WIMBLEDON WOMEN'S FINAL

NBC, 9 a.m. ET

The most obvious and impressive case of sibling rivalry in all of modern professional sports takes place today, as Venus and Serena Williams face one another again, at the women’s finals at Wimbledon. Dick Enberg (see Diane Holloway’s current Guest Blog for more on him) expects a very tough match this year, as do I.

A CAPITOL FOURTH

PBS, 8 p.m. ET

(Check local listings)

I’m feeling patriotic this year, so I’ll point towards the various 4th of July televised festivities today. The broadcast networks offer three live fireworks-and-concerts specials, beginning with this PBS entry, live from Washington, D.C. Jimmy Smits hosts, Barry Manilow and Aretha Franklin are scheduled to sing, and Big Bird is expected to lead some Muppets, and the Beltway crowd, on a medley of patriotic tunes.

BURN AFTER READING

HBO, 8 p.m. ET

The Coen Brothers went from the edge-of-the-seat creepiness and tension of No Country for Old Men to this 2008 off-of-the-wall character study of overwound losers involved in a plot about a downsized federal agent’s unpublished memoirs. George Clooney is loony, Frances McDormand is goony, John Malkovich is one notch below rabid, and Brad Pitt, as a Slurpee-sucking health-club employee with devious ambitions, is several hilarious notches below clueless. But tread carefully: The Coens, even in a broad comedy, can stun you with an unexpected mood switch or two. And, in this movie, they do.

MACY'S 4th OF JULY FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR

NBC, 9 p.m. ET

Live from New York, this celebration features, among other performers, the cast from Broadway’s West Side Story. Because, I guess, nothing says America like SINGING “America” – or celebrating the idea that rival street gangs can live, and dance and finger-pop, in peace.

BOSTON POPS FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR

CBS, 10 p.m. ET

This event, from Boston, presents someone singing “America,” too, but it’s a different “America” – sung, as well as written, by Neil Diamond.

1776

TCM, 10:15 p.m. ET

This 1972 movie musical is the perfect capper to a 4th of July night. Howard Da Silva, William Daniels and Ken Howard star as, respectively, Ben Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Think of HBO’s John Adams miniseries set to music – and then watch anyway. As Mark Twain once joked about the music of Wagner: It’s better than it sounds.