Prime Video launches the six-part basketball docuseries “One Shot: Overtime Elite,” following players at a Georgia program for basketball players 16-20 years old that offers a path to professional play. Two of the players featured in this limited series, twin brothers Amen and Ausar Thompson, have become top draft picks.
— “Frontline” (10 p.m., PBS, check local listings) goes behind bars with two different stories. “Two Strikes” follows the case of a troubled West Point cadet whose post-military traumas contributed to alcoholism and petty crime, which led to a life sentence for a relatively minor infraction.
Advocates against mandatory sentencing could not have found a more sympathetic subject. Even the victim of his last crime complained that his sentence was entirely out of proportion to his actions. Sobered by prison experience, he has become a legal advocate for those less fortunate and educated than himself.
While his life sentence is the result of a “two strikes” policy enacted in Florida, that state is hardly unique. The only defender of such draconian sentences presented in this “Frontline” argues rather glibly that “they work” — that crime has been reduced and that repeat offenders have been taken off the streets. But at what cost?
For more than a generation, a tough-on-crime law-and-order philosophy has been associated with social conservatism. Yet traditional conservatives championed individual freedoms and feared the power of the government to act capriciously in curtailing that liberty. Sending individuals to penitentiary for 40-year and life sentences for relatively light infractions certainly seems contrary to the Founders’ intentions.
The former West Pointer has appealed to Florida courts without success. His next step is the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Frontline” continues its prison expose with a look at pregnant convicts who have to surrender their babies just 24 hours after delivery.
— “Barbie,” the most popular and certainly the most talked-about movie release in some time, can be streamed at home as a video on demand, starting today.
Apple TV+, Prime Video and Google Play will rent the pink sensation for $24.99. Physical DVDs (remember those?) won’t be available in stores until Dec. 31. Released by Warner Bros., the Mattel-based film should eventually be available to stream on MAX, but no date has been set.
— The latest incarnation of the CW network becomes the home of the 46th season of “Inside the NFL” (8 p.m., TV-PG), anticipating the season’s Thursday-night kickoff.
The network, previously owned by Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, was sold to Nexstar last year. That company embarked on one of the more dramatic, perhaps drastic, reorganizations in TV-network history, canceling more than 13 series, many associated with DC comic book properties and the “Arrowverse.”
In a media landscape glutted with content and choices, the CW had something resembling a coherent identity. That is largely gone now. Hence, a hodgepodge of sports programming and random imports. Last week, eight major-market CBS-owned stations announced that they would no longer be associated with the CW.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Mia Farrow stars in the 1968 shocker “Rosemary’s Baby” (7 p.m., TMCX), directed by Roman Polanski. The film was produced by William Castle, best known for gimmicky horror films and promotional ballyhoo. In his memoirs, Castle claimed that the set of “Rosemary’s Baby” was cursed.
— A Marine vets goes rogue on “FBI” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— A taciturn tycoon sees his security detail snatched right before his lying eyes on “FBI: International” (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— College coeds major in murder on “FBI: Most Wanted” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
Blending football fantasies and the “new journalism” that emerged in the 1960s, the 1968 sports comedy “Paper Lion” (8 p.m., TCM, TV-MA) stars Alan Alda as writer George Plimpton, who tried out for the position of the Detroit Lions’ third-string quarterback to see how an average man would fare in an NFL camp. Co-stars include Lauren Hutton in her screen debut, Vince Lombardi and Alex Karras, who later appeared in Mel Brooks’ 1974 Western spoof “Blazing Saddles.”
SERIES NOTES
“America’s Got Talent” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) … “Beat Shazam” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … “Celebrity Family Feud” (8 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) … “Don’t Forget the Lyrics!” (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG) … “Jeopardy! Masters” (9 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) … Ben lands in 1989 on “Quantum Leap” (10 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) … “The Chase” (10 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Due to the Writers Guild strike, all late-night shows are reruns.
Jimmy Fallon welcomes Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Shawn Mendes on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Bruce Springsteen and Mike Birbiglia visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC).
