— Hate-watching is real. There are plenty of series — and their stars — that many watch just so they can revel in their loathing. I have to admit that when I watch "Big Little Lies," I watch it for the cringe value, the celebration of awful people and the phony dollops of dialogue they have to regurgitate.
Along those lines, the Wikipedia entry on the term "hate-watching" cites the Aaron Sorkin show "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" as possibly the series that brought the term and the phenomenon of hate-watching into the mainstream.
But both "Big" and "Studio" were ambitious efforts. Is it worth hate watching a banal reality series? Taking that approach to "Jersey Shore: Summer Vacation" seems slightly sad to me. There must be better things to do.
Can you create a show with hate-watchers in mind? Can you cast it with personalities guaranteed to repel and annoy? If such a show existed, it might resemble "Cash Pad" (10 p.m., CNBC), debuting tonight.
If you’ve ever been tempted to take investment advice from a woman named JoJo with a loud voice, this is the show for you!
I’m not saying that a woman named JoJo couldn’t become the chair of the Federal Reserve if she set her mind to it. But when you ask viewers to take a former "Bachelorette" star seriously, perhaps CNBC has driven off one bridge too many.
In fact, "Cash Pad" partners two "Bachelorette" stars, JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers, as "experts" on renovating unusual properties and turning them into Airbnb’s and other profitable rentals.
Rodgers doesn’t claim any expertise, but likes wielding a sledgehammer as they demolish and renovate. JoJo says she was in the business before her "Bachelorette" days, and we’ll have to believe her. In tonight’s episode, they travel to Stonewall, Texas, and help a couple turn an unused cottage into an elite rental.
Most of JoJo’s advice is delivered at high volume, as if she were screaming over the cheerleading squad during halftime.
As ridiculous as the show’s stars, it’s the premise of "Cash Pad" that should really get the resentful juices flowing. There’s an underlying assumption here that "everybody" has spare dwellings just lying around, waiting to be transformed into expensive rentals.
One gets the sense that the folks at CNBC have been watching too much Bravo. Both networks project an "only rich people matter" philosophy. The ridiculous behavior of "Real Housewives" and the "Cash Pad" hosts only distracts from this central indifference.
Hate-watching-wise, JoJo is simply the icing on the cake.
— The two-part docuseries "Who Killed Garrett Phillips?" (8 p.m., HBO, TV-MA) recalls the 2011 murder of a teenage boy in a small upstate New York community and the arrest of his mother’s ex-boyfriend, a college soccer coach.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Henry Winkler and Brooke Burns star in the 2008 holiday romance "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— Gibbs’ bucolic break concludes on "NCIS" (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG).
— All signs point toward the Bermuda Triangle on "Blood & Treasure" (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— Open mike night on "Bring the Funny" (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Pray Tell’s health takes a bad turn on "Pose" (10 p.m., FX, TV-MA).
CULT CHOICE
— Known for films characterized by extreme emotional detachment, director Stanley Kubrick found his ultimate "star" in the HAL 9000 computer, the malevolent force at the center of the 1968 epic "2001: A Space Odyssey" (10 p.m., TCM, TV-G). Canadian actor Douglas Rain, the unseen voice of HAL, died last November 11.
SERIES NOTES
Julie Chen Moonves hosts "Big Brother" (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … "America’s Got Talent" (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) … "Spin the Wheel" (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG) … A spat between sisters on "The Conners" (8 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) … A familiar face arrives on campus on "Pandora" (8 p.m., CW, TV-PG) … Feeling abandoned on "American Housewife" (8:30 p.m., ABC, r, TV-14).
Christmas shopping mayhem on "9-1-1" (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14) … On two helpings of "Modern Family" (ABC, r, TV-PG): school bullies (9 p.m.), shopping for Pepper (10 p.m.) … Echo faces her past on "The 100" (9 p.m., CW, TV-14) … On two helpings of "black-ish" (ABC, r, TV-PG): chaperones (9:30 p.m.), dance moves (10:30 p.m.).
LATE NIGHT
Lisa Kudrow appears on "Conan" (11 p.m., TBS, r) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Octavia Spencer, Fred Armisen and YBN Cordae featuring Anderson .Paak on "The Tonight Show" (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Beto O’Rourke, Hunter Schafer and Mark Lanegan visit "Late Night With Seth Meyers" (12:35 a.m., NBC).
