Wade into The Swamp documentary on HBO

Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Tuesday, August 4. All times are Eastern.

Top pick

The Swamp (HBO, 9 p.m., documentary premiere): “[The Swamp offers] a look at the day-to-day work of three representatives whose more complicated stances on governmental integrity may surprise Democrats and leftists used to doing nothing but demonizing them. Over the course of 2019 (though the events portrayed—the impeachment hearings chief among them—can feel like the distant past in this COVID world), directors Daniel DiMauro and Morgan Pehme trailed Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Ken Buck (R-CO), as they struggle to balance the mob-like demands of the RNC to raise money for their party against the small-government ideals that genuinely propelled them into office. Those ideals? Seeing President Trump’s call to ‘drain the swamp’ of D.C. corruption actually come to fruition. Yes, unlike the president, they are true believers. They want to see moneyed interests taken out of the equation, and representative democracy restored to something resembling what the founders had in mind, a system of elected representatives who actually vote for what the majority of their constituents want.” Read the rest of Alex McLevy’s film review.

Regular coverage

The Umbrella Academy (Netflix): binge coverage continues

Wild cards

Bandish Bandits (Amazon Prime, 3:01 a.m., complete first season): Honestly, we’re in exactly the right headspace for Aanand Tiwari’s Bandish Bandits, a music-heavy series (with a score from trio Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy) about a pop star and a classical singer who fall in l-o-v-e.