TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
I have a special affection, right now, for anything on TV that can make me laugh – so I’m especially pleased to point out that tonight, TCM presents a double feature of movies by Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Both of these comic actors started out as supporting players in silent short films for the Hal Roach Studio, working independently in the 1910s, then teaming together to become stars of the silent era in the 1920s. Then then became one of the few acts of that era to make the transition, seamlessly and seemingly effortlessly, to the sound era, by keeping all their beloved silent mannerisms and comedy bits, and adding perfectly timed and delivered dialogue. Pardon Us, which begins tonight’s TCM double feature, was the first full-length Laurel and Hardy movie. Filmed in 1930 and released in 1931, it has the duo sent to prison after trying to sell some illegal home-brewed alcohol to a policeman during Prohibition. One scene that deserves special mention today: Just as Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in Some Like It Hot evaded pursuers by dressing in drag, Laurel and Hardy in Pardon Us hide out, for a while, by donning blackface and picking cotton on a Southern plantation (pictured). The second film is the much more famous 1934 comedy Sons of the Desert, in which they lie to their wives in order to attend a convention of their beloved Sons of the Desert lodge.
NBC, 10:00 p.m. ET
SERIES PREMIERE: One way to fill a network schedule during a pandemic is to import TV series that already have been shown in other countries. Another way is to import programming filmed in countries that have a better record of handling and containing the virus than the U.S. – which means just about anywhere. Tonight, NBC pulls both tricks at once, by beginning to televise a Canadian series,
Nurses, that is set and filmed in Toronto. Season 1 was broadcast in Canada earlier this year, and they’ve already completed production on Season 2.
For a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.