Tonight, ABC’s comedy block returns with all-new episodes. See highlights below.
For what it’s worth, the network television schedule has quietly slipped back into shape after the actors and writers strikes ground things to a halt. For the first time in a while, every scripted network series is new.
— As mentioned in last Wednesday’s column, tonight’s third episode of “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans” (10 p.m., FX, TV-MA) takes a page out of documentary film history. Rather than try to create the crowds and grandeur of Truman Capote’s (Tom Hollander) 1966 Black and White Ball, director Gus Van Sant presents most of the episode from the point of view of the Maysles Brothers’ hand-held documentary film cameras. The account of the party, a gathering of Capote’s idea of the cultural and political movers and shakers of the time, is presented not as a completed film, but as rough outtakes. Some shots unfold at cockeyed angles.
The Maysles Brothers would become best known for “Gimme Shelter,” a 1969 film following the Rolling Stones on a tour that would culminate with the disastrous Altamont concert. “Grey Gardens” from 1975 focused a cruel lens on two very different “swans.” Like Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart), the film’s subjects were related to former first lady Jackie Onassis and “performed” for the cameras in the squalid ruins of their once grand Long Island estate.
Presenting the ball in these black-and-white vignettes is not only visually exciting, but smart and economical. It allows the producers of “Feud” to recreate a fancy event on the cheap. While not quite film noir, it reminds us that the genre emerged during World War II, when rationed lumber and supplies kept studios from producing opulent sets. Heavy shadows suggested what viewers could only imagine and turned shooting on a tight budget into an art form.
In real life, the Maysles were documenting Capote for WNET, the New York affiliate of what would become PBS. A half-hour clip from that film can be found at www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbaAYR0oox8.
In it, Capote regales interviewers with theories about his work with an articulation nowhere to be found in Tom Hollander’s performance. But most of “Feud” takes place in the mid-1970s, when Capote was well into a decade-long bender.
Three Maysles Brothers films can be streamed on Max: “Grey Gardens,” “Gimme Shelter” and their 1966 gem “Salesman,” which follows a Boston Bible peddler whose confidence and sanity begin to unravel after he’s transferred to Florida.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— A patient fears a family curse on “Chicago Med” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Dan and Darlene drive to Chicago on the sixth season premiere of “The Conners” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
— “Nature” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings) looks at efforts to protect the world’s shorebirds.
— A spectral tenant plays matchmaker in the 2023 romance “3 Bed, 2 Bath, 1 Ghost” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— Not unlike HBO’s “True Detective: Night Country,” the 2002 thriller “Insomnia” (8 p.m., TMCX) uses its Alaska setting to play havoc with its characters’ (Al Pacino and Robin Williams) minds.
— Lexi’s dad, who is also the paper’s owner, takes a shine to Nell on the second season premiere of “Not Dead Yet” (8:30 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
— Boden’s stepson asks for help on “Chicago Fire” (9 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Janine has a lot riding on her district-wide career day on the hour-long third season opener of “Abbott Elementary” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
— “NOVA” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) explores theories about the giant stone heads found on Easter Island.
— The disappearance of CIA assets suggests a Soviet mole’s betrayal on “FBI True” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— Torres returns to a tough assignment on “Chicago P.D.” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
A lonely writer (Joaquin Phoenix) becomes besotted with a computer operating symstem personified as “Samantha” (Scarlett Johansson) in the 2013 sci-fi fantasy “Her” (9:40 p.m., HBO2).
SERIES NOTES
Drew Carey hosts “The Price Is Right at Night” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … “I Can See Your Voice” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG).
“Let’s Make a Deal Primetime” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) anticipates the Super Bowl … Anthony Anderson hosts “We Are Family” (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG) … A matter of unpaid sports bets faces “Judge Steve Harvey” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Christopher Nolan is booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Carey Mulligan, Alan Cumming and Idles on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Dakota Johnson and Sheryl Lee Ralph visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Taylor Tomlinson hosts “After Midnight” (12:37 a.m., CBS).
