The best documentaries show you something you don’t know. At the same time, the subject of “Poison Squad” on “American Experience” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) may be familiar to many viewers.
It often seems that a browse through the documentaries available on Netflix reveals an obsession with food production, corporate malfeasance, the adulteration of pure food, threats to pollinators and other scary subjects.
It’s interesting to note that this obsession is hardly new. “Poison Squad” profiles pioneering food chemist Dr. Harvey Wiley. Born in 1844, his father was an evangelical lay preacher who filled his son with a sense of social justice.
As a chemist at Purdue University, he examined the honey being sold in Indiana in the 1880s and discovered that most of it was adulterated corn syrup. Now, doesn’t that sound familiar? This would convince him to test for the chemical adulteration in foods being processed and sold all over the United States.
“Poison” does a good job describing the rapid industrialization of the food industry in the years after the Civil War and the unregulated sale of foodstuffs to the millions who migrated off the farms and into urban areas. What passed for “milk” in the 1890s remains rather stomach-turning. Borax, anyone?
“Poison” chronicles Wiley’s many efforts to convince Congress and the White House to pass a pure-food bill. And powerful corporations’ efforts to stop him.
The film gets its name from Wiley’s use of paid government employees who agreed to be tested after he fed them meals laced with chemicals, compounds and additives used to adulterate processed foods at the turn of the 20th century. Press accounts dubbed them the “Poison Squad,” and the name stuck.
But even this gimmick and his harrowing findings did not budge a well-bribed Congress. It would take Wiley’s coalition with the burgeoning suffragette movement and the best-selling expose “The Jungle,” by Upton Sinclair, to result in the Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906, the very first consumer-protection bill ever passed in the era of laissez-faire capitalism.
Wiley would go on to work at Good Housekeeping magazine and associate himself with a famous suit against Coca-Cola, claiming the name was fraudulent because it did not contain cocaine! He was a stickler for truth in labeling.
Documentaries about food should be aware of portion control. And at two hours, this might be a few courses too many. The ability to stream PBS series may help some to enjoy this in several helpings.
— The cast and crew reflect on “Arrow: Hitting the Bullseye” (8 p.m., CW, TV-14), before the Green Arrow tale concludes on the series finale of “Arrow” (9 p.m., CW, TV-14).
— TV-themed DVDs available today include the light-hearted Australian mystery “My Life Is Murder,” starring Lucy Lawless.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Two donors need special treatment on “The Resident” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
— A U.S. attorney’s body is discovered in sordid company on “FBI” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— Barnes battles a gang leader on “FBI: Most Wanted” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— Sharpe comes to his senses on “New Amsterdam” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Jo and Brooks go all-out to save Piper on the season finale of “Emergence” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
— “Miracle Workers” (10:30 p.m., TBS, TV-MA) returns, just in time for the Middle Ages.
CULT CHOICE
— A mother (Patricia Neal) battles to find the reasons behind her psychosomatic blindness in the 1964 British thriller “Psyche 59” (10:15 p.m., TCM), co-starring Curt Jurgens and Samantha Eggar.
SERIES NOTES
Torres clings to life on “NCIS” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-14) … Prizes galore on two helpings of “Ellen’s Game of Games” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG), the second a repeat … Becky suspects Jackie’s new friend on “The Conners” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … Wedding plans change on “Bless This Mess” (8:30 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
Sibling rivals scuttle a restaurant’s management on “Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … A visit from Paul’s mother on “mixed-ish” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … A lesson in self-reliance on “black-ish” (9:30 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Antonio Banderas, Joe Mantegna and Coyote Peterson are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Deepak Chopra and Rapsody featuring PJ Morton on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … William Jackson Harper, Kevin Smith and Chris Coleman
visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Ashton Kutcher and BTS appear on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” (12:35 a.m., CBS).
