What to Watch This Week: August 2 to 7

From bittersweet childhood tales to Canuck comedies, we round up the top 10 shows to watch this week

From bittersweet childhood tales to Canuck comedies, we round up the top 10 shows to watch this week

1. My Girl – Sunday, August 2, 7 p.m. & 9:55 p.m., Family

Before earning six Emmy nominations for playing Veep‘s foul-mouthed White House staffer Amy Brookheimer, Anna Chlumsky melted our hearts as Vada Sultenfuss, the quirky 11-year-old daughter of a funeral-home director (Dan Aykroyd), who comes of age during one bittersweet Pennsylvania summer.

2. The Real Housewives of Potomac – Sunday, August 2, 6 p.m., Slice | Season Premiere

Washington’s first ladies are back for a fifth season of friendship, petty feuding and fine wine. Joining Gizelle Bryant, Karen Huger, Ashley Darby, Robyn Dixon, Monique Samuels and Candiace Dillard Bassett is Wendy Osefo, a political commentator not afraid to put her new co-stars in their place.

3. Taskmaster – Sunday, August 2, 9 p.m., The CW | Series Premiere

This game show import from the U.K.—which made its debut at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival before being adapted for television—features titular Taskmaster Greg Davies, assisted by comedian Alex Horne as his right-hand man, assigning a series of stupefying tasks to a guest panel of comedians. Sometimes these tasks are simple—say, “Eat the most melon in a minute”—but more often they’re something like “Camouflage yourself as well as possible.” These devilish challenges aren’t just random, but designed to force the group to think laterally and creatively, resulting in some outrageous outcomes. Meanwhile, the end of each task finds Davies hilariously berating the comedians for doing such a terrible job. If the format seems familiar, there’s a possibility you’ve seen a 2018 American version produced for Comedy Central, featuring Horne (who is also the show’s creator) and Taskmaster Reggie Watts, a.k.a. bandleader for The Late Late Show With James Corden.

4. The Fugitive – Monday, August 3, Quibi (Stream) | Series Premiere

Nearly 30 years after TV classic The Fugitive hit the big screen, the story of a falsely accused man trying to prove his innocence, as the clock ticks and the chase intensifies, lives on. This time, instead of cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Richard Kimble, it is blue-collar worker and family man Mike Ferro, previously convicted and jailed for a crime he didn’t commit, who is suddenly back in the crosshairs of authorities following a subway bombing in Los Angeles. Harrison Ford has been replaced by Narcos‘ Boyd Holbrook, and the dogged Marshal played by Tommy Lee Jones is now the often against-the-clock-racing Kiefer Sutherland.

But what’s perhaps more interesting than the nuances of a familiar plot, is the platform via which this story is told. Quibi, which stands for quick bites, has spliced the cat-and-mouse game into 14 10-minute episodes that can only be consumed on a mobile device.

5. Backyard Envy – Tuesday, August 4, 8 p.m., Slice | Season Premiere

This landscaping-themed reality series is back for a second season. While the first season found the Manscapers crew—James DeSantis, Garrett Magee and Melissa Brasier—tackling projects within the confines of New York City, this time out they’ll be venturing to the suburbs of New Jersey and beyond. There, they’ll take on some of their biggest projects to date, from a World Pride float for a hotel giant to a million-dollar job with a popular liquor company.

6. Mohawk Girls – Tuesday, August 4, 9 p.m. & 9:30 p.m., CBC | Season Premiere

CBC’s critically acclaimed dramedy returns for a new season, chronicling life on the Mohawk reserve of Kahnawake in Quebec as experienced from the point-of-view of four modern young women, played by Heather White, Brittany LeBorgne, Jenny Pudavick and Maika Harper.

7. Tell Me a Story – Tuesday, August 4, 9 p.m., The CW

You might not recognize the name, but Kevin Williamson is the creative force behind several popular series, from Dawson’s Creek and The Vampire Diaries to The Following. And let’s not forget his contribution to big-screen horror with all of those Scream flicks he penned. Given such a CV, you know exactly what you’re getting into with this anthology series, which twists and subverts the fairy tales you know and love.

The edgy drama continues its broadcast run this week as “Big Bad Wolf” Jordan helps the police identify one of the masked robbers (a.k.a. Three Little Pigs) from that jewelry heist gone murderously wrong, while troubled teen Kayla (Little Red Riding Hood) tries to keep her distance from teacher Nick (the show’s other “Wolf”) after a not-so-smart one-night stand.

8. United We Fall – Wednesday, August 5, 8 p.m., ABC | Series Premiere

If you’re a parent just trying to make it through the day, there is always some comfort in watching other families do worse—even if they’re not real. In the new ABC summer sitcom United We Fall, Canada’s own Will Sasso and Christina Vidal Mitchell play the frazzled parents of two children, whose trials and tribulations take on a whole other level when his mother, played by Jane Curtin, moves in.

9. Star Trek: Lower Deck – Thursday, August 6, 6 p.m. & 7:30 p.m., CTV Sci-Fi | Series Premiere

The latest Star Trek series goes where no show has gone before. Well, almost.

NBC aired an animated version of the original sci-fi classic in the mid-1970s, voiced by the original cast. Star Trek: Lower Decks is also a cartoon, but it injects mature humour into late creator Gene Roddenberry’s legendary franchise as it makes its debut this Thursday, on both CTV Sci-Fi and the Crave streamer. The Roddenberry camp remains involved, but the show’s mastermind is Rick and Morty Emmy-winner Mike McMahan, who’s also been busy lately making Hulu’s animated science-fiction comedy Solar Opposites.

One crucial distinction between this show and the Treks of yore is that the Lower Decks crew have private lives as volatile as the intergalactic crises they’re forced to contain. Tawny Newsome (late of Netflix’s Space Force) voices Beckett Mariner, an ensign aboard the U.S.S. Cerritos—and a resourceful troublemaker who’s gotten several demotions. Sliders veteran Jerry O’Connell is heard as Commander Jack Ransom, who isn’t exactly by-the-book in his starship leadership.

10. Selling Sunset – Friday, August 7, Netflix | Season Premiere

What happens when you merge Real Housewives-style antics with the world of ultra-luxe real estate sales? Selling Sunset is what! Follow the agents of L.A.’s Oppenheim Group and their billionaire clients across a third season of opulent house hunts.