The CW offers viewers a second chance to sample the pilot episode of “Katy Keene” (9 p.m., r, TV-14). This “Riverdale” spinoff stars Lucy Hale (“Pretty Little Liars”) in the title role as the granddaughter of an ambitious seamstress, whose lifelong dream is to work in a fantasy department store, groveling before the management and begging to be made a personal shopper for demanding, icy and insolent rich people.
Seriously, who does that? Who are these people? Has anybody ever met a human being vaguely resembling Katy Keene?
I guess I shouldn’t even view or review shows like “Katy Keene” because they are, after all, aimed at teenage girls, a demographic I only dimly understand. But if “Katy” is aimed at teenagers, it seems to have missed by a decade or three.
In many ways, the series is virtually a checklist of TV cliches and pop trends I despise. Let us count the ways: It begins with a Carrie Bradshaw-like (1) voice-over (2) accompanied by a throbbing, auto-tuned (3) anthem about living in New York, a city no mere mortal can afford. We see Katy and her entourage walking in a slow-motion clip focused on feet encased in high heels (4). When did this trite and overused foot-fetish gimmick become a must for shows about style (5)?
Things really get wretched when Katy gets to her department store job (6). She enters like a princess (7) wearing a cape (8), no less. The obsequious staff (9) welcomes her as if she were the first lady. It turns out she’s a glorified intern (10).
This brings us to the most hateful fact of all. “Katy” is the umpteenth variation on “The Devil Wears Prada” (11). Though it wasn’t obvious at the time, that 2006 movie was a clear indication that this century (12) would be an awful one and that young people (in movies at least) would no longer scare their elders and challenge them with new ideas, but lust after the designer labels (13) that delighted their grandmothers. Like “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (14), this show features a beautiful, vivacious young woman entombed in a crypt of curdled nostalgia (15). Worse, somebody else’s curdled nostalgia.
Having found 15 ways to hate “Katy Keene” in the first five minutes, I must say it did give me a renewed appreciation of FX’s “Pose.” That series is set in the demimonde of drag fashion balls, following a group of society’s outcasts who create audacious outfits out of materials they have scrounged, borrowed and stolen.
My dream show would have the gang from “Pose” invade Lacy’s department store where Katy Keene toils, pilfer every dress in sight and burn the place to the ground.
Now that’s entertainment!
— Reality series really reach “ripe” status when they invite former participants back to play for old times’ sake. This 40th season of “Survivor” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) is nothing but nostalgia, as all 20 players are not merely former contestants, but past winners.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— A fateful misdiagnosis on “Chicago Med” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Leah Remini joins the judges on “Masked Singer” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
— “Nature” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-G, check local listings) celebrates “Wild Florida.”
— An epidemic of gas leaks on “Chicago Fire” (9 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Will Arnett hosts “Lego Masters” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG).
— “NOVA” (9 p.m., PBS, check local listings) focuses on dogs.
— A man suspected of killing a homeless victim may be linked to many cold cases on “Chicago P.D.” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Dex investigates a suspicious wedding on “Stumptown” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
A Harvard man posing as a homeless man (William Powell) becomes a wise butler for a scatter-brained Park Avenue socialite (Carole Lombard) in the 1936 screwball comedy “My Man Godfrey” (10 p.m., TCM).
SERIES NOTES
Grade inflation on “The Goldbergs” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-14) … Archie ponders life after graduation on “Riverdale” (8 p.m., CW, TV-14) … Cupid’s arrow on “Schooled” (8:30 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) … A family trip to Paris on “Modern Family” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … A Valentine’s Day potluck on “Single Parents” (9:30 p.m., ABC, TV-14) … Murder is bigger in Texas on “Criminal Minds” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
LATE NIGHT
Tom Papa appears on “Conan” (11 p.m., TBS) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Ryan Seacrest, Zoe Kravitz and Jhene Aiko on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Will Ferrell sits down on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS) … Edie Falco, Adam Pally, Andrew Zimmern, Jose Andres and Elijah Wood visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC).
