Sometimes it takes decades for history to offer a clear picture of events and point out some occurrences as the “birth” of something larger.
In some ways, the events discussed in the “American Experience” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings) documentary “Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal” involve several pivotal changes and reveal ugly truths that had been literally long buried.
“Tragedy” uses period home movies and industrial promotional films to paint a prosperous and near-bucolic picture of Niagara Falls in the middle of the 20th century. Known for its scenic splendor and as a long-established magnet for honeymooners, the city’s economy was buttressed by an expansive chemical industry.
The Love Canal had been dug in the 19th century as part of an ambitious engineering project that soon went bust. Later in the 20th century, the uncompleted channel appeared to be a perfect place for a local chemical company to bury thousands of oil drums filled with toxic waste. And in a decision that seems amazing today, local authorities later purchased the site for a dollar and decided it was a perfect place to build a school and subsidized housing.
No stranger to horrendous blizzards, the Buffalo area was inundated with snow in 1977. The resulting floods brought the tainted barrels to the surface, filling backyards and even basements with caustic ooze.
The crisis got neighbors talking to each other and comparing anecdotal evidence of birth defects, miscarriages, breathing problems, mental and emotional disorders, cancer and early death.
Public hearings became heated as local and state officials began to improvise a response. Even though this crisis occurred after the release of “Jaws” in 1975, you get a real sense of the mayor’s timid equivocation in that movie. Nobody wanted to kill the tourist trade or upset the chemical industry that brought so many jobs.
“Tragedy” interviews many of the survivors of the “housewives” crusade that kept the Love Canal crisis in the headlines. It explores some of the vast class and educational differences between the activists and state and federal authorities. After a widespread canvas of the area to map out clusters of maladies, the women had their findings dismissed as “useless housewife data.”
The Love Canal crisis of the late 1970s was a watershed in the environmental movement. It was among the first times authorities came to recognize the dangers in every state of buried waste. The term “Superfund site” emerged from this moment. The notion of toxic problems that simply can’t be wished away also dovetailed with emerging concerns about the nuclear energy industry. With the Three Mile Island crisis occurring at roughly the same time, citizens and officials began to wonder just where all of those barrels might be buried and just when they might resurface.
Most of all, “Tragedy” explores the emotional and political power of concerned mothers, women who never saw themselves as political or as activists, until they were put in a corner.
— Disney+ marks Earth Day with the documentary “Tiger,” narrated by Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
— Hulu streams “Hip Hop and the White House,” a look at the political impact of the musical genre over the years.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— “Antiques Roadshow” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-G, check local listings) visits the North Carolina Museum of Art.
— Abandoned on vacation, a woman attracts the attention of a tour guide in the 2017 romance “Sun, Sand & Romance” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— Being a world-famous heart surgeon can be murder on “NCIS” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— Pearl Harbor homicides on “NCIS: Hawai’i” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— A husband’s secrets emerge on “The Interrogation Tapes: A Special Edition of 20/20” (10 p.m., ABC).
— Ronnie Adkins and Rudy Reyes host “The Proof Is Out There: Military Mysteries” (10 p.m., History, TV-14), exploring hard-to-explain phenomena.
CULT CHOICE
An overworked dad (John Candy) takes leisure very seriously in the 1985 comedy “Summer Rental” (10 p.m., Pop, TV-PG), directed by Carl Reiner.
SERIES NOTES
Baby shower drama on “The Neighborhood” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … “The Voice” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) … “MasterChef” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … “American Idol” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … An eventful trip to New York City on “Bob Hearts Abishola” (8:30 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … “So You Think You Can Dance” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … “Deal or No Deal Island” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Christiane Amanpour and Wilmer Valderrama appear on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS, r) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Kelly Clarkson, Peyton Manning, Mike Tirico, Carrie Coon and Katherine Blanford on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC, r) … Peter Dinklage and Rory Scovel visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC, r) … Taylor Tomlinson hosts “After Midnight” (12:35 a.m., CBS).
