TCM, 12:30 p.m. ET
Richard Chamberlain, long before he became King of the Miniseries as the protagonist of such massively popular long-form TV dramas as Shogun and The Thorn Birds, shot to stardom as the dashing young heartthrob star of Dr. Kildare, which aired on TV from 1961-66. Yet many years before that – in fact, many decades before that – that same character and premise first appeared on film in the 1938 movie Young Dr. Kildare. Lew Ayres (pictured) stars in the title role, Lionel Barrymore plays the gruff but brilliant Dr. Gillespie, and Monty Woolley, today’s much less famous star of the day on TCM, has a supporting role as another of the hospital’s doctors.
IFC, 7:30 p.m. ET
This 2008 comedy is inspired by, though not nearly as funny as, the Mel Brooks-Buck Henry spy-spoof TV series from the Sixties. Steve Carell imbues bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart with more warmth and vulnerability than Don Adams’ cluelessly confident spy conveyed in the original – and I’m not certain that was the right choice, though Carell has some strong comic scenes here. Much closer to the mark is Anne Hathaway, successfully capturing the spirit of Barbara Feldon while making her own Agent 99 a more liberated and confident woman. And best of all, in a small role, is Patrick Warburton as Hymie the Robot. I’m just saying…
PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET
How many networks are presenting 10-years-after retrospective specials on Hurricane Katrina and its disastrous effects on the Gulf Coast? Lots. And here’s another one, this time from PBS NewsHour. Check local listings.
FX, 10:00 p.m. ET
This Denis Leary series already has introduced Kelly Bishop as the mom of Leary’s over-the-hill former rock star. Tonight, the Broadway musical-theater veteran gets to show off her singing ability, performing a new number written by longtime Leary collaborator Peter Tolan. And somehow, it all has something to do with Mary Poppins…
IFC, 10:00 p.m. ET
LAST-MINUTE CHANGE: Fewer than 10 hours before tonight's Dronez episode of Documentary Now was set to premiere, IFC announced that it would be replaced by another episode, starring Fred Armisen as a simple-minded Inuit in a spoof of Nanook of the North. The reason for the change? The previously scheduled episode, a spoof of Vice featuring Jack Black as a guerrilla news organization that sends its reporters into harm's way, had more than one scene in which a TV news crew is shot dead while on assignment -- the same too-close-to-current-events coincidence that postponed last night's season finale of USA's Mr. Robot.