Nobody wants to talk about death and dying. And that’s a problem, according to the unlikely subject of tonight’s “Independent Lens” (10 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings) documentary, “Sister Una Lived a Good Death.” After receiving a diagnosis of stage IV cancer, a veritable death sentence, Sister Una of the Sisters of Social Service was determined to face death with the same mischievous curiosity that had characterized her offbeat spirit since her rebellious childhood.
A self-proclaimed Irish Catholic smart aleck and progressive Southern California transplant, Sister Una had dedicated her life to helping others and fighting for social justice. Told her days were numbered, she was determined to share her dying months as an example of how to live to the fullest to the very end. As she cheekily reminds us, this is a fate that we all share, even if it’s become bad taste to discuss it in public.
While some of her public appearances, like frolicking on the beach in her wheelchair, may smack some as forced frivolity, she was equally determined to teach people how to show up for others who are facing their final days.
Americans, she observed, seem to “freak out” about death, an emotional reticence that not only detracts from living life to the fullest, but creates a stigma around the dying, depriving people of comfort and company at their most vulnerable hour.
— Hulu’s animated sci-fi comedy “Solar Opposites” streams a Valentine’s Day special. In its usual frantic style, it satirizes the idea of a “war on Valentine’s Day.”
— The floating reality series “Below Deck” (9 p.m., Bravo, TV-14) follows upstairs/downstairs shipboard shenanigans in its 11th season premiere. For those keeping score, this season welcomes a new captain.
— With the big game just days away, “Super Bowl Opening Night” (8 p.m., CBSSN) interviews members of the Chiefs and 49ers for their first media chat since winning their respective league championships.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Long before “Real Housewives” or Capote’s Swans, the 1965 melodrama “The V.I.P.s” (12:15 p.m., TCM, TV-PG) celebrated a gaggle of rich, decadent and stylish socialites (Liz Taylor, Richard Burton and Louis Jourdan) stranded in an airport lounge with just enough time to engage in indelicate indiscretions.
— With Torres behind bars, a terror attack looms on “NCIS” (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— Two episodes of “Antiques Roadshow” (PBS, TV-G, check local listings) visit Old Sturbridge (8 p.m.) and Austin (9 p.m., r).
— Friends help an introvert get out of her shell in the 2012 adaptation of the 1999 novel “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” (8:30 p.m., TMCX), starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller.
— “TMZ Investigates” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14) looks into the contrast between Kanye West’s success as a producer and musician and his erratic public behavior and social media meltdowns.
— A meth lab explodes on “NCIS: Hawai’i” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— Mercer takes the psychological approach on “The Irrational” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Gunfire ends the story of perfect high school sweethearts on “Bad Romance: A Special Edition of 20/20” (10 p.m., ABC).
— “Secrets of Polygamy” (10 p.m., A&E, TV-14) examines a shadowy sect’s belief in a holy bloodline and a veneration of a chosen few said to trace their family history to Jesus Christ, and the extreme measures they will take to protect this “purity.”
CULT CHOICE
A jazz musician (Henry Fonda) stands trial after being mistakenly identified as a burglar in the 1956 film noir thriller “The Wrong Man” (10 p.m., TCM, TV-PG). A departure for director Alfred Hitchcock, it’s the only film he ever made based on real events. A black-and-white nightmare in the noir style, its paranoid atmosphere is said to have informed director Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver.” Part of a nightlong festival of Hitchcock movies, including the 1946 thriller “Notorious” (8 p.m., TV-PG), starring Cary Grant and reuniting Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains of “Casablanca” fame.
SERIES NOTES
In search of a bold-faced endorsement on “The Neighborhood” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG) … “America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) … Stolen gold looms large on “America’s Most Wanted” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … Roses and thorns on “The Bachelor” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … An estranged relative’s funeral dredges up painful memories on “Bob Hearts Abishola” (8:30 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Jimmy Fallon welcomes Keegan-Michael Key, Boy George and Matt Pittman & Billy Durney on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Zosia Mamet visits “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC).
