Fox, 8:00 p.m. ET
The final season continues – and if trends continue as well, based on last week’s successful contestants, this last American Idol season will be dominated overwhelmingly by women, and by girls.
PBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
Part 1 of 3. This new three-part Nature documentary, Natural Born Hustlers, is a delightful examination of the clever ways animals have adapted, or the behaviors they’ve adopted, to survive and thrive in the wild. Tonight’s Part 1 is titled Staying Alive, and runs through some of the wild kingdom’s trickier defensive hustles. There’s the “motion dazzle” of zebras, which finally explains the value of those distinctive black-and-white stripes. And the “disruptive camouflage” of Australian geckos. And burrowing owls who, from the safety of their burrows, imitate the sounds of rattling rattlesnakes to dissuade predators from finding them. And, my favorite, squirrels who evade being eaten by snakes by chewing on dead, shed snakeskin, rubbing the resultant “mush” all over themselves and their offspring, and confusing the snakes by throwing off the same scent. It’s exactly the same trick used on The Walking Dead – by humans, not squirrels – who cover themselves in zombie blood and guts to walk undetected among the unliving. Who knew? Check local listings.
Fox, 9:00 p.m. ET
SERIES PREMIERE: This new series, about an old cop reincarnated in a young hunk’s body, is called
Second Chance, but doesn’t deserve one. Its premise is far-fetched, but what kills it, for good, is that its execution is far from entertaining. For a related story, see
David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.
ABC, 10:00 p.m. ET
Last week’s episode ended with a cliffhanger, and so does tonight’s – but there’s tension throughout the hour, as the mother of the allegedly attacked boy continues to push for an investigation and some punishment, and school and police officials push back. In tonight’s episode, Lili Taylor as the mom, and Felicity Huffman, as a school official, have the best scenes – and not exactly with their characters enjoying any shared interests.
TV Land, 10:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: Sutton Foster returns for Season 2 of this series, which is far more current, and occasionally hard-edged, than you might expect from a TV Land original series. Its premise sound light and breezy (a women re-enters the work force by pretending to be much, well, Younger). And tonight’s opener not only makes room for the return of a daughter, who’s been away in India, but a great joke about the way phone texts can be misinterpreted – and, by different generations, misread.