TCM, 3:15 p.m. ET
I don’t usually recommend movies playing in the middle of the day – but this is 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night, and these are The Beatles – and the music includes “I Should Have Known Better,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “And I Love Her,” “If I Fell,” the title song, and a lot more. So tell me why I wouldn’t mention it. Oh, yeah: “Tell Me Why” is in here, too…
PBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
Tonight’s installment is titled “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” and covers the 10-year stretch from 1953 to 1956. That means it covers Ray Charles and his foray into country (hence the episode’s title), as well as Elvis Presley’s explosion onto the music charts – and The Ed Sullivan Show – in 1956. And that means this is the night Ken Burns and company cover the history of Sun Records in Memphis, as well as the ascendance of Patsy Cline. In other words, this is a jam-packed, music-filled, absurdly talent-heavy installment. Check local listings.
NBC, 10:00 p.m. ET
Lilly Singh’s late-night NBC talk show, taking over the Carson Daly time slot, premiered earlier this week, with a show featuring Mindy Kaling as its major featured guest. That was significant not only because it was intentionally female-centric, but because Kaling, like Singh, has broken several glass-ceiling show business barriers as a woman of Indian descent. Singh became a star on YouTube, doing musical parodies and other skits, and has amassed a loyal base of 14 million fans on YouTube. If only 10 percent of those fans follow her to NBC, she’ll be drawing more late-night viewers than James Corden. But Corden has succeeded, as have Jimmy Fallon and others in the late-night TV arena, by doing segments that draw many millions of views when played on YouTube. A Little Late with Lilly Singh merely comes from the opposite direction, and features an established YouTube star bringing her act to late-night network TV. And she’s not only female and very young, at 30, but she’s proudly bisexual and aggressively happy to be herself, and talk about her own opinions. This prime-time sampler is just that… a sample. And while her opening show was uneven, they often are, and Singh is so unlike so many others who have held this particular TV job, that it’s refreshing just to see her learn on the job.
FX, 10:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: This new season of American Horror Story reboots the franchise with an allegedly lighter touch, taking aim at a parody of sorts of the summer camp horror and slasher genre. Sarah Paulsen is not returning this time as yet another character, but Emma Roberts (pictured) is.