Fox returns to its favorite zip code
Is the third time the charm? “BH90210” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14) arrives (again) as a “new” version of the Aaron Spelling-produced series about a band of high school friends. It’s actually the sixth incarnation, if you count other spinoffs, including at least two editions of “Melrose Place.” Maybe its durable nature stems from the fact that none of its stars were remotely believable as teenagers during its 1990s heyday. Middle age becomes them.
Unlike the recent reboots of “Roseanne,” “Will & Grace,” “Murphy Brown,” and “Fuller House” (to name a few), this “90210” iteration will feature much of the original cast playing characters loosely based on themselves. And to make this even more “inside,” they will gather to kick around the idea of rebooting their own show.
Look for Jason Priestley, Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering, Gabrielle Carteris, Brian Austin Green and Tori Spelling as themselves.
The return has some built-in poignancy. This reunion cannot take place without a glance back at the stars’ late colleague Luke Perry. The “Riverdale” star died in March, just two months before this “new” “90210” was announced.
› The CW reshuffles its summer schedule with a British import and another spectacle based on a U.K. series. Taye Diggs (“All American”) hosts “Hypnotize Me” (9 p.m., TV-PG), a variation on the old idea that perfect strangers can be made to do odd things when placed under the “power of suggestion.” Keith Barry, the hypnotist featured in the British series, is on hand to make people feel very sleepy.
“Bulletproof ” (8 p.m., TV-14) arrives via the U.K.’s Sky network. It follows two mismatched undercover officers, Bishop (Noel Clarke, “Star Trek: Into Darkness”) and Pike (Ashley Walters, “Top Boy”), as they share buddy cop banter about food, women and life while tracking down criminals in London’s East End.
As we’ve come to expect from such shows, their superiors barely tolerate their antics, but cannot do without their derring-do. Dark, slick and
occasionally funny, “Bulletproof ” resembles any number of British procedurals arriving everywhere from PBS and Acorn to Netflix. It’s not clear how this fits into the CW’s superhero-heavy “brand.”
› Anyone out there? Have they been here? The new series “Contact” (10 p.m., Discovery, TV-PG) gathers six researchers who employ CIA and military hardware to track close encounters.
› “Expedition
Unknown” (9 p.m., Discovery, TV-PG) enters its seventh season with possible “evidence” of additional Dead Sea Scrolls.
› On a more downto-earth series, “Queen of the Pythons” (8 p.m., Smithsonian) profiles a 13-foot female South African snake named Squeeze, as she slithers in search of prey as small as birds and as large as deer.
Contact Kevin McDonough at kevin .tvguy@gmail.com.