CBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
Ray Wise from Twin Peaks guest stars in this new episode, playing Robin’s father, whom Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) approaches to get his blessing to marry his daughter. Robin’s father may not be as easygoing as Barney would hope – but you have to like his taste in shirts. Don’t you? I do.
CW, 8:00 p.m. ET
SERIES PREMIERE: This is not a recommendation, but this new CW series is too interesting a concept, as prequels go, not to mention. Flashing all the way back to 1984, this series is like a superhero origin story – except it’s all about Carrie Bradshaw, the heroine of Sex and the City, and how she got that way. AnnaSophia Robb plays the younger Carrie, and the pilot explains how she got her first fancy purse, met her first true fashionista (Freeman Agyeman of Doctor Who and Law & Order: UK), got to New York, and faced other formative experiences. “So,” she asks her two high school girl friends after summer break, “I’m the last virgin?” Unfortunately, everything in this prequel series is hammered home so obviously, it’s too, too precious. But it’s also tutu precious, and that may be all it needs to reach and please its target audience.
HBO2, 9:00 p.m. ET
If you watched the Golden Globes last night, and watched Lena Dunham walk off with all those Golden Globes for Girls, now you can see what all the fuss are about: Tonight, HBO2 repeats the Season 2 premiere, shown last night on HBO… directly opposite NBC’s telecast of the Golden Globe Awards.
PBS, 10:00 p.m. ET
Filmmaker Byron Hurt became interested in looking seriously at the emotional connections African-Americans have to soul food when his own father, facing a health crisis, refused to back down from his regular diet. The younger Hurt talks with people covering the entire range of reactions, from enthusiasts of the title to those who believe the culinary tradition is a form of genocide as well as suicide. Personally, if I have to die with fried chicken from Aunt Berta’s as my weapon of choice (and hey, I almost did, last year), there are worse ways to go. Or, at least, less delicious. So I get both sides of this particular argument. Check local listings.
Sundance, 10:00 p.m. ET
Part 2. This updated 2004 documentary series continues, examining, once again, the complex mystery of the death of the wife of Michael Peterson.