By Rick Gables
HBO will debut its new six-part, half-hour documentary series Small Town News: KPVM Pahrump with back-to-back episodes on Monday, Aug. 2, at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The series pulls back the curtain on life at a privately owned TV station in the small desert town of Pahrump, Nev., revealing a colorful cast of characters in front of and behind the cameras.
Owned and operated by Vernon Van Winkle, known as “Vern,” and his wife Ronda, a singer/songwriter, KPVM provides a look at what it takes to report the news in a small desert town, 62 miles west of Las Vegas. Featured is long-time devoted news director, Deanna, who along with co-anchor Eunette, and reporter Missey, produce and deliver the local nightly news. Missey’s husband, John, joins the team as KPVM’s fun-loving weatherman and up-and-coming sales associate. The fact that the series covers the divisive 2020 presidential election cycle adds an interesting focus to the documentary.
Showtime will premiere its four-part docu-series UFO on Sunday, Aug. 8, at 9 p.m. ET/PT, exploring our fascination with unidentified flying objects, and what clandestine influence the American government, lucrative private companies and the military may have in shielding the truth behind extraterrestrial phenomena.
Included are unsettling theories of a subject that recently reached national headlines and has historically been the focus of powerful politicians and CEOs, while average citizens pursuing the very same truth have been ridiculed and ostracized. Ignited by the bombshell New York Times story in 2017 revealing that the Pentagon had been secretly tracking UFOs for years, the series examines the history of the phenomenon.
The eighth and final season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine will premiere Thursday, Aug. 12, at 8 and 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. We continue to follow the exploits of hilarious Detective Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) and his stoically ever-professional Capt. Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher), along with their diverse, lovable colleagues as they police the NYPD’s 99th Precinct.
During the final season, Jake and the squad must try to balance their personal lives and their professional lives over the course of an extremely difficult year. The series also stars Melissa Fumero, Terry Crews, Joe Lo Truglio, Stephanie Beatriz, Joel McKinnon Miller and Dirk Blocker.