TV lineup promises pugilism, pickleball and partying

Soccer seems to be here to stay. There’s been barely a minute to recover from the 2026 World Cup final. Big smiles are still lingering after last week’s news that Winnipeg has been awarded the Northern Super League’s seventh franchise, starting in 2027. And because it’s not real if it’s not adapted for TV, there are but two weeks to go before the much anticipated return of Ted Lasso, with Jason Sudeikis’s title character now coaching a women’s soccer team in Season 4 (Aug. 5 on Apple TV). Rolling with that sports theme but venturing to other (occasionally murdery) arenas, here are a few suggestions for some brand new non-soccer programming.

● They Fight (movie streaming now on Disney+/Hulu)

This drama, set in Washington, D.C., concerns an ex-con who is drowning in doubt, from within and without, but trying to find his fight. The boxing gym beckons and it’s no spoiler to say he finally responds and learns that the best way to help yourself is to help others first. As they say in the trailer, “lock in!” Andre Holland (Selma) plays our hero alongside fellow acting heavyweights Samira Wiley (The Walking Dead) and Wendell Pierce (Elsbeth).

● The Dink (movie premières Friday, July 24 on Apple TV)

Pickleball knows you look down on it and it doesn’t care. Apple bills this new comedy, from producer (and co-star) Ben Stiller (Dodgeball) as a “laugh-out-loud underdog story” and that looks about right. Jake Johnson (New Girl) plays Dusty, former rising tennis rising star laid low by an injury for which his doctor prescribes pickleball. Dusty is incensed and tries (and fails) to rage his way through the pickleball community. His new partner (Mary Steenburgen, Man on the Inside) helps him embrace the joy of the new game, including the zen of the “dink” shot. Real-life tennis star Andy Roddick co-stars, as does Ed Harris (Dutton Ranch), Chloe Fineman (SNL) and Aaron Chen (Fisk).

● 72 Hours (movie premières Friday, July 24, on Netflix)

A 40(ahem)-year-old executive (Kevin Hart) hopes to rediscover his youth by crashing a three-day bachelor party that he knows he was only accidentally invited to via a group text. Slapstick mayhem ensues in Miami: young guys making old-guy jokes, ridiculous sexual hijinks, horrifying jellyfish injuries. Joining actor/comedian Hart are SNL’s Marcello Hernández, Ben Marshall and Kam Patterson along with Mason Gooding (Heart Eyes), Michael Mando (Better Call Saul) and Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another), to name a few.

● Furious (series premières Monday, July 27, on Disney+ /Hulu)

Emmy Rossum (Shameless) is back, playing a brand-new FBI agent who is pulled into the orbit of what she alone believes to be a serial killer, played with creepy effectiveness by Lola Petticrew (Say Nothing). Jake Lacy (The White Lotus) and Scoot McNairy (Halt and Catch Fire) co-star. The press kit has a ridiculous line about the female characters each pursuing their version of “justice.” Bah. A better kind of justice would be if film/TV/books spent half their serial-killer budgets on non-homicidal storylines. But, like, I’m still gonna watch.

● The Devil’s Mouth (movie premières Wednesday, July 29 on Prime Video)

While Apple TV’s hit Widow’s Bay blends small (island) town comedy with supernatural horror to thrilling effect, The Devil’s Mouth offers a different kind of marine jump scare. When five friends go caving in Thailand, the terror that surfaces is in the form of a non-supernatural but very hungry creature that is hunting them. Things go all Survivor after that. Will anyone live to tell the tale?

As is increasingly the case in this world of media mergers and cross-border rights squabbles, broadcast details subject to change. All questions, comments and suggestions gratefully accepted at winnipegfreepress.com/deniseduguay.