Blending two very different documentary styles, “Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story” (10 p.m., National Geographic, TV-G) has won the hearts of film critics and festival audiences.
On one hand, it has all the stunning cinematography and stirring music of a nature documentary, capturing the gorgeous scenery of Scotland’s Shetland Islands as well as their delicate environment and aquatic diversity. But at its core, it is an intimate love story about two wounded strangers who find each other and nurse each other back to health.
When Billy Mail and his wife, Susan, relocated to the remote island, Susan was a bit worried about her husband. He seemed at a loss. Then, seemingly from out of nowhere, a similarly lost otter began to act very tame around Billy. Soon named Molly, the otter appears to have lost her family and needed company.
Billy obliged with all the enthusiasm of the late-middle-aged hobbyist, taking up fishing to keep Molly well-fed and building a special otter dollhouse and outfitting it with cameras and the necessary Wi-Fi to transmit all of his doting footage. Susan points out that Molly has better Wi-Fi than she does!
Given the lush photography, “Molly” must be taken with a bit of suspension of disbelief. It’s not just any critter lover who gets to be captured by experienced nature cinematographers like Charlie Hamilton James (“One Life”), Johnny Rolt (“Britain’s Scenic Railways”) and Bertie Gregory (“Animals Up Close”). The score was composed by Erland Cooper (“Is There Anybody Out There?”).
We can all be forgiven for surrendering to this romantic fable. In a reality-TV-obsessed world where people submit to the contrived indignities of “Deal or No Deal Island” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-PG), it’s nice to know that true love is still out there. Even if it has to swim vast cold oceans to find you.
Starting tomorrow, “Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story” can be streamed on Hulu and Disney+.
— A real-life look at a subject that has inspired countless science fiction tales, The “Independent Lens” (10 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings) documentary “Space: The Longest Goodbye” visits with NASA scientists and psychologists anticipating the effects of a three-year trip to Mars and the impact that vast distances and long isolation might have on the psyches of the space voyagers.
— TCM dedicates much of the evening to Hollywood’s treatment of Asian themes and character typecasting with films including the 2019 documentary “Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood” (11:30 p.m., TV-MA). Films range from early silents like the 1919 “The Tong-Man” (10:15 p.m.) to the 1957 romance “Sayonara” (2 a.m., TV-PG), starring Marlon Brando and Red Buttons.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Tickets to Toni Braxton take a backseat to the stork on the season finale of “The Neighborhood” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG).
— The top 12 perform for the judges on “The Voice” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
— After a car accident leaves her with amnesia, a best-selling author bonds with a small-town doctor in the 2017 romance “Falling for Vermont” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— Glancing back and counting blessings on the season finale of “Bob Hearts Abishola” (8:30 p.m., CBS, TV-PG).
— A scrapped ship becomes a graveyard on the 21st-season finale of “NCIS” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— “Antiques Roadshow” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) puts a value on a Marilyn Monroe pinup poster from 1953.
— Designers compete and innovate on the new series “OMG Fashun” (9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., E!, TV-14).
— Ambushed by weapons of mass destruction on the season finale of “NCIS: Hawai’i” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
Heavy metal-obsessed goofballs (Mike Myers and Dana Carvey) from suburban Chicago create a public-access cable show that earns the attention of a slick media operator (Rob Lowe) in the 1992 “SNL” spinoff comedy “Wayne’s World” (8 p.m., Pop, TV-14). How old do you have to be to recall “public access cable”?
SERIES NOTES
The final four share the kitchen with Gordon Ramsay on “MasterChef” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … The six reigning champs compete on “Jeopardy! Masters” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … A challenge simulates the difficulties of touring on “So You Think You Can Dance” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … “Press Your Luck” (10 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Jimmy Fallon welcomes Laura Linney, Hannah Waddingham and a performance from the cast of “Stereophonic” on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … John Oliver visits “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Taylor Tomlinson hosts “After Midnight” (12:37 a.m., CBS).
