — its second on cable — begins after the death of Rayna and bad reviews for Juliette’s album.
A mad rush to Chicago for the $1 million prize marks the 29th (!) season finale of “The Amazing Race” (CBS, 10 p.m.), where teams were paired just before the race began.
A second season comes for “Beach Bites with Katie Lee” (Cooking, 10 p.m.), which is not about mosquitos.
The twist on the new “Love Connection” (Fox, 9 p.m.), aside from the overuse of the garish set, is offering the contestant money for not going out with the person he or she chose (if the audience picked someone else).
“Beat Shazam” (Fox, 8 p.m.) is easier than you would think, with categories and multiple choice answers.
The Detroit renovation is complete on “This Old House Hour” (PBS, 8 p.m.).
David finds one of his dates already has a boyfriend on “Married at First Sight: Second Chances” (Lifetime, 10:17 p..m.).
“Inside the FBI: New York” (USA, 10 p.m.) increasingly turns its attention to terrorism.
The spinoff “Mountain Men: Fully Loaded” (History, 8 p.m.) premieres — with a four hour episode!
Billy Ray pops up on the second episode of “Cyrus vs. Cyrus: Design and Conquer” (Bravo, 10 p.m.).
Seems weird to premiere a new made-for-TV movie on a Thursday, but here’s “Girlfriend Killer” (Lifetime Movie Network, 8 p.m.), about a businesswoman who crafts marriage proposals for wealthy men, but becomes target of one client’s obsession. With Barbie Castro, Corin Nemec and Brian Gross. It’s also produced by Castro, who also starred in and produced ”Boyfriend Killer,” “Patient Killer,” “Assumed Killer” and the upcoming “Killer Island.”
Veronica is having problems on “Second Wives Club” (E!, 9 p.m.).
There’s a new member of the Kilcher family on “Alaska: The Last Frontier: The Frozen Edge” (Animal Planet, 10 p.m.), a show with two sets of colons.
“Impossible Engineering” (Science, 9 p.m.) looks at the world’s biggest aircraft.
Michael Eric Dyson discusses race on “The President Show” (Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m.).
Bow Wow wonders about moving back to Atlanta on “Growing Up Hip Hop Atlanta” (We TV, 9 p.m.)
One of these days, Jared Kushner is going to show up on “Million Dollar Listing New York” (Bravo, 9 p.m.).
The Robert De Niro Madoff movie, “The Wizard of Lies” (HBO, 8 p.m.) gets a replay.
They’ve also been replaying last summer’s great “The Night Of” (HBO2, 8 and 9 p.m.) all week, two episodes at a time.
A month-long Thursday night salute to Gay Hollywood on Turner Classic Movies begins with the 1931 comedy “Just a Gigolo” (8 p.m.) starring William Haines, considered the first openly gay Hollywood actor, and continues with “Waterloo Bridge” (9:30 p.m.), “The Women” (11:15 p.m.), “No Time for Love” (1:45 a.m.), “Christopher Strong” (3:30 a.m.) and “There Goes My Heart” (5 a.m.).
Baseball includes Dodgers at St. Louis (MLB, 1:30 p.m.), Colorado at Seattle (MLB, 4:30 p.m.) and Yankees at Toronto (MLB, 7 p.m.).
It’s the U.S. vs. New Zealand (Fox Sports 1, 7 a.m.) in soccer’s FIFA U-20 World Cup. Tonight, it’s Mexico vs. Ireland (Fox Sports 1, 8:30 p.m.) in an international friendly.
The Women’s College World Series begins in Oklahoma City with Texas A&M vs. Florida (ESPN, noon), LSU vs UCLA (ESPN, 2:30 p.m.), Washington vs. Oregon (ESPN2, 7 pm.) and Baylor vs. Oklahoma (ESPN2, 9 p.m.).
And second round play continues in the French Open (Tennis, 5 a.m.).
Daytime Talk
Kelly and Ryan: Mary Steenburgen. The View: Chance the Rapper, Ben Platt. The Talk: Kevin Bacon, Cristela Alonzo. Harry Connick: Ricky Martin, Ms. Pat (rerun). Ellen DeGeneres: Miley Cyrus, Kate Hudson, Drew Barrymore, Chelsea Handler, Jennifer Lopez (rerun). Wendy Williams: Sandra Bernhard, Katie Lee. The Real: E-40 (rerun).
Late Talk
Stephen Colbert: Alec Baldwin, Charlamagne Tha God (rerun). Jimmy Kimmel: Sarah Silverman, Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Fallon: Kobe Bryant, Kathryn Hahn, Big Boi (rerun). Seth Meyers: Sophia Bush, Zach Woods, Dan Mintz, Thaddeus Dixon (rerun). James Corden: Victoria Beckham, Jessica Chastain, Lisa Kudrow (rerun). Carson Daly: Ricky Whittle, Pom Klementieff (rerun). Trevor Noah: Sen. Al Franken. Conan O’Brien: Diego Luna, Vincente Fox (rerun).