We may be stuck at home, but we can still “travel” to other shores on our screens. Set among vivid New Zealand scenery, “The Sounds” begins streaming today on Acorn. A bright and attractive couple, Maggie (Rachelle Lefevre, “Under the Dome”) and Tom Cabbott (Matt Whelan (“Narcos,” “Top of the Lake”), settle in a bucolic oceanside town, where they hope to establish a salmon fishery, make a good living and provide jobs for the locals. The fact that it allows Tom to escape his abusive father is a plus.
Good intentions and pretty faces only go so far, and when Tom doesn’t return from a kayaking trip, dark secrets begin to bubble to the surface, involving Tom’s own past.
marital woes and residents who may not be as pleasant and welcoming as they seem.
— Another treat for the armchair traveler, “We Got This” begins streaming on Sundance Now, AMC’s premium service. A six-part drama with comic elements, “Got” hails from Sweden and stars Schiaffino Musarra as George English, an American living in Sweden who learns that a big reward has been offered to anyone who can solve the country’s long-running mystery: the 1986 murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme.
His efforts entangle him with a reluctant journalist, an over-eager conspiracy buff and more than a whiff of danger.
“We Got This” was made before the recent announcement that Swedish authorities believe they know the identity of Palme’s killer. The prime minister was assassinated while walking home from the movies with his wife. The act shocked Swedes, who had believed they were immune to the kind of political violence that afflicted other countries, including our own.
— Speaking of Sweden, Netflix begins streaming “Young Wallander” starring the handsome Adam Palsson as the dyspeptic detective in his salad days.
For the uninitiated, Kurt Wallander is a fictional detective created for a series of novels by the late Henning Mankell. Set largely around Malmo, they concern murder and political intrigue on the surface but also explore the grim musings of a divorced man facing advancing years, estrangement from his children and care for his dementia-ridden father. The many Wallander books have been adapted for Swedish films as well as U.K. TV, starring Kenneth Branagh and seen on these shores on PBS’s “Masterpiece.”
Wallander’s age is essential to his character. Making him young seems rather absurd. It makes sense in an entertainment universe bent on reboots of popular franchises, but insulting to the fans that made them popular. What’s next — “Teenage Tony Soprano”? “Li’l Golden Girls”?
— Peacock streams the third season of “A.P. Bio.”
— A film that will make viewers long for the days when Americans weren’t banned from almost every country on Earth, the 1995 drama “Before Sunrise” (8:30 p.m., HBO2) stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy as an American tourist and a French woman who meet on a train to Vienna and share a day and night of courtship and conversation. A deeply romantic film from director Richard Linklater that inspired two sequels.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Jamie Foxx hosts “Beat Shazam” (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG).
— A missing new mother and her newborn may be closer than many suspect on “Buried in the Backyard” (8 p.m., Oxygen, TV-14).
— On two helpings of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (NBC, r, TV-14): a predator targets gay bars (9 p.m.); knockout drops (10 p.m.).
CULT CHOICE
Stephen Frears directed John Cusack, Anjelica Huston and Annette Bening in the 1990 adaptation of Jim Thompson’s hard-boiled thriller “The Grifters” (7:05 p.m., MoMax). Screenplay by Donald Westlake.
SERIES NOTES
Julie Chen Moonves hosts “Big Brother” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-14) … “The Wall” (8 p.m. NBC, r, TV-PG) … The short game looms large on “Holey Moley” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … Roswell revisited on “Mysteries Decoded” (8 p.m., CW, TV-PG).
Spend two hours on “Love Island” (9 p.m. and 10 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … Two hours of “To Tell the Truth” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … Illusionists audition on “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” (9 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Trevor Noah, Willie, Lukas and Micah Nelson are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS, r) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes David Schwimmer, Alison Brie and Jimmy Buffett on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC, r) … Kerry Washington guest-hosts Reese Witherspoon on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (11:35 p.m., ABC, r).
Russell Crowe, Patton Oswalt, the Lemon Twigs and Thomas Lang visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC, r) … Danny DeVito, and Chris Tomlin featuring Florida Georgia Line and Thomas Rhett appear on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” (12:35 a.m., CBS, r).
