What"s on TV Wednesday: World Lion Day and Kerri Walsh Jennings in Rio

Kerri Walsh Jennings: Behind the gold
Photo A scene from Clash of Africas Giants. Credit Animal Planet

Celebrate World Lion Day with Animal Planet, then stream the enchanting wildlife tear-jerker Born Free. American swimmers, meanwhile, continue their quest for gold at the Rio Olympics. And Javier Bardem plays a Brazilian to great effect in Eat Pray Love.

Whats on TV

CLASH OF AFRICAS GIANTS 9 p.m. on Animal Planet. A lion pride tries to build an empire in the Kalahari Desert of Africa by taking advantage of elephants weakened by drought. Expect gorgeous, tawny scenery juxtaposed with images designed to break hearts in this World Lion Day special. Its the centerpiece of all-day programming that begins at 6 a.m. with Big Cat Diary, followed at 1 p.m. by Into the Lions Den; at 3 by Into the Pride; and, at 8, A Lion Called Christian, about the viral video star who, after being born in captivity, bought at Harrods in London and reintroduced into the wild by the conservationist George Adamson, remembered his original owners when they went in search of him.

RIO OLYMPICS 8 p.m. on NBC. The swimmers Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky lead the American womens 4x200-meter freestyle relay team. Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte try to advance in the preliminaries of the mens 200-meter individual medley. And the beach volleyball duo of Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross face off against a Swiss team in the early rounds. A complete schedule is at NBCOlympics .com.

Photo Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Love (2010). Credit Francois Duhamel/Columbia Pictures

EAT PRAY LOVE (2010) 10:10 p.m. on Oxygen. Julia Roberts, standing in for the author Elizabeth Gilbert, sets out on a global journey of liberation. Javier Bardem is the expatriate at the end of the road, after she has eaten her way through Italy, meditated in India and apprenticed herself to a shaman in Bali. Watch. Smile. Go home and dream of Brazilians in Bali, A. O. Scott wrote in The New York Times.

Whats Streaming

BORN FREE (1966) on Amazon and iTunes. Three-hankie special: George Adamson (Bill Travers), a game warden in Kenya, and his wife, Joy (Virginia McKenna), face a heart-rending decision after Elsa, the orphaned lion cub they have raised, becomes too big to keep. James Hills drama, with its hummable Oscar-winning theme song, was based on Ms. Adamsons 1960 autobiographic best seller. Vincent Canby, writing in The Times, called the film a poignant but happy reminder of the beauty and mystery of the life cycle.

Photo From left, Penlope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Scarlett Johansson in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008). Credit Victor Bello/Weinstein Company

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA (2008) on Amazon and iTunes. Two summering Americans (Rebecca Hall as the sensible Vicky and Scarlett Johansson as the dreamy Cristina) savor Catalan delicacies amid the splendors of Gauds Spain in this Woody Allen comedy. The tastiest morsels: the celebrated painter Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem, whom Manohla Dargis, writing in The New York Times, calls one of Spains national treasures) and Maria Elena (Penlope Cruz), his unstable former wife. The film is bathed in light so lusciously golden and honeyed that you might be tempted to lick the screen, Ms. Dargis said.

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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/10/arts/television/whats-on-tv-wednesday-world-lion-day-and-kerri-walsh-jennings-in-rio.html

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