True confession: I’m pretty allergic to musical theater and know little about the history of popular choreography. All that said, “Fosse/Verdon” (10 p.m., FX, TV-MA) is, hands down, the best new series of the year.
The eight-part series relates the five-decade love affair, marriage and creative partnership between award-winning director and choreographer Bob Fosse (Sam Rockwell) and dancer/actress Gwen Verdon (Michelle Williams).
The story begins with their unsuccessful adaptation of the hit Broadway musical “Sweet Charity” for the screen and moves on to Fosse’s signature hit “Cabaret.” But don’t go looking for a dutifully linear show-business biography. The film unfolds in overlapping flashbacks to both characters’ youth and career-making roles.
Most re-creations of familiar performances unfold in rehearsals during the painful trial-and-error process of building a dance number or making a film. In both endeavors, Fosse leaned on Verdon for insight, advice and inspiration while all the time humiliating her by trying to seduce every dancer under his supervision.
Rockwell is superb as the intense, chain-smoking, self-destructive artist, but the series belongs to Williams, who brings remarkable restraint and empathy to every scene.
Her character’s strength and no little burden of tragedy lie in the fact that she could have been what we’ve come to call a diva, but she instead spent her time in the shadow of one, while acting as a mother and spouse, not to mention as a creative midwife to some of the greatest musicals and movies of her era.
For a drama tightly focused on razzle-dazzle, “Fosse/Verdon” rises to brilliance in evoking the everyday details of mid-20th century design, fashion and interior decor.
One of this excellent series’ best episodes (its fifth) takes place far from the stage, in a Long Island beach house, on a rainy weekend fraught with tensions. It would reveal too much to describe it here in detail, but it might stand alone as an intense short film or a one-act play.
Look for Paul Reiser (“Mad About You”) making the most of a small role as Fosse’s hectoring producer, inclined to rein in the artist’s excesses, only to stand in awe when he sees what Fosse and Verdon have created.
Not to be missed.
— The four-hour, two-night documentary miniseries “Reconstruction: America After the Civil War” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) recalls a revolutionary period in American history that is often overlooked when not distorted (particularly by movies like “Birth of a Nation” and “Gone With the Wind”).
How do you turn millions of former slaves into full-fledged citizens endowed with the rights to vote and hold office? How do you treat the authors of a bloody insurrection? And how do you proceed when the president (Andrew Johnson) and the Congress are so radically at odds?
While “Reconstruction” is the natural “sequel” to Ken Burns’ “Civil War,” it lacks that series’ epic approach. It does, however, make the case that many of the struggles of that era endure to this day.
— Fans of the “NCIS” franchise should enjoy the military legal procedural “The Code” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14), this time set in the Marine Corps.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— A tough break for Enzo on “The Village” (9 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Peggy throws a fit on “The Kids Are Alright” (8:30 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
— A flight of stairs proves fatal on “NCIS: New Orleans” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-PG).
— The power outage proves challenging on “New Amsterdam” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Checking all the boxes on “The Rookie” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
— “Deadliest Catch” (9 p.m., Discovery, TV-PG) enters its 15th season.
CULT CHOICE
— A Vatican investigation uncovers demonic activity in the 2018 shocker “The Nun” (8 p.m., HBO).
SERIES NOTES
A shooter stalks a hospital on “NCIS” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-14) … Battles continue on “The Voice” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) … The bird is the word on “MasterChef” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … A web of deception on “American Housewife” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … Shark week on “The Flash” (8 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG).
Rob Lowe hosts “Mental Samurai” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … Sensitivity training on “blackish” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … Emotions rise as the gala approaches on “Roswell, New Mexico” (9 p.m., CW, TV-14) … Milo dreads Grandparents Day on “Splitting Up Together” (9:30 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
LATE NIGHT
Patton Oswalt appears on “Conan” (11 p.m., TBS, TV-14) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Chelsea Handler, Justin Hartley and Brooks & Dunn on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Timothy Olyphant and Diane Von Furstenberg visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Zoe Saldana, Jason Clarke and Kenny DeForest appear on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” (12:35 a.m., CBS).
