Fireworks & Festivities on the 4th & Americas 250th, Sharkfest Returns, Hallmarks Christmas in July

SATURDAY: Happy birthday, America! This isn’t an ordinary 4th of July, as the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding. Wherever you look, including on the 24-hour news channels, TV will be joining the patriotic party with historical perspective, great music, and oh so many fireworks. Some selected Saturday highlights:

• Disney Celebrates America: With programming on ABC and simulcast on other Disney-owned platforms including National Geographic, FX, Freeform, ABC News Live, Hulu and Disney+, a 24-hour blowout that began Friday night continues with a special edition of Good Morning America (7 am/ET), followed by a nationwide report on Hometowns & Heroes (10 am/ET) anchored by David Muir, ESPN’s coverage of the annual Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest (12 pm/ET, ESPN2) from Coney Island, a survey of 7 Wonders of America (1 pm/ET, ABC) from the Grand Canyon and the Everglades to Niagara Falls, a salute to Dreamers & Innovators (3 pm/ET, ABC) and a special two-hour edition of ESPN’s SportsCenter (5 pm/ET). The evening concludes with Nashville’s Star-Spangled Bash (8/7c), hosted by Ryan Seacrest, with a country-music lineup featuring Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Little Big Town, and many more.
• Macy’s 4thof July Fireworks (8/7c, NBC, also streaming on Peacock): One of the longest-running TV traditions marks its 50th anniversary, with America’s Got Talent‘s Terry Crews hosting talent including Blake Shelton, Post Malone, Salt-N-Pepa, Noah Kahan, Bebe Rexha, Shaboozey, and The Voice winner Alexia Jayy in anticipation of a fireworks spectacular over New York’s Brooklyn Bridge and the Lower East and Hudson Rivers.
• The Great American Block Party (8 pm/ET, CBS, also streaming on Paramount+ and CBS News 24/7): Anchoring live from Washington, D.C. and featuring celebrations across the country, including at the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota, CBS Evening News‘ Tony Dokoupil and Entertainment Tonight‘s Nischelle Turner welcome performers including Jon Batiste, Zac Brown Band, Goo Goo Dolls, and The War and Treaty.
• America Made in Virginia: 250 Years Together (8/7c, PBS): Colonial Williamsburg is the historic setting for a two-hour tapestry that includes a dramatic reading from the Declaration of Independence, narration by Richard Thomas, a greeting from PBS icon Ken Burns, and performances by Judy Collins, Michael Feinstein, Tony winners Kelli O’Hara and Adrienne Warren, and opera’s Ryan Speedo Green.
• The Fourth in America: Celebrating 250 (6 pm/ET, CNN): Day-long coverage culminates with an exclusive broadcast of the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, anchored by Anderson Cooper and Pamela Brown, with conductor Keith Lockhart and performances by Lainey Wilson, Chance the Rapper, and Trombone Shorty.

SUNDAY: A sure sign of summer: a shark infestation on TV. The 14th annual weeklong SharkFest (also streaming on Disney+ and Hulu) opens with Hammerhead Sharks Up Close with Bertie Gregory (9/8c), featuring the celebrated wildlife cinematographer and National Geographic Explorer diving deep into the waters of the Mexican Pacific to encounter the marine predators, whose population has declined in recent years. Followed by World’s Largest Sharks (10/9c), a survey of supersized sharks from Hawaii to French Polynesia.

SATURDAY: Heat waves be damned, it’s the most wonderful time of the year again on the channel that never loses the holiday spirit. The first of four weekly “Christmas in July” movies stars Jessica Lowndes and Adam Hurtig as popular stars of a Renovation Romance reality show who reassess their own relationship when paired with another couple (Daniel Lissing and Samantha Kendrick) to restore a rustic New Hampshire cabin during a live Christmas special.

SUNDAY: A strong episode of the poignant British crime drama strikes a personal nerve for police consultant Patience (Ella Maisy Purvis), whose autism becomes essential to breaking through to an 11-year-old autistic girl who may have witnessed her father’s murder. The girl’s mother has also gone missing, triggering Patience’s trauma over her own abandonment. Off duty, Patience’s relationship with young crime-scene officer Elliot (Tom Lewis) takes another step when she introduces him to her best friend: Billy (Connor Curren), who moderates her autism support group.

SUNDAY: As Shakespeare famously observed, “Uneasy is the head that wears the crown.” It doesn’t take long for Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) to realize how true this is, now that she has taken the Iron Throne in a gruesome manner befitting a Game of Thrones spinoff. “The air is thick with ghosts,” she appropriately observes, and as she takes the measure of a depleted treasury and a starving and restless populace, she further laments, “I am awash in dilemmas and deficiencies.” Just wait until she learns about a betrayal within her own walls!

INSIDE WEEKEND TV:

• FIFA World Cup: The round of 16 begins Saturday with Canada vs. Morocco in Houston (1 pm/ET, Fox) and Paraguay vs. France in Philadelphia (5 pm/ET, Fox), continuing Sunday with Brazil vs. Norway at New York New Jersey (aka Met Life) Stadium (4 pm/ET, Fox) and Mexico vs. England in Mexico City (8 pm/ET, Fox).
• Ralph Lauren’s American Icons (Saturday, 7:30/6:30c, History Channel): A documentary explores the famed designer’s collection of USPS stamps featuring images of iconic American symbols, with commentary from Ken Burns and Lauren’s son, David.
• Grantchester (Sunday, 9/8c, PBS): Alphy’s (Rishi Nair) unhappy visit to his mother takes a nasty turn when a passenger on his train is murdered and the vicar, no stranger to prejudice, becomes the prime suspect.
• The Vampire Lestat (Sunday, 9/8c, AMC): The rock star vampire (Sam Reid) lays down tracks in the recording studio, but his mind is elsewhere, haunted by memories of his first encounter with Akasha, the Queen of the Damned (a fearsome Sheila Atim), aka the mother of all vampires.