Dragons Ride Again, Vicar on the Move in ‘Grantchester,’ Tony Awards, ‘Hotel Cocaine’

Season Premiere

9/8c

SUNDAY: As we wait for the fire-breathing title characters to spring into action in this solemn slog of a Game of Thrones prequel, there’s a lot of portentous heavy breathing among the platinum-haired Targaryens. While the dastardly dragon-riding clan violently bickers over who deserves to sit the Iron Throne, the series degrades into assassination plots, civil war within their divided kingdom and includes this prophetic utterance from pouty boy-king Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), who observes, “No time for amusements.” Notably lacking in the wry humor — no Tyrian Lannister-style jester among this bunch — and the sex appeal that propelled Thrones to cult immortality, Dragon instead doubles down on the gloom and ghastly body count, where innocents tend to be collateral to the ambitions of these royal ghouls. (If you’re like me, you’ll need a flow chart to remember who’s who.) On the plus side, the production values are incredible, and it beats reading George R.R. Martin’s deadly source volume, Fire & Blood.

Season Premiere

9/8c

SUNDAY: Change is afoot in the genteel murder capital as Season 9 of the popular Masterpiece mystery series begins. As usual, there’s a crime to solve — this time within a traveling circus — but shock waves are brewing in this Cambridge village after the vicar, Will Davenport (Tom Brittney), receives a tempting offer from the bishop, presenting new pastoral opportunities that would mean moving him and his young family away from Grantchester. Will’s biggest worry: How to tell his partner in crime-solving and all-around father figure, Detective Inspector Geordie Keating (the great Robson Green). “He survived Burma. He’d get through us leaving,” Will’s wife Bonnie (Charlotte Ritchie) counsels him. Don’t be so sure.

Special

8/7c

SUNDAY: Celebrating the best of Broadway, this classiest of awards shows kicks off with a musical opening number choreographed by and starring the returning Oscar-winning host Ariana DeBose (West Side Story). The ceremony also features performances from nominated musicals Hell’s Kitchen, Suffs, The Outsiders, Water for Elephants and Illinoise, plus revivals including Stephen Sondheim’s smash hit Merrily We Roll Along (with front-runners Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez), Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club and The Who’s Tommy. The most-nominated play, Stereophonic, which is set inside a recording studio, will also present a musical number. A special tribute to Tony-winning legend Chita Rivera, who died in January at 91, stars Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Bebe Neuwirth (a nominee this year for Cabaret). Broadway-bound Nicole Scherzinger (Sunset Boulevard) performs during the In Memoriam segment. For completists, a curtain-raising The Tony Awards: Act One will be available for free live-streaming starting at 6:30 pm/ET on Pluto TV’s “ET” channel, hosted by Julianne Hough and Ghosts’ Utkarsh Ambudkar.

Series Premiere

10/9c

SUNDAY: Clichés rain like snow throughout Chris Brancato’s (Narcos) late-1970s crime melodrama that takes us back to Miami’s drug-infused disco era. Danny Pino (Mayans M.C.) blandly stars as Roman Compte, a Cuban exile who manages the glitzy Mutiny Hotel and its cocaine-fueled Mutiny Club. He’s riding high until a DEA agent (growly Michael Chiklis) pressures him to inform on his drug-trafficking brother Nestor Cabal (Yul Vazquez) or risk losing his own family. For laughs, savor Mark Feuerstein’s over-the-top mugging as Roman’s jittery hotelier boss, who spends much of the first hour trying to impress gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson (John Ventimiglia of the infinitely superior The Sopranos).

9/8c

SUNDAY: In a pivotal episode of the evocative supernatural thriller, Claudia’s (Delainey Hayles) forbidden friendship with Parisian dressmaker Madeleine (Roxane Duran) leads to an unusual and fateful request. Back at the Théâtre des Vampires, Santiago (Ben Daniels) creates more dissent among the vampire troupe, putting Claudia and Louis (Jacob Anderson) in a dangerous position.

INSIDE WEEKEND TV:

• Summer Olympic Swimming Trials (Saturday and Sunday, 8/7c, NBC): Highlights of the U.S. team competition, from the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, include seven-time gold medalist Katie Ledecky aiming to qualify for four events in her fourth Olympics games.
• A Greek Recipe for Romance (Saturday, 8/7c, Hallmark Channel): Danielle C. Ryan stars in a movie filmed on location as Abby, who flies to Greece for a fresh start, and finds one with Theo (Rafael Kariotakis), with whom she plans to start a restaurant.
• Yoga Teacher Killer: The Kaitlin Armstrong Story (Saturday, 8/7c, Lifetime): Legends of Tomorrow’s Caity Lotz stars in the title role of the Texas yoga teacher accused of killing pro cyclist Moriah Wilson (Larissa Dias) in a fit of jealousy over Wilson’s brief affair with her ex and fellow pro Colin Strickland (Kyle Schmid, Lotz’s real-life husband).
• A Match for the Prince (Sunday, 7/6c, UPtv): A romance novelist (Paniz Zade) specializing in the medieval is enlisted to matchmake for actual Prince Maximillian Lucien Adalwolf (Jamie Thomas King) and find him a mate before his set royal wedding date.
• Professor T. (Sunday, 8/7c, PBS): The British crime drama returns for a third season, with the eccentric prof (Ben Miller) in jail awaiting trial.
• The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper (Sunday, 8/7c, CNN): Space and Defense Correspondent Kristin Fisher reports on “The James Webb Telescope: Are We Alone?” with the latest cosmic discoveries. She interviews NASA administrator Bill Nelson about what else we might learn about the origins of the universe.
• Danger in the Dorm (Sunday, 8/7c, Lifetime): Real Housewife Bethenny Frankel plays the concerned mom of college student Kathleen (Clara Alexandrova), who takes it upon herself to track down a campus killer in a movie based on an early Ann Rule true-crime story.
• TMZ Investigates: JLo & Ben: Missed Warning Signs (Sunday, 8:30/7:30c, Fox): The muckraking gossips add fuel to the fire, speculating on the celebrity couple’s rumored marital tensions.
• DI Ray (Sunday, 10/9c, PBS): ER alum Parminder Nagra returns for a second season as Detective Inspector Rachita Ray, who’s back on the job after suspension to tackle the high-profile murder of a notorious crime family boss.