TV picks July 17: 'Stranger Things,' 'Vice Principals,' 'The Daily Show With Trevor Noah'

Steven Spielberg isn't directly involved in "Stranger Things," but his approach to horror, in which the most frightening creature is loneliness, is all over it. The Duffer brothers pay homage to their unofficial mentor by making whip-smart kids the center of a missing-child thriller and lovingly honoring its '80s setting, from the rotary phones to the Yoda action figure. Casting Winona Ryder as the mother trying to hold it all together is the cherry on top.

Now streaming on Netflix

No one expects Danny McBride to suit up as the next Batman, but playing underachievers who dare everyone to knock a tobacco can off their shoulder is getting tedious. In "Vice Principals," his latest sad sack is a high school pencil pusher desperate for a promotion and the affections of a fellow teacher, neither of which he deserves. Walton Goggins lets his flamboyant flag fly as McBride's nemesis, and Bill Murray steals the show (again) in an early cameo.

9:30 p.m. Sunday, HBO

Most late night talk shows actually tape in the afternoon, a safety net that will be removed this week to respond to news from the Republican National Convention. "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" (10:35 p.m. WCCO, Ch. 4) will go live all week, as will "Late Night With Seth Meyers" (11:35 p.m. KARE, Ch. 11) on Thursday and "Real Time With Bill Maher" (10 p.m. HBO) on Wednesday and Thursday. "The Daily Show With Trevor Noah" still will be pretaped, but its coverage will be closely examined as the political assemblies helped make the career of its former host, Jon Stewart.