Between streaming and cable, viewers have a seemingly endless variety of things to watch. Here's a selection of TV shows and specials airing or streaming this week, July 6-12. Details and times are subject to change.
Lavish gatherings and survival on the frontier.
Elin Hilderbrand has written more than 30 novels since 2000, establishing herself as a premier purveyor of beach reading and a local Nantucket celebrity; and now, his book “The five-star weekend” is getting a television adaptation. Jennifer Garner stars as Hollis Shaw, a cookbook author and food influencer who finds herself in a public crisis after the unexpected death of her husband. To cope with her pain, she decides to organize a weekend with a friend from different stages of her life. Regina Hall, Chloë Sevigny, D'Arcy Carden, Gemma Chan and Timothy Olyphant complete the cast. All eight episodes will be released together, along with a companion podcast with Hilderbrand as host. Starts airing Thursday Peacock.
“Little House on the Prairie” has been a staple of American culture for almost 100 years. The first book in the semi-autobiographical series (there were nine) by Laura Ingalls Wilder was published in 1932; Then, in 1974, the first television version began and ran for nine seasons. The books and series tell the story of the Ingalls family who, at the end of the 19th century, moves through the Midwest of the United States. Parents and children face illness, food shortages, and adapt to a new and changing lifestyle. The story is retold in the new adaptation, starring Luke Bracey, Crosby Fitzgerald, Alice Halsey and Skywalker Hughes, and promises to show the rawest and harshest realities of this moment in history, including the perspective of the Osage tribe, native to the land where the Ingalls move. The series has already been renewed for a second season. Starts airing Thursday netflix.
In 2006, Twitter became available to the public, Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet, and Italy defeated France during the FIFA World Cup final. For some Bravo fans, the most significant event of 2006 was the premiere of “The Real Housewives of Orange County which was also the first of the “Housewives” franchise. This week, the show returns for its 20th season with an OG cast member, Vicki Gunvalson, returning to the show along with a mix of other veterans, including Tamra Judge, Heather Dubrow, and Shannon Storms Beador. Thursdays at 8 pm on Bravo.
Documentaries to catch up.
Take a trip with me here. Imagine you are a police officer and you stop a woman for speeding. She claims that she just gave birth in her car and is holding a baby, but when doctors evaluate her at the hospital, they determine that she has not recently given birth. That's what happens in the first five minutes of “Maternal instinct” a recently released true crime documentary. The story follows Taylor Parker and the series of events and lies that led to the opening scene. Now available to stream on netflix.
In 1986, Larry Harvey and Jerry James built an eight-foot-tall wooden effigy in Baker Beach, San Francisco, and the Burning Man festival was born. It moved to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada in 1991 and has been a cultural tradition and mainstay ever since. The festival made headlines in 2023, when the desert flooded and 70,000 attendees, including Diplo and Chris Rock, were trapped, and then again in 2025, when dust storms hit during the festival. The four-episode documentary series. “The man will burn” tells the story of the festival's anarchic and rebellious roots through interviews and audiovisual material from its archrivals. Thursdays at 9 p.m. on HBO and streaming maximum HBO.
On January 13, 2012, the Costa Concordia, an Italian cruise ship carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew members, struck a submerged reef off the coast of the Italian island of Giglio. The emergency caused flooding and blackouts, which ultimately led to the deaths of 32 people. The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, abandoned the ship before the passengers departed, considered a dereliction of duty, and did not return, even after being ordered to do so by the Italian coast guard. He was eventually charged and found guilty of manslaughter, causing a maritime disaster, abandoning his ship, and sentenced to 16 years in prison. the documentary “Castaway: A Nightmare at Sea” uses images and testimonials from passengers to tell the story. Starts airing on Friday netflix.
In 2018, former Russian military intelligence Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal were found unconscious on a public bench in Salisbury, England, and what followed was a year-long investigation involving counterterrorism units, the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory, and police. the documentary “The Salisbury poisonings: a spy next door” features interviews with former Prime Minister Theresa May, as well as the former Home Secretary, former heads of MI6 and the former head of the Counter Terrorism Police. Sunday at 8 pm on CNN.
