What’s On: Anticipating a ‘black-ish’ spinoff, ‘Manhunt: Unabomber,’ remembering Harvey Korman and Marilyn Monroe
black-ish (9:30/8:30c, ABC): On the new night where the Emmy-nominated family sitcom has been scheduled for the fall, another chance to watch an episode from April that sets up the backdoor pilot for College-ish, a spinoff to air on Freeform built around Johnson daughter Zoey (Yara Shahidi) as she pursues higher education. (Think of it as a network version of Dear White People.) In this repeat, as Zoey contemplates which of several campuses to attend, parents Dre (Anthony Anderson) and Bow (Tracee Ellis Ross) get misty-eyed as they contemplate their eldest leaving the nest, while Pops (Laurence Fishburne) takes a much less sentimental tack, urging the twins to get big sis to pick a city they’d like to visit. Location, location, location.
Manhunt: Unabomber (9/8c, Discovery): Transcending the typical true-crime docudrama with intelligent suspense rather than lurid sensation, this gripping eight-part miniseries (intended to become an anthology like American Crime Story) launches with back-to-back episodes. The unusual structure cuts between 1995, as FBI profiler Jim “Fitz” Fitzgerald (a strong Sam Worthington) butts heads with bosses as he pursues the elusive mad bomber with a pioneering method of linguistic forensics, and 1997, in the aftermath of the capture of Ted Kaczynski (gaunt and haunted Paul Bettany), when Fitz is tasked with breaking down the alleged serial killer to force a confession and avoid a messy trial.
The Carol Burnett Show: The Best of Harvey Korman (Time-Life DVD, available Tuesday): Few spectacles in the annals of TV comedy are as reliably funny as watching the great Harvey Korman crack up, or crack a co-star up, as part of the legendary Carol Burnett Show ensemble. A new DVD collection of four episodes, three of which haven’t been seen in more than 40 years, showcases the comedian in classic sketches, including a drag parody of the Andrews Sisters featuring Burnett and Vicki Lawrence. Guest stars include Sid Caesar, Diahann Carroll, sparring partner Tim Conway, Ella Fitzgerald and frequent musical guest Bernadette Peters. They don’t make them like this anymore.
Inside Tuesday TV: August has arrived, heralding Turner Classic Movies’ annual Summer Under the Stars festival, devoting each day’s programming to a movie legend. First up: Marilyn Monroe, with 1955’s The Seven Year Itch (8/7c) the prime-time highlight—including the infamous image of her skirt blowing up around her on a New York City street. (One of her greatest, Some Like It Hot, airs during the day, at 11:30 am/10:30c). … The streaming service Britbox premieres the four-episode mystery In the Dark, which just finished its run in the U.K. Ripper Street‘s MyAnna Buring stars as a detective juggling pregnancy with two very emotional cases. … The Golden Buzzer beckons to Orange Is the New Black‘s glamorous Laverne Cox, who joins the judges on NBC’s America’s Got Talent (8/7c) as the “Judge Cuts” continue.