Many people feel that their lives have been on hold for the past year. Now some folks think we should “Fast-Forward” (10 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) decades into the future.
Narrated by Rosario Dawson, “Fast-Forward” follows four families and asks children and their older parents to contemplate how they are preparing for old age. With the average American life expectancy approaching 85 years, more people than ever need to think about how they are going to navigate those years. And where they are going to live when they reach their 80s.
To jump-start the conversations, parents in their 60s are encased in prosthetics and made up to appear 85, a shock to everyone involved. They are also asked to wear an “aging empathy suit,” nicknamed AGNES, that simulates the loss of balance, limited mobility and declining vision we can all “look forward to” in our golden years. Participants young and old wear this awkward contraption, complete with bad vision goggles. All leave the experience with greater compassion and vow to never show impatience with an elderly person again.
“Fast-Forward” puts emphasis on just how many millennials will be called upon to care for their boomer parents as they age. One 65-year-old seen here seems like he’s become the child to his 30ish son. He insists that he’s just fine and seems insulted by any suggestion that he’s not fit, trim and completely independent. When doctors ask him what he wants from them, he replies, “A thumbs up!”
A mother/daughter team discusses living situations, a conversation that reveals much about generational perceptions. The 30-something daughter thinks that Mom will just love living in the Airstream trailer in her backyard. In her early 50s, Mom finds the trailer confining and sad. And now that she’s worn her AGNES suit, the prospect seems even grimmer.
“Fast-Forward” is not meant as a pick-me-up. If anything, it offers a new variation of “the talk” that children must have with their parents, and adults might conduct with themselves.
— For sports fans, early spring can be the most wonderful time of the year. NCAA’s March Madness, hints of baseball’s opening day and golf’s Masters Tournament are music to the armchair fan’s ears. That’s what made last year’s sudden COVID shutdown all the more difficult to take. The documentary “The Day Sports Stood Still” (9 p.m., HBO, TV-MA) recalls the dramatic and remarkably sudden decision to end NBA games, cancel the Olympics, end spring training and conclude the college basketball season without its most anticipated ritual.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Chronic pain defies diagnosis on “Chicago Med” (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
— David Attenborough narrates a “Nature” (8 p.m., PBS, r, TV-PG, check local listings) look at hippopotamuses, their social life in Africa’s rivers and the impact droughts have on their behavior.
— Stuck in an elevator in a 10-story blaze on “Chicago Fire” (9 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
— Multiple car-jackings share complex motivations on “Chicago P.D.” (10 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
— Too good to be true often turns out to be neither on “The Con” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
— Alice develops a comedy routine on “Good Trouble” (10 p.m., Freeform, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
Scientists scramble to gather an elite cadre of survivors as Earth’s expiration date nears in the 2009 shocker “2012” (8 p.m., BBC America, TV-14).
SERIES NOTES
A front yard needs landscaping on “Tough as Nails” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … Wildcard time on “The Masked Singer” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … Beverly nags Adam into doing her manipulation for her on “The Goldbergs” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … Football failures sap school spirit on “Riverdale” (8 p.m., CW, TV-14) … Matchmaking on “American Housewife” (8:30 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
Jason faces serious charges on “SEAL Team” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14) … “Game of Talents” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … Dan unmanned on “The Conners” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … Strange bedfellows on “Nancy Drew” (9 p.m., CW, TV-PG) … Jean hopes she can guilt trip her kids into enjoying her birthday on “Call Your Mother” (9:30 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … Hondo’s dual loyalties on “S.W.A.T.” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
LATE NIGHT
George Wallace is booked on “Conan” (11 p.m., TBS, r) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Alexander Skarsgard and Karol G on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Kevin Bacon, Retta and Ash Soan visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Minnie Driver and Benny Blanco & Gracie Abrams appear on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” (12:35 a.m., CBS).
