The Long and Short of Martin Short, ‘NCIS’ Finales, Marvels’ ‘Punisher,’ Remembering Richard Simmons

“Marty is good at life,” says comedian John Mulaney, one of many admirers interviewed for director/friend Lawrence Kasdan‘s intimate and revealing biographical profile of the Emmy and Tony-winning Martin Short. Life hasn’t always been easy for the agelessly impish Canada-born entertainer, who suffered family tragedies at a young age and lost his wife to cancer and a daughter to suicide. But with a resilience as remarkable as his versatility, Short shares home movies and other archival footage (including some shot by Steven Spielberg) as he reflects on his still-thriving career. The film includes commentary from his SCTV co-stars Eugene Levy and the late Catherine O’Hara, his Only Murders in the Building and touring buddy Steve Martin, and Tom Hanks, who declares, “Marty operates at the speed of joy.” Anyone who’s seen him in action knows that joy is contagious.

Tim McGee (Sean Murray) started out as a probie many moons ago, but as NCIS wraps its 23rd season, he takes center stage when the team investigates a coffee shop bombing that echoes a similar attack from a year earlier. Followed by the two-part Season 3 finale of NCIS: Sydney (9/8c and 10/9c), where Mackey (Olivia Swann) and her colleagues are lured back into the clandestine world of The Collective after an FBI agent is found dead in Fiji.

Few souls in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are as tormented as Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal), the brutal ex-Marine vigilante whose descent into PTSD madness hits rock bottom in a bleak hour-long special co-written by Bernthal and director Reinaldo Marcus Green. With the streets of Little Sicily erupting into chaos following his slaughter of the Gnucci crime family, Castle walks among them, numbed and haunted. “I’m tired,” he admits in a suicidal spiral until he’s roused from his fatalistic fugue state by a vengeful figure who sends seemingly everyone from New York’s underworld after him. The body count, as usual, is ridiculous, but Bernthal plays it straight as a one-man killing machine.

Before his death at 76 in July 2024, flamboyant fitness guru Richard Simmons was planning a comeback after a decade out of the spotlight, which included a proposed interview with ABC News legend Diane Sawyer, to whom he had sent a note (with flowers) reading, “I trust you.” Nearly two years later, Sawyer explores his colorful life and career, interviewing those who knew him best about his long period of seclusion and the circumstances of his passing.

In anticipation of the 2026 FIFA World Cup coming to North America next month, a five-part docuseries follows the United States Men’s National Soccer Team over the last four years as they prepare to play on home turf. The series opens with unseen footage from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with cameras profiling players including Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams, Timothy Weah, and Weston McKennie on and off the pitch as they participate in training camps and international matches, learning new strategies when they welcome a new head coach, Mauricio Pochettino, in 2024.

Also stoking World Cup fever: ESPN‘s Last Train to North America (8/7c, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes), a docuseries taking the rails through the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to reveal how the three nations are preparing for the tournament. First stops: Toronto, then Boston and New York.

INSIDE TUESDAY TV:

• Celebrity Jeopardy! All Stars (8/7c, ABC): The first of three semifinals, leading to Friday’s final match, features Abbott Elementary‘s Lisa Ann Walter and sports media personalities Katie Nolan and Mina Kimes (who’ll host the Scripps National Spelling Bee this month).
• Homestead Rescue (8/7c, Discovery Channel): In the Season 14 premiere, the Raneys help a couple whose dream homestead in California’s fire country is in jeopardy.
• Chopped Castaways (9/8c, Food Network): Chopped takes a page from the Survivor playbook in a spinoff competition hosted by Ted Allen, where 12 chefs are stranded on an island, where they must first build a working kitchen before earning ingredients through physical challenges.
• Bear Grylls Is Running Wild (9/8c, Fox): Uma Thurman joins Bear Grylls on a journey through Wales’ rugged Eryri Mountains.
• 7 Little Johnstons (9/8c, TLC): The 17th season ends with celebration and surprises on Liz and Brice’s wedding day.
• Squatters (10/9c, A&E): Launching with back-to-back episodes, a new series explores the dilemma of homeowners dealing with unwanted guests, including a house sitter in Vancouver, Washington, who refuses to leave.
• Soccer’s American Dream (10/9c, Vice TV): The historical docuseries’ second episode revisits the 1980s, when U.S. pro soccer was in decline, prompting officials to make a bid to bring the 1994 World Cup to America.
• Frontline (10/9c, PBS): In “The President vs. The Fed,” correspondent James Jacoby reports on the clashes between the president and the Federal Reserve, most notably with its outgoing chairman, Jerome Powell.

ON THE STREAM:

• Devil May Cry (streaming on Netflix): Demon hunter Dante faces off against his estranged brother Vergil in the second season of the animated dark fantasy based on the Japanese video game franchise.
• Tyler Perry’s Zatima (streaming on Paramount+): The romantic Sistas spinoff starring Devale Ellis (Zac) and Crystal Renee Hayslett (Fatima) returns with 10 new episodes to finish the fourth season.
• S10 (streaming on Viaplay): A documentary profiles Dutch singer-songwriter Stien den Hollander, aka S10, who gained recognition when she represented the Netherlands in 2022’s Eurovision Song Contest.