PBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
Part 3 of 3. This hour concludes Sir David Attenborough's three-part career overview, and is even more impressive and emotion-stirring than the others. It's called Our Fragile Planet, and Attenborough takes the time - the entire hour - to reflect on the changes he's witnessed in the natural world, and in his own way of covering and relating to it, in the past 60-plus years as TV's finest nature host. The good news: Even with species going extinct and the polar ice melting, Attenborough finds cause to be hopeful. How inspiring. Truly. Check local listings.
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
This early sound film, one of the boldest anti-war movies ever made, is a milestone movie – and not just because its director is Lewis Milestone. Released in 1930, this version of Erich Maria Remarque’s gripping novel about life (and death) in the German trenches painted a portrait of WWI that came before, but didn’t prevent the German enthusiasm for, what became known as WWII. Lew Ayres stars.
ABC, 9:00 p.m. ET
One of the subplots in tonight’s show has Manny (Rico Rodriguez) trying out – very, very aggressively – to replace the star of his school’s upcoming production of Phantom of the Opera. Expect some backstage intrigue, worthy of matching whatever’s being enacted in front of the footlights.
PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET
After last year’s Building Pharaoh’s Ship, this science series returns to the well with another hour devoted to examining, and reverse engineering, one of the impressive artifacts of the early Egyptian era. It’s an intriguing idea, but what’s next? Nature devoting an hour to Clutching Cleopatra’s Asp? Check local listings.
FX, 10:00 p.m. ET
Episode two of this new FX series gets to move forward, after establishing the characters, conflicts and premise in last week’s outing. Tonight, Soviet sleeper agents Elizabeth and Phillip Jennings (Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys) embark on a dangerous mission to bug the office of a top U.S. official – while, at home, Phillip has an unexpectedly “neighborly” encounter with FBI agent Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich), who has moved in across the street – and who, this week, is the most intriguing aspect of this series that’s all about intrigue.