14 great shows to watch in August

August is nearly here, and much like the months of July, June, May (and so on) that came before, it is packed with TV. Here's a  sampling:

AUG. 2
DEAR WHITE PEOPLE (Netflix). Justin Simien's densely packed — and particularly clever — satire of life on the campus of dear old Winchester U. unpacked a (particularly) big surprise at the end of the second season, when it was revealed that the series narrator (Giancarlo Esposito) was also the leader of the Order of X, the elite, mysterious secret society with ancient roots in slavery, the Underground Railroad, and who- knows- what- else. Esposito ("Breaking Bad," "Better Call Saul") apparently knows, and that's where season 3 picks up, just after Samantha (Logan Browning) has decided to leave her radio show, DWP. The big guest stars joining this season are Blair Underwood, Yvette Nicole Brown, Laverne Cox and (Roosevelt's own) Flava Flav.

 

AUG. 6

WOODSTOCK: THREE DAYS THAT DEFINED A GENERATION (WNET/13, 9 p.m.).

The legendary rock concert is revisited on its 50th anniversary by some of those who endured the mud and music over its three days.

AUG. 7

BH90210 (Fox, 9 p.m.)

Except for Luke Perry, who died in early March, the original cast of “Beverly Hills, 90210” has signed on for this unusual six-episode reboot — unusual in that each won’t play their original character but rather heightened versions of each. And that cast is: Jason Priestley, Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering, Gabrielle Carteris, Brian Austin Green and Tori Spelling.

AUG. 9

GLOW (Netflix) The third season opens on Jan. 28, 1986, as Ruth/Zoya the Destroya (Alison Brie) and Debbie/Liberty Bell (Betty Gilpin) are handling a schticky TV interview with a local Las Vegas station to promote their new Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling show, and venue, the Fan-tan Casino. Seconds in, the reporter throws back to the station to cover lift-off of the Challenger, while Zoya cracks a bunch of one-liners about the mission on live TV ("Challenger? That means second place …") Seventy-three seconds later, something terrible happens (you know what). Awkward. The third promises to still be funny, but dark — much darker.

 

AUG. 11

SUCCESSION (HBO, 9 p.m.) This thinly disguised sendup of the Murdoch empire, with the spectacular Brian Cox as the thinly disguised Rupert himself is back. (Cox was robbed in the recent Emmys, by the way, although the show picked up a best drama nod). The second season promises more of the same, as the Roy family continue their struggle over the keys to the kingdom once the king is gone, while — in the words of HBO — "the future looks increasingly uncertain [but] it is the past that threatens to ultimately destroy them." Yup.

AUG. 12

LODGE 49 (AMC, 10 p.m.)

One of the best newcomers of the summer of 2018 returns for another season. Recall amiable aimless Dud — Wyatt Russell — who joined the mysterious fraternal order with the unusual lodge in Long Beach, California.

THE TERROR: INFAMY (AMC, 9 p.m.)

The second season of this excellent anthology is set in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II. George Takei, who also serves as a consultant, lived in internment camps as a child.

AUG. 14

DAVID MAKES MAN (OWN, 9 p.m.)    Tarell Alvin McCraney, Oscar-winning writer of "Moonlight," has created this series about a gifted and sensitive boy named David (Akili McDowell, "The Astronaut Wives Club"). His mom Gloria (Alana Arenas) is trying to make a better life for him, and the other kids in the family — but he's the special one. He's got another helping hand or two,including Dr. Woods-Trap (Phylicia Rashad), the teacher who knows he's unique.

WEB ONLY AUG. 18

THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES (HBO, 10) The World-famous Gemstone family of televangelists have, umm, another side to them — naturally think greed, dysfunction, deviance and a lot of other bad stuff that has little to do with what is preached. There's Eli (John Goodman), Jesse (Danny McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson, "Vice Principals"), Kelvin (Adam DeVine, "Workaholics"), and Amber (Cassidy Freeman, "Smallville.") Pity their fleeced flock.

AUG. 24

HITSVILLE: THE MAKING OF MOTOWN (Showtime, 9). From director/brothers Gabe and Ben Turner, this promises to be one of the most comprehensive docs on Motown, thanks in part because Berry Gordy gave this both his blessing, support and stories.

AUG. 25

THE AFFAIR (Showtime). The new season picks up with a time jump that will introduce Alison and Cole's (Joshua Jackson) now-adult daughter Joannie Lockhart (Anna Paquin). In current time, Helen (Maura Tierney) has launched a new affair with a movie star (Claes Bang) while Noah (Dominic West) is taking care of family business.

AUG. 25

POWER (Starz)

This sixth and final season wraps the story of nightclub owner/-drug lord James “Ghost” St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick), in 15 episodes, with most of the original cast and a few newcomers (including Evan Handler) along for the ride.

MAGICAL LAND OF OZ (WNET/13, 10 p.m.)



Did you know Australia — the “Oz” of the title — has magical wildlife? This three-parter will make the case that it does indeed.

 

AUG. 30

THE DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE (Netflix)

This (still) all-puppet 10-part prequel to the 1982 Jim Henson/-Frank Oz film is much anticipated, and has a voice cast as proof (including, to name a few, Mark Hamill, Harvey Fierstein, Natalie Dormer, Toby Jones, Andy Samberg, Simon Pegg, Keegan-Michael Key, Helena Bonham Carter, Caitriona Balfe, Eddie Izzard, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw …). Set long before events of the movie, this origin story is about three Gelflings on the planet Thra who attempt a rebellion against the big bad Skeksis. (This series was co-created and written by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, along with Javier Grillo-Marxuach.)