This Week in TV: ‘Paper Girls,’ Sharks, ‘Riverdale’ Finale

Rick Porter
·3 min read
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Amazon keeps its hand in the comic book adaptation game with Paper Girls, Shark Week continues and a pair of CW series have finales (one for good). They’re among the TV and streaming highlights for July 27-Aug. 2.

Below is The Hollywood Reporter’s rundown of premieres, returns and specials over the next seven days. It would be next to impossible to watch everything, but let THR point the way to worthy options for the coming week. All times are ET/PT unless noted.

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The Big Show

It’s a supernaturally tinged, 1980s-set drama centered on kids who ride bikes, but Stranger Things, this is not. Paper Girls is an adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang’s award-winning comic book about four girls who, while on their newspaper delivery routes in 1988, become caught up in a war between rival factions of time travelers.

Sofia Rosinksy, Camryn Jones, Riley Lai Nelet and Fina Strazza play the four title characters, and Vaughan is among the show’s executive producers. All eight episodes premiere Friday on Prime Video.

Also on streaming …

Season three of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (Wednesday, Disney+) takes the cast to theater camp. Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin (Thursday, HBO Max) finds a new group of girls stalked by “A.” Also on HBO Max Thursday is the third season of animated series Harley Quinn. Cristin Milioti and William Jackson Harper star in The Resort (Thursday, Peacock), a mystery from Palm Springs writer Andy Siara. Surface (Friday, Apple TV+) stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw as a woman trying to recover her memory after a traumatic injury. Darren Star’s Uncoupled (Friday, Netflix) finds Neil Patrick Harris’ character at loose ends after his husband leaves.

On cable …

Specials: We’re in the midst of the 34th(!) annual Shark Week on Discovery, which continues through Saturday. Among the highlights for the second half of the week: Island of Walking Sharks (8 p.m. Wednesday) and Tracy Morgan Presents: Sharks! With Tracy Morgan (8 p.m. Thursday). All Shark Week shows also stream on Discovery+. The clip below is not from Shark Week but is relevant nonetheless.

Also: Charlamagne tha God’s weekly Comedy Central show gets a format change and a new title: Hell of a Week. It premieres at 11:30 p.m. Thursday. City on a Hill opens its third season at 10 p.m. Sunday on Showtime. HBO’s Industry returns for a second season at 9 p.m. Monday. Joel McHale hosts Celebrity Beef (10 p.m. Tuesday, E!), in which feuding celebs settle their issues via cooking competition.

On broadcast …

Finale: Riverdale closes out its sixth season with Archie (KJ Apa) and the gang facing down a literal comet, because why not? The finale, airing at 8 p.m. Sunday on The CW, will also tee up the show’s seventh and final season set for 2023.

Also: ABC News’ series The Con (10 p.m. Thursday) begins a second season of chronicling swindlers and con artists. Season two of Secret Celebrity Renovation (8 p.m. Friday, CBS) features Billy Gardell, Debbie Gibson and Shaquille O’Neal among its secret celebrity renovators. Tom Swift concludes its single season on The CW at 9 p.m. Tuesday.

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