Entertainment

Two documentary events premiere today, highlighting stories of the forgotten, overlooked and invisible.

Back in the day, and perhaps still in our own time, the beach was the place for male preening and showoff behavior intended to impress the female of the species. Such shenanigans launched a million beach movies and perhaps resulted in some real love matches in the dunes.

Now streaming on Netflix, “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” revives a franchise that debuted some 40 years ago. Eddie Murphy returns to one of his signature roles, this time older and wiser and concerned about threats to his daughter (Taylour Paige). This necessitates teamwork with faces both old (Judge Reinhold from the first film) and new (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).

Nothing says summer quite like Shark Week. And nothing quite says cable, either. Does the annual ritual still make sense in the streaming television age?

“A Capitol Fourth” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-G, check local listings) returns for its 44th annual concert. A traditional celebration of America just two years shy of the republic’s 250th birthday, “Fourth” sets out to show just how many ways patriotism and the ideals of America can be expressed and celebrated.

Kids and teens

TCM salutes the work of the late Roger Corman, producer and director and celebrator of low-budget exploitation films. Featured movies include the 1963 shocker “X: The Man With the X-Ray Eyes” (8 p.m., TCM) and “A Bucket of Blood” (9:30 p.m.), produced in a few days for a pittance in 1959. The sets for “Bucket” were recycled for use on “The Little Shop of Horrors” (12:15 a.m.) made just days later. “Shop” would inspire an off-Broadway musical that helped launch the career of future Disney composer Howard Ashman (“The Little Mermaid”), which was adapted into a major motion picture in 1989. The original “Little Shop” featured a performance by Jack Nicholson, who would become a part of Corman’s acting ensemble.

Nearly half a century after Kevin Silva played his first paid musical set, the native Columbus singer, electric guitarist and keyboardist speaks with the exuberance of something of a rocking rookie.

In a world of nonstop prognostication, anticipation and second-guessing, some revolutions arrive unannounced. Among the more notable viewing trends of 2024 is the explosive growth in TV viewership for women’s basketball, both professional and collegiate.

Happy July. Time was, the days approaching July 4 were conspicuously “slow” — not unlike the week after Christmas. Summer was a time for repeats and ads for the new fall shows. Cable introduced fare such as Shark Week to fill up the schedule with event programming.