“The Cleaning Lady” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) is back. A rare broadcast series to revolve around the life of an undocumented alien, “Lady” enters its third season starring Elodie Yung as Thony De La Rosa. Born to Cambodian and Filipino parents, Thony was once a lead surgeon in Manila’s best hospital, but circumstances brought her to Las Vegas to work as domestic help while searching for a cure for her ailing son.
A chance encounter with a gangster nearly ends her life, but he recognizes her skills and enlists her into his organization, where she has any number of chances to demonstrate her cleaning and medical skills and hide behind multiple identities.
Adding to the complications, she also works as an embedded agent for the authorities. Her proximity to the powerful and the notorious makes life difficult for everyone she knows.
Sporting a preposterously complicated premise and plot, “The Cleaning Lady” has the distinction of being one of two scripted live-action dramas on Fox. The police procedural “Alert: Missing Person’s Unit” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14) returns tonight for a second season.
Otherwise, you have Fox’s animated Sunday night block and a solid slate of reality competitions, with Friday and Saturday dedicated to sporting events. “Animal Control,” Fox’s scripted live-action comedy, returns tomorrow, as does “Family Guy,” in a rare break from Sunday nights.
— At a time when people talk rather casually about banning books and ideas and “canceling” art and artists, the 2024 documentary “A Revolution on Canvas” (9 p.m., HBO, TV-14) may offer a sobering note. Also streaming on Max, it profiles Iranian dissident and artist Nickzad “Nicky” Nodjoumi. Back in the late 1970s, he and most educated citizens rose up against the dictatorial shah, long seen as a puppet imposed on their country by the United States and Britain in order to maintain a steady oil supply.
Like many of his contemporaries, Nicky welcomed the revolution of 1979, hoping it would usher in a democratic society, and he created dozens of paintings documenting and celebrating his country’s transformation. He soon learned that the so-called Islamic Republic had little interest in democracy or expressive freedom. His works were soon censored and seized, and he barely escaped with his life.
“Canvas” documents a life in exile and a four-decade effort to regain access to his long-lost “dangerous” work. Co-created by his daughter, Sara Nodjoumi, it also explores a woman’s difficult relationship with her father, complicated by his treatment of her mother.
— Multiple presidential primary elections known as “Super Tuesday” inspire competing network news coverage (10 p.m., CBS, NBC, ABC) as well as around-the-clock cable news conversation. That’s an awful lot of chatter for an election night where the outcomes for both parties’ contests appear to be foregone conclusions and where the drama remains more legal than political.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— A bus explosion jolts the team into action on “FBI” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— A well-connected pastor falls under suspicion on “Will Trent” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
— A nature photographer and a romance novelist join forces in a trip to Fiji to discover a rare gem in the 2018 romance “Pearl in Paradise” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— An American plots an elaborate art heist in Budapest on “FBI: International” (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— Blind auditions continue on “The Voice” (9 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
— Nolan and Bailey’s honeymoon departs from bliss for an unscheduled visit to a bloody crime scene on “The Rookie” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
— After an attempt on Blackthorne’s life, Toranaga feels it might be wise to leave Osaka on “Shogun” (10 p.m., FX, TV-MA).
— Bounty hunters and fugitives swap stories on “Bail Jumpers” (10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., ID, TV-14), a new docuseries.
CULT CHOICE
An extended Chinese family concocts a wedding scenario in order to say goodbye to the family matriarch, the only one unaware of her terminal illness, in the 2019 Chinese-American comedy drama “The Farewell” (7:15 p.m., HBO). The film was nominated for numerous awards. Awkwafina won a Golden Globe for best supporting actress.
SERIES NOTES
Dan joins a Fleet Week poker game with visiting sailors on “Night Court” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) … Angst ensues when schedules conflict on “Extended Family” (8:30 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Bleachers are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Rhett & Link on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Joel McHale and Kyle Kinane visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Taylor Tomlinson hosts “After Midnight” (12:35 a.m., CBS).
