Decades, 12:00 a.m. ET
The two-day Love, American Style marathon continues on Decades today, and there are a pair of installments of this comedy anthology series that deserve special mention. At 4 p.m. ET, there’s an episode featuring Burt Reynolds and Elizabeth Ashley, just before he became a cinematic superstar. And at 6 p.m. ET, there’s the 1972 episode “Love and the Happy Days,” which was producer Garry Marshall’s pilot for Happy Days, which helped push also-ran ABC to first place when it premiered in 1974. Ron Howard and Marion Ross, respectively, play Richie Cunningham and his doting mother, Marion – roles they would reprise in the long-running Happy Days series. And Anson Williams is aboard, in this early Love, American Style segment, as Richie’s friend Potsie. But in this pilot, Richie has a different dad (Harold Gould plays Howard Cunningham here) and sister (Susan Neher plays Joanie) – and the Fonz, iconically played by Henry Winkler, is nowhere to be seen.
YouTube, 2:15 p.m. ET
I’m familiar with native Tuvan throat singing from Russia, thanks to the brilliant Ondar CD
Back Tuva Future. But this film, a Sundance Film Festival entry presented in this virtual
We Are One: Global Film Festival lineup and website, looks at
Throat Singing in Kangirsuk – which I had to look up. Kangirsuk, it turns out, isn’t in Russia. It’s in Canada: an Inuit village in northern Nunavik in Quebec. Don’t arrive late, or blink: This documentary is only three minutes long. In terms of context and expansiveness, therefore, don’t expect a very deep
Throat.
YouTube, 4:30 p.m. ET
Here’s another
We Are One: Global Film Festival premiere. This one is longer: a full-length documentary about volleyball gold medalist “Jenny” Lang Ping, the only person in her sport to win Olympic gold as both a player and a coach.
The Iron Hammer is of special interest, at least to
Twin Peaks fans, because it marks the directorial debut of Joan Chen, who played Josie Packard on that groundbreaking David Lynch series.
AMC, 9:00 p.m. ET
MINISERIES PREMIERE: Part 2. I question the wisdom of stretching this three-part miniseries, which cumulatively is the length of a three-hour movie, into as many weekly installments. But that’s only because it’s so good, and builds such momentum, that the wait between episodes seems way too long. Part 1 ended last Sunday with Charles Ingram, played by Matthew Macfayden from Succession, finally getting the chance to sit in the hot seat, opposite Michael Sheen as Chris Tarrant, host of the original British version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? When the quiz show resumes tonight, Ingram will do well – so well, he’s suspected, and later accused, of cheating. How? That’s one question. Did he? That’s another. And Quiz, quite deftly, doesn’t provide all the answers – at least not definitely.
Epix, 9:00 p.m. ET
DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE: Part 2 of 2. I really, really enjoyed the first part of this documentary, which is all about the music and culture emerging from a particular Los Angeles suburb. Stephen Stills and Peter Tork were roommates. The Mamas and the Papas, as well as Crosby, Stills and Nash, teamed up and hung out here. Last week, we learned how Alice Cooper got his big break auditioning in the Laurel Canyon basement studio of Frank Zappa, and toured the hilltop suburban stretch where Turtles and Monkees once roamed as neighbors. And tonight, we cover even more ground, starting with Linda Ronstadt, and how she encouraged her backing band to leave the nest and fly. Which they did – as The Eagles.
HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
I keep writing, every week, that this miniseries is one of the most depressing TV dramas I’ve ever seen – and I keep watching, because it’s so well-acted, and because its plot is so deliberate and quietly intense. Last week’s episode was painful in its dramatic revelations, and in what it threw at its main characters. As psychically and physically scarred twin brothers Dominick and Thomas, Mark Ruffalo has been phenomenal – and so, last week, was Philip Ettinger (pictured), who in flashbacks played the twins as teenagers, with so much emotional rawness that he matched Ruffalo note for note. Also, in smaller roles, Bruce Greenwood was riveting in a single scene shot mostly in extreme close-up, and Rosie O’Donnell gave a career-best performance without once grandstanding. This week, apparently, will serve as the Godfather II of this saga, spending much of its time in an extended flashback, dramatizing a previous generation… in this case, the twins’ grandfather, whose written memoirs finally have been translated from the original Italian.
Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET
The central couple of this series, Chuck and Wendy Rhoades, have been estranged this season, and last week they began exploring significant new alliances. Chuck, played by Paul Giamatti, has taken up with a professor played by Julianna Margulies. Wendy, played by Maggie Siff, has warmed up to an artist played by Frank Grillo. And professionally, while Wendy also has flirted with the idea of connecting with her boss (played by Damian Lewis), she’s negotiated an even more high-stakes and potentially lucrative partnership with someone else at the firm: Asia Kate Dillon’s Taylor (pictured, with Siff).
Showtime, 10:00 p.m. ET
Last week, the detectives solved the murder case by getting a confession, from one suspect in custody, of all the unsolved murders that have been bedeviling the LAPD. The police squad celebrated, even though the detectives knew they had talked the suspect into a false confession (in what was a very strong tour de force performance by Nathan Lane). And speaking of bedeviling… there’s a devil, or at least a demon, at the heart of tonight’s mayhem as well. And all of them look a lot like Natalie Dormer...
HBO, 11:05 p.m. ET
There are weeks where I really need John Oliver to check in, to help me not only laugh at the week just ended, but to find a way to laugh at any of it. This has been one of those weeks, Actually, it feels like it’s been two…