There are so many new ways to watch a special few people ever watched in the first place!
Mid-June is the traditional time of the Tony Awards (8 p.m. Sunday, CBS, TV-14), celebrating the best Broadway shows and musicals, a once-dominant and influential corner of the entertainment universe that still retains a small but passionate following.
Ratings for the Tonys have long been microscopic, making the awards show a kind of antithesis of the Super Bowl. For years, even decades, it seemed like a broadcasting charity case that CBS continued out of some kind of pity or public duty.
But now that audiences are so fractured, even the small shards of a programming niche are worth fighting over. So, in addition to watching the broadcast on old-fashioned terrestrial CBS, one can stream it live and on demand for those who subscribe to the Paramount+ with Showtime service. It can also be rented on demand for those who merely partake of Paramount+.
For those who don’t feel like paying for any streaming services, there’s “Tony Awards: Act One” (6:30 p.m. Sunday) streaming on the Pluto FAST (Free Advertising Supported Television) app. It’s a kind of pre-celebration red carpet affair, hosted by Julianne Hough (“Dancing With the Stars”) and “Ghost” star Utkarsh Ambudkar.
Fair warning: “Act One” ends before the awards ceremony begins. But you get what you pay for. And Pluto’s slogan is “Stream Now. Pay Never.”
As she has for the past three years, Ariana DeBose will host the awards. Viewers may recall her Oscar-winning turn as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s 2021 reboot of “West Side Story.”
The Broadway plays up for awards are “Appropriate,” Merrily We Roll Along,” “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club,” “Stereophonic” and “Hell’s Kitchen.”
— Speaking of really fractured audiences, HBO airs the second season of “House of the Dragon” (9 p.m. Sunday, TV-MA). Olivia Cooke (Alicent Hightower), Emma D’Arcy (Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen) and Matt Smith (Prince Daemon Targaryen) all return from season one, to totter under blond wigs and dragon fire.
Given all the hubbub about this “Game of Thrones” spin-off, I tried valiantly to keep up with the action, but frequently found it hard to stay awake.
HBO and Max have high hopes for this effort. The first season finale was watched by more than 9 million cumulative viewers. That’s a lot, these days — the most since the last episode of “Game of Thrones.” Of course, such numbers would have gotten “Who’s the Boss?” canceled back in the day. But that was a long time ago, a TV era shrouded in the mists of history.
— MGM+, the cable and streaming app formerly known as Epix, debuts “Hotel Cocaine” (10 p.m. Sunday, TV-MA). Set in Miami in 1978, “Hotel” offers a menu of disco music, over-the-top fashions and tales of drug dealers, DEA agents, double-crosses, deception, gunplay and violence.
This setting has been providing a backdrop for over-the-top entertainment at least since Al Pacino whipped out his “little friend,” in “Scarface” (1983), easily one of the most overrated movies of all time. Look for Michael Chiklis (“The Shield”) in the ensemble cast.
— “Grantchester” on “Masterpiece” (9 p.m., Sunday, TV-14, check local listings) enters its ninth season and brings the story into 1961 as Will and Geordie investigate the mysterious death of a circus performer.
— Hulu imports the U.K.’s first gay dating show, “I Kissed a Boy,” streaming on Saturday.
— TCM continues its Saturday night double feature festival. This week, writer and director Gina Prince-Bythewood (“The Secret Life of Bees”) takes the helm. Her choices fall outside of the network’s “classic” Hollywood category.
The 1998 Brazilian road movie “Central Station” (8 p.m., Saturday) follows the unlikely relationship between a young boy and a disappointed middle-aged woman. The 2013 drama “Fruitvale Station” (10 p.m.) follows the true story of the last hours of a young unarmed Black man shot by two San Francisco transit officers.
— Now streaming on Netflix, the anthology sci-fi fantasy series “Joko Anwar’s Nightmares and Fantasies” follows individuals encountering unexplained phenomena that may explain the world’s origins or portend its imminent doom. Imported from Indonesia.
SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— The Boston Red Sox host the New York Yankees in MLB action (7 p.m., Fox).
– U.S. Olympic Trials: Swimming (8 p.m., NBC), live from Indianapolis.
— The Edmonton Oilers host the Florida Panthers in the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals (8 p.m., ABC).
— After being accused of killing a cyclist, a wellness instructor vanishes, sparking a nationwide (wo)manhunt in the 2024 shocker “Yoga Teacher Killer: The Kaitlin Armstrong Story” (8 p.m., Lifetime, TV-14).
— While visiting her mother in the old country, a woman decides to open a restaurant after a brief encounter with a handsome man in the 2024 love story “A Greek Recipe for Romance” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G). I’ve got a feeling there is yogurt involved.
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— Repeat segments scheduled on “60 Minutes” (7 p.m., CBS): A broken federal prison system; the perils and promise of AI; a profile of guitarist and “Sopranos” star Steven Van Zandt.
— U.S. Olympic Trials: Swimming (8 p.m., NBC), live from Indianapolis.
— Gossip is a distraction for those allergic to thought. “TMZ Investigates: JLo & Ben: Missed Warning Signs” (8:30 p.m., Fox, TV-14), exploring a celebrity relationship that may or may not be on the rocks.
— After the murder of her old friend, a rebellious student concentrates on finding her killer in the 2024 shocker “Danger in the Dorm” (8 p.m., Lifetime, TV-14).
— Ben Kingsley, Bill Murray and Neel Sethi star in the 2016 adaptation of “The Jungle Book” (9 p.m., ABC).
— “Biography” (9 p.m., A&E, TV-14) profiles Bret Michaels, the front man for Poison who embarked on a surprising business career.
CULT CHOICE
An old-school analog videotape offers evidence of a monster attack on lower Manhattan in the 2008 shocker “Cloverfield” (7:20 p.m. Sunday, Showtime).
SATURDAY SERIES
A disgraced cabinet officer is arrested in Vienna on “FBI: International” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) … “48 Hours” (9 p.m. and 10 p.m., CBS) “American Ninja Warrior” (9 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG).
SUNDAY SERIES
“America’s Funniest Home Videos” (8 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) … Flute develops a dream life alter-ego on “Grimsburg” (9:30 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14) … “Weakest Link” (10 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG).
