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TV TODAY

Luke Won't Leave and the Men Tell All in a 2-Hour Bachelorette

ALSO: So You Think You Can Dance, American Ninja Warrior, Years and Years, and more
  • The Bachelorette's Luke Parker and Hannah Brown in happier times. (Photo: ABC)
    The Bachelorette's Luke Parker and Hannah Brown in happier times. (Photo: ABC)

    Get ready to see a unicorn, because we're about to compliment The Bachelor franchise for something. Usually, The Bachelor is held up as an avatar for what's bad in reality television. It birthed the unholy child that is the dating-competition genre, which is almost universally bad (the current sexually fluid season of Are You the One excepted), it plays on phony notions of love and heteronormative commitment, and it has been staggeringly resistant to prople of color. Yes, it gave us the first season of UnREAL, but it also gave us the second season of UnREAL.

    Here's the compliment, though: it also gave us the "Women/Men Tell All" special, which pretty much birthed reunion-episode culture as we know it. Yes, Survivor aired reunion finales from the start, but when we talk about the kinds of must-see reunions utilized on shows like RuPaul's Drag Race and especially the Real Housewives franchise, where the reunions have evolved into multi-part main events, we must credit "The Women Tell All." Because they really, really do.

    NEW EPISODE: Tonight's 2-hour episode of The Bachelorette promises to be a doozy, beginning with the teased conclusion of Luke's final stand-off in Greece, and continuing with all 17 rejected bachelors returning to face Hannah again in this season's "Men Tell All" special. 8:00 PM ET on ABC

    NEW EPISODE: The very best part of the So You Think You Can Dance season is in full swing, as the callbacks for the Academy are in full swing. This week, the remaining contestants will dance contemporary with La La Land choreographer Mandy Moore, and then the top 10 men and top 10 women will be chosen. 9:00 PM ET on FOX

    NEW EPISODE: While it is far too hot outside to even think about any kind of normal athletic exertion, much less the insane tests of strength and flexibility requires by the folks on American Ninja Warrior, it's very fun to watch other people be athletic from the comfort of our couches. Tonight's Atlanta city finals will feature return of Ninjas Drew Drechsel and Tyler Gillett, who both hope to advance to Vegas. 8:00 PM ET on NBC

    NEW EPISODE: The Hills: New Beginnings has done one thing right with its undead zombie of a season — well, okay, they've done three things right: 1) casting Brandon Lee, son of Pamela Anderson, 2) bringing back Whitney to exude human decency again, and now 3) bringing Justin Bobby back as a regular character to act as an agent of chaos. This week sees Audrina and Stephanieoff of each other, as they square off against each other with Justin as the sketchy prize. 10:00 PM ET on MTV

    ALSO TONIGHT

    • Years and Years continues to be the single most stressful show on television, and we're only JUST getting to the part where Emma Thompson's Vivienne Rook, the charismatic, Trump-esque fascist-in-businesswman's-clothing takes her seat as prime minister. 9:00 PM ET on HBO
    • POV tells the story of 23-year-old Nadia Murad, who survived genocide and sexual slavery at the hands of the Islamic State. 9:00 PM ET on PBS
    • Legion continues its final season as David wages war. 10:00 PM ET on FX

    Joe Reid is the senior writer at Primetimer and co-host of the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast. His work has appeared in Decider, NPR, HuffPost, The Atlantic, Slate, Polygon, Vanity Fair, Vulture, The A.V. Club and more.

    TOPICS: The Bachelorette, ABC, Hannah Brown, Luke Parker, Reality TV