Hulu takes a familiar formula and turns up the volume. The new 10-episode competition series “Dress My Tour” tears off a page from “Project Runway” and adds an interesting “American Idol”-style wrinkle. A group of 11 highly talented, if highly strung, designers are not merely asked to produce a fashion line, but to create outfits for very idiosyncratic musicians and their flamboyant stage acts.
The musical guest judges will include Paula Abdul, JoJo Siwa, JT and Ty Dolla $ign, Toni Braxton, Coi Leray, French Montana and Jessie James Decker.
So, rather than the steady avuncular hand of longtime “Project Runway” mentor Tim Gunn, you have the very mercurial demands of performers with varying styles and temperaments who change from week to week.
The permanent judges include Emmy-winning costume designer Marina Toybina and Emmy-nominated director Laurieann Gibson
Model and actress Kate Upton presides as host.
The combination of frantic music-industry energy, catwalk culture and the pressure-cooker sweatshop vibe of sewing and creating against a ticking clock is accompanied by thundering music. These very familiar proceedings, emotional meltdowns and cliche-ridden conversations unfold at ear-splitting volume.
— PBS rolls out the three-episode series “Gods of Tennis” (9 p.m., TV-PG, check local listings), glancing back at talents and personalities that emerged a half-century ago, challenging the very conservative world of “lawn” tennis and country clubs.
The premiere episode, “Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe,” deals with the emergence of Ashe as a Black athlete in a largely white world, and King, whose bold, energetic and explosive play was both praised and criticized for being equal to any man.
But before “Gods” even gets there, it discusses the most seismic shock to the tennis world and to Wimbledon in particular: the change from amateur status to open professional play.
Vic Seixas, the leading American tennis player from the 1940s through the 1960s, died on July 5 at the age of 100. He won 15 major titles, including the 1953 Wimbledon men’s singles crown. Obituaries recall his prize for that honor, a 25-pound certificate that he had to redeem in the Wimbledon gift shop. He bought a sweater.
In contemporary interviews, King rejected amateur status because it reduced tennis to hobby status. She was a fierce professional, something that appalled longtime Wimbledon observers. In another interview, she recalls telling her mother as a child that the world was not yet ready for her and that she would set out trying to create a world that was.
Next week’s “Gods” profiles rivals Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, one known as one of the great sex symbols of the louche 1970s, and another famous for temper and tantrums that further rattled tennis’ genteel veneer. “Gods” concludes with another rivalry, between Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. While he appears in footage, another ’70s fixture (and Evert’s one-time fiance) Jimmy Connors is not the subject of an episode-long profile here. He’s seen as a straight man to this band of “revolutionaries.”
With its focus on Wimbledon, “Gods” is a British production. An American-made focus on the tennis stars of this era might include the fact that their rise coincided with one of the greatest changes in sports and society, the introduction of Title IX, requiring equal funding for men’s and women’s sports in public schools.
— “Frontline” (10 p.m., PBS, check local listings) presents “Two American Families: 1991-2024,” an update of a Bill Moyers documentary about the changes faced by households in Milwaukee, once a symbol of America’s manufacturing-based economy and the steady jobs it provided.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— A moonlighting agent is tortured and murdered on “FBI” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— A massive explosion scatters evidence and frees suspects on “FBI: International” (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— A shooter targets police officers on “FBI: Most Wanted” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
Cary Grant made his final movie appearance in the 1966 comedy “Walk, Don’t Run” (8:15 p.m., FMC), set at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. FMC is also known as Family Movie Classics.
SERIES NOTES
“America’s Got Talent” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) … “Beat Shazam” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … “Celebrity Family Feud” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … “The Quiz With Balls” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … “Judge Steve Harvey” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-14) … “Password” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) … “Lucky 13” (10 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Matthew Macfadyen and Jon M. Chu are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Hugh Jackman, Ralph Macchio, John Owen Lowe and Ayra Starr on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Taylor Tomlinson hosts Anna Faris, Melissa Villasenor and Andy Richter on “After Midnight” (12:35 a.m., CBS).
