As Joe Friday used to say on “Dragnet,” “Just the facts, ma’am.” “Frontline” (10 p.m., PBS, check local listings) recalls the most destructive wildfire in California history with the hourlong account “Fire in Paradise.”
The film uses interviews and police and fire department hotline recordings to present a minute-by-minute chronology of the Camp Fire of 2018. As one fireman recalls, it began as a small and completely containable blaze sparked by a defective electric power line. It just happened to be located in an inaccessible ravine, the winds happened to be blowing in excess of 45 miles per hour and the area happened to be parched from more than six months without significant rain.
The film’s narrative use of recollections by emergency responders, doctors and nurses offers a terrifying immediacy as it describes a fire that grows from a small blaze to a massive conflagration in a matter of minutes. We’re told of a fire spreading over multiple football fields per second and of burning embers falling from the sky like a “blizzard” of fire.
Occasionally, the film departs from its harrowing timeline to reflect on the changes to the climate resulting in conditions so much more hospitable to uncontainable wildfires.
But “Fire” gathers its power from the recollections of both victims and everyday heroes who stood up to the catastrophe. Its use of these voices, and the terrifying timeline, reminded this reviewer of films made in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks.
— You have to be of a certain age to recall how different and refreshing Arsenio Hall’s late-night talk show seemed when it first arrived in 1989.
Now streaming on Netflix, “Arsenio Hall: Smart & Classy” offers his first stand-up special. The title refers to advice he once received from his comic hero and mentor, Bill Cosby.
Part of Hall’s banter reflects on his ability to separate Cosby’s genius from his tainted legacy. In spite of his genial personality, Hall has no kind words for easily “offended” moral censors or those who would tell comedians what to say.
TV-themed DVDs available today include the AMC/BBC America miniseries “A Discovery of Witches” and the comedy “Queens of Mystery,” streamed on Acorn.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Knockouts unfold on “The Voice” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
— Kate and Toby try to make their marriage a priority on “This Is Us” (9 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Justice for victims on “FBI” (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG).
— The season finale of “Retro Report” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) includes a look at Napster’s legacy.
— The 2019 sports documentary “Any One of Us” (9 p.m., HBO, TV-PG) interviews athletes and people from all walks of life whose lives have been affected by spinal cord injuries.
— Oliver’s source dries up on “NCIS: New Orleans” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— Troubling news about a patient on “New Amsterdam” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Jo has a theory about Kindred on “Emergence” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
— Tired of cookie-cutter horror franchise movies? Want something truly scary? A young woman discovers a coven of Greenwich Village Satanists in the 1943 horror classic “The Seventh Victim” (3 p.m., TCM, TV-G), produced by Val Lewton and featuring Kim Hunter in her screen debut.
Like most Lewton (“Cat People”) films, it evokes terror in an utterly original fashion. A claustrophobic, low-budget masterpiece, it features a terrifying shower scene nearly 20 years before “Psycho.” Look for Hugh Beaumont (“Leave It to Beaver”), too!
SERIES NOTES
A starving child may be linked to Ziva’s case on “NCIS” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) … A plane crash sparks guilty feelings on “The Resident” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … Jackie mulls a business opportunity on “The Conners” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … Ramsey must choose on “The Flash” (8 p.m., CW, TV-PG) … More tricks than treats on “Bless This Mess” (8:30 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
Lucious makes amends on “Empire” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … Halloween confuses Rainbow on “mixed-ish” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … Siblings search the catacombs on “Arrow” (9 p.m., CW, TV-14) … Halloween’s uninvited guests on “black-ish” (9:30 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Jennifer Aniston and Thomas Middleditch are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Jason Momoa and Rhett & Link on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC).
Emma Thompson, Taran Killam and Jeremy O. Harris visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Hailee Steinfeld and Mallrat appear on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” (12:35 a.m., CBS).
