“American Masters” (9 p.m., PBS) will dedicate the next two Friday nights to an all but vanished breed: the public intellectual, profiling Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (tonight) and William F. Buckley (April 5).
With his breezy erudition, Moynihan was frequently thought of as a product of elite society. He was anything but. A child of divorce during the Great Depression, he knew the uncertainty of poverty and the emotional anguish of a broken home. He was working as a dockworker when someone suggested that he take the examination to enter New York’s free City College. That institution and the U.S. Navy became Moynihan’s ticket to multiple degrees. For Moynihan, the notion that the government could help lift individuals from poverty and dependency was not a theoretical notion, but firsthand experience.
His ability to blend theoretical brilliance with wisdom gleaned on the sidewalks of New York can often seem like something out of a tall tale. Learning that his mother’s saloon had lost its bartender, he returned from graduate studies at Tufts to tend bar for a few months, and still returned to graduate, as class valedictorian. He can sometimes seem like Matt Damon’s character in “Good Will Hunting.”
Moynihan worked for four consecutive presidential administrations, advising Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon on ways to combat endemic poverty, particularly among urban Black communities.
His ability to digest massive amounts of data and synthesize that process into policy suggestions also inspired countless articles in small thought-provoking magazines and scholarly books. His deft use of the English language would get him into trouble when, on two occasions, memos written for the president’s eyes only were leaked to the press.
Under President Ford, his firebrand oratory as U.N. ambassador earned him praise for his willingness to defend an imperfect American democracy against hypocritical condemnation from unelected thugs and Soviet-allied dictators.
Elected to the Senate in 1976, he would spend nearly the rest of his life there, an intellectual giant who could intimidate and amuse his colleagues. George Will noted that he had written more books than most senators had read.
His ability to glean insight from data could sometimes make him seem like a prophet. He predicted the fall of the Soviet Union nearly a decade before the fact. He warned that the end of the Cold War would bring back ethnic and nationalist-fueled wars that would seem like “something out of the Middle Ages,” and he warned that a culture of government classified secrecy could cause official blindness, a conclusion seconded by the 9/11 Commission.
My favorite Moynihan expression is one that stands up to most of the nonsense passed off as contemporary politics and punditry: “You’re entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts.”
— Disney+ streams the 2024 documentary “Madu,” about a young Nigerian boy who becomes an international sensation after a video of him dancing barefoot in Lagos goes viral.
— The offbeat documentary “Spermworld” (9 p.m., FX) examines the underworld of freelance donors.
— Soaked in the goth and emo culture of the 1980s, the horror spoof “Lisa Frankenstein” (Peacock) follows a teen outcast who takes up with a reanimated Victorian monster.
— Another product of the 1980s, “Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock” streams its second season on Apple TV+.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— 2024 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament regional semifinals includes NC State vs. Marquette (7 p.m., CBS) and Duke vs. Houston (9:30 p.m.).
— The eight-part docuseries “Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show” (11 p.m., HBO, TV-MA) follows the comedian with his friends and family as he explores life as a gay man.
CULT CHOICE
A modest bus driver (Robert De Niro) struggles to keep his son (Lillo Brancato) from falling under the spell of a local gangster (Chazz Palminteri) in the 1993 period drama “A Bronx Tale” (8 p.m., BBC America).
SERIES NOTES
“Password” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) … “WWE Friday Night Smackdown” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … Frozen beef Wellingtons hit the market on “Shark Tank” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … “Dateline” (9 p.m., NBC) … “20/20” (9 p.m., ABC).
LATE NIGHT
Jimmy Fallon welcomes Sarah Paulson, Dev Patel and Jackie Fabulous on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Michael Keaton, Ramy Youssef and Briston Maroney appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (11:35 p.m., ABC).
Neil deGrasse Tyson and Ariel Elias are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (12:35 p.m., CBS) … Bowen Yang and Kara Swisher visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Taylor Tomlinson hosts Lauren Lapkus, Ashley Nicole Black and Irene Tu on “After Midnight” (12:37 a.m., CBS).
