ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET
Summertime, and the viewing is sleazy – or, at least, questionable. This time of year, on broadcast network TV, just being a non-repeat qualifies as being somewhat of interest. Tonight in prime time, there are three different examples of Write-Off Theatre – shows that were canceled quickly earlier this season, but have returned over the summer so the networks can burn off unused episodes and lose a little less money on them. Exhibit A: This ABC series starring Anthony Edwards, playing a conspiracy skeptic who ends up swallowed by a major conspiracy involving… I’m not sure. Something about Nazis, aliens, or some mixture thereof. Worth watching? Not on its own. But it’s fresh.
Lifetime, 8:00 p.m. ET
It’s tempting to say “They don’t make made-for-TV biographical movies the way they used to,” but in this case, they do. And Martin Landau, as the drooling old man who becomes the Texas stripper’s significant other, is a piece of casting that makes this new Lifetime film worth watching. And then, of course, there’s Agnes Bruckner in the title role. For a full review, see Ed Bark’s
Uncle Barky’s Bytes.
BBC America, 8:30 p.m. ET
The latest edition in this series of specials profiling the various incarnations of the Doctor brings us the Sixth Doctor, played by Colin Baker. He may be to Doctor Who what George Lazenby is to James Bond, but still, here he is. And for those who need a prior primer, BBC America is prefacing this new special with all the previous Doctors Revisited specials, beginning at 6 p.m. ET with The First Doctor.
ABC, 9:00 p.m. ET
Write-Off Theatre, Exhibit B: ABC, as it is with Zero Hour, continues to present unaired episodes of this series in order to reduce its losses.
NBC, 10:00 p.m. ET
SERIES RETURN: Write-Off Theatre, Exhibit C: Here’s another series that came and vanished quickly, and, this summer, is returning just as quickly with new episodes. But of tonight’s Phoenix-like TV shows, this is the one that generated some initial enthusiasm here at TVWW. For proof, check out Eric Gould’s original
Do No Harm review in his
Cold Light Reader column.