Nothing says August quite like the glut of back-to-school commercials, the kind you cannot escape while watching coverage of the Paris Olympics. Tonight’s “Primetime in Paris: The Olympics” (8 p.m., NBC) presents coverage of track and field and diving.
Having followed most of the games on the Peacock streaming app, my biggest takeaway is that the ratio of programming to commercials has never been worse. And that the resemblance of programming to advertising has never been more striking. But that happens when everyone and everything is pressured to become a brand.
The most questionable (make that creepy) entertainment element to emerge from the Games is the decision to strap the parents of some participating athletes’ parents with heart monitors, so we can observe their cardiac excitement during events. It’s a touch of uncomfortable bodily intrusion right out of a David Cronenberg movie — like “Scanners.”
— Another staple of the year’s eighth month is the entirely unnatural return to the football field. Despite the fact that it’s simply too hot to block and tackle, the NFL preseason is underway. And for its 19th season, the documentary series “Hard Knocks” (9 p.m., HBO, TV-MA) will imbed itself into the training camp of the Chicago Bears, following general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus as they make cuts and form a team around their corps of veterans, including quarterback Caleb Williams and wide receiver Rome Odunze, ready for opening day next month.
— Netflix streams the South Korean reality/variety series “The Influencer,” pitting 77 of that country’s social media stars against each other in a frantic contest to attract the most attention. The last participant standing will be crowned Korea’s greatest influencer.
Perhaps I’m dating myself, but there used to be a word for individuals who desperately clamored for attention. That word is “annoying.”
— Police officers offer firsthand accounts of their most harrowing cases on the new documentary series “PD True,” streaming on Paramount+. Presented in concise half-hour episodes, “True” will present moment-by-moment recollections of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, a Subway shooting in Manhattan, an L.A. bank robbery that spilled into the streets and a near-comical attempted hit on a mob “wise guy” in the Bronx. There’s also the murder of a Playboy model and a run-in with Aileen Wuornos, a prolific serial killer who targeted middle-aged men.
— As I never tire of saying, or writing, “Frontline” (10 p.m., PBS, check local listings) remains the very best at doing the journalistic task of writing the “first draft of history.” It has covered both breaking stories and long-term trends with well-researched sobriety, drawing on its large archive of previously aired documentary material to put recent events in historical perspective.
These strengths are reflected in tonight’s episode, “Biden’s Choice,” a look at the president’s recent decision to withdraw from the 2024 campaign, becoming the first sitting commander-in-chief since Lyndon Johnson in 1968 to step back from an expected campaign. It also reflects on more than a half-century in public office, dating back to Biden’s election to the Senate in 1972. Entering that body at the dawn of the Watergate era, Biden’s career unfolded during 10 presidential administrations, including his own.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— On the eve of a big wedding, three old friends (Omar Epps, Taye Diggs, Richard T. Jones)) reminisce about their shared childhood in the 1999 romantic comedy “The Wood” (7:30 p.m., BET Her, TV-14).
— Members of the Taliban are kidnapped and shot after sneaking into the country on “FBI” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— The finale of “Gods of Tennis” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) recalls Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.
— A sweet 16 party at a posh European estate turns into a blood-soaked nightmare for the happy teen’s mother on “FBI: International” (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— A terrorist threatens Manhattan with a dirty bomb on “FBI: Most Wanted” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— A surrogate mother grows wary after moving in with her unborn child’s adoptive parents in the 2020 shocker “Dying for Motherhood” (10 p.m., LMN, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
An ambitious rodent (the voice of Patton Oswalt) schemes to become an acclaimed Parisian chef in the 2007 animated comedy “Ratatouille” (7:30 p.m., Freeform, TV-PG).
SERIES NOTES
“Beat Shazam” (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG) … “Celebrity Family Feud” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … “The Quiz With Balls” (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG) … “Judge Steve Harvey” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … Ethical questions on “What Would You Do?” (10 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG)
LATE NIGHT
“The Tonight Show” and “Late Night With Seth Meyers” are preempted for Olympic coverage … Taylor Tomlinson hosts “After Midnight” (12:35 a.m., CBS).
