I confess, I’m an animal lover. We have three dogs and once shared the house with four cats, and have attributed personalities, backstories and even neurotic quirks to them all. We hold a mortgage on a property dotted with the final resting places of too many cats and pugs, a Muscovy duck and an unfortunate fawn.
But, in all honesty, I cannot say “An Animal Saved My Life” (9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., A&E, TV-PG). In fact, a solid case can be made that those four cats contributed to a severe case of asthma that will probably shorten my life span. But that’s a matter for immunologists, or perhaps an actuarial, to decide.
“An Animal Saved My Life” offers clips of critters large and small intervening in the nick of time.
to save toddlers from a driver backing out of a tight parking space, or a big dog getting between a mugger and his intended victim, or a husky knowing just where and when to dig a trapped human out of the snow. It’s basically a heart-warming, critter-centric version of “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” Or a cable network’s effort to tap into the internet and social media’s limitless ocean of pet-centered distractions. This showcase is hosted by Curt Menefee, who viewers may remember from “America’s Top Dog” (8 p.m., A&E, TV-PG), especially because it airs right before!
Like too much television, “An Animal Saved My Life” does not exactly hold up to too much thought. And wallowing in “cute” is as good a way as any to avoid serious consideration. But if you think about it, too often the animals celebrated in “Life” are saving people from human violence (at worst) or human inconsideration (at best). It could easily be titled, “People Do the Most Dreadful Things,” “A Creep Nearly Killed Me (But My Cat Got in the Way!)” or “Aren’t We Lucky to Have Animals Around to Keep (Some of) Us Human.”
— Those who prefer creatures left to their own devices, unencumbered by sentient bipeds, might feast on the latest “Sharkfest” offering, “Orca vs. Great White” (10 p.m., National Geographic, TV-14).
— Presented over two Tuesday nights, “The Latino Experience” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings) offers intimate short films from Latin-American filmmakers.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Lupita Nyong’o, Carmelo Anthony and Ana Navarro discuss the radicals in their family trees on “Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr.” (8 p.m., PBS, r, TV-PG, check local listings).
— Grieving parents (Diane Lane, Kevin Costner) fight to save their grandson in the 2020 drama “Let Him Go” (8 p.m., HBO).
— Shattered by a bad review, a chef retreats to a French vacation in the 2016 romance “Summer Villa” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— A quinceanera takes a violent turn on “FBI” (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— A shooter’s case defies easy judgments on “FBI: Most Wanted” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— Contestants from USC, UCLA, University of Virginia and Xavier University compete on “College Bowl” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— “Frontline” (10 p.m., PBS, r, check local listings) recalls the 2018 summer wildfire that consumed Paradise, California.
CULT CHOICE
— A man (Maurice Ronet) kills his boss and the husband of his lover (Jeanne Moreau) in Louis Malle’s feature directorial debut, the 1958 French New Wave thriller “Elevator to the Gallows” (4:15 p.m., TCM, TV-PG), featuring a haunting score by Miles Davis. The film electrified filmmakers and audiences on both sides of the Atlantic, and the score pointed in the direction of sounds Miles Davis would explore on his 1959 masterpiece “Kind of Blue.”
SERIES NOTES
Treasure hunting can be murder on “NCIS” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) … “America’s Got Talent” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) … Will Arnett hosts “Lego Masters” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … Bored, insecure and manipulative, Beverly decides to meddle at Adam’s school, much to everybody’s mortification on “The Goldbergs” (8 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) … John Diggle to the rescue on “The Flash” (8 p.m., CW, TV-PG) … A diverse family spends most of their time at the rich sibling’s house on “Home Economics” (8:30 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG).
Rob Lowe hosts “Mental Samurai” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … In and out of the closet on “The Conners” (9 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) … Morgan Edge is no Smallville on “Superman & Lois” (9 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG) … A power outage causes alarm on “black-ish” (9:30 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) … “To Tell the Truth” (10 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Andrew Garfield and Lorde drop by “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS, r) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Scarlett Johansson, Questlove and Graham Kay on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC, r) … Michael J. Fox and BTS are booked on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” (12:35 a.m., CBS, r).
