Want proof that “helicopter” parenting is bad? It might be found swinging from branches.
“Life Among Monkeys” (9 p.m., Smithsonian) reflects the life work of Smithsonian Institute scientist Dr. Wolfgang Dittus. He’s spent more than six decades amongst the macaques who live in the sacred city of Polonnaruwa in Sri Lanka.
His painstaking research reveals that macaques display social patterns not terribly different than their human cousins. Among them are the varying attitudes of macaque mothers toward their offspring. Some tend to be protective and controlling. Others have what he calls a “laissez-faire” attitude regarding their young ones.
In a macaque troop, where the ability to get along with others and literally roll with the punches is paramount, those monkeys left to their own devices in their youth demonstrated far greater abilities to adapt, thrive and even dominate their primate peers.
Take it from the monkeys, Mom! It’s time for some free-range parenting.
— The new Netflix comedy “Bonding” flips the script on the millennial doormat character. It stars Zoe Levin as Tiff, a harried grad student who works as a dominatrix to pay the bills. She hires her nervous, eye-rolling gay best friend, Peter (Brendan Scannell), as her assistant and bodyguard, even though Tiff seems pretty capable of taking care of herself.
It doesn’t take all that long for this all to become “awkward.” And that’s good, because, like the recent Netflix comedy “Special,” episodes run about 16 or 17 minutes long.
— Among my favorite new non-fiction shows, the documentary series “Breakthrough: Ideas That Changed the World” (10 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) looks at mankind’s centuries-long quest for flight and the series of events that turned the bicycle-building Wright brothers into the inventors of the airplane.
— Things are looking up at the Science Channel. The new series “Skyscrapers: Engineering the Future” (9 p.m.) offers a brief architectural history, and proceeds to profile buildings going up all over the world.
While the term “skyscraper” dates from the early 20th century, when Chicago and New York embraced the building style, the early 21st century has seen a boom in very tall buildings in emerging cities in the Middle East and Asia, offering visual exclamation points to the skylines of metropolitan areas that barely existed when the Empire State Building was erected.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— A gunman takes hostages on “Chicago Med” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Damon has Cookie’s number on “Empire” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
— Endowed with more spirit than talent, a young man (Sean Astin) makes it to the Notre Dame football squad in the 1993 heart-tugger “Rudy” (8:30 p.m., CMT, TV-PG).
— A storm cuts power to the station house on “Chicago Fire” (9 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— An Easter talent showcase unravels on “Star” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
— “NOVA” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-G, check local listings) examines the precipitous decline in the level of the Dead Sea, a rapid change with major ramification for its salinity, chemistry and ecology.
— Burgess’ slain boyfriend had a dark side on “Chicago P.D.” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Frankie takes on organ traffickers on “Whiskey Cavalier” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
— While still in bat form, Laszlo is captured by Staten Island animal control on “What We Do in the Shadows” (10 p.m., FX, TV-MA).
— “Boise Boys” (11 p.m., HGTV, TV-G) enters its second series with a new approach to a 1950s farmhouse.
CULT CHOICE
— A disturbed scientist keeps his wife’s severed head (Virginia Leith) alive in his laboratory in the 1962 shocker “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die” (4:30 p.m., TCM). Leith later appeared on “Starsky & Hutch” and “The White Shadow.”
SERIES NOTES
Immunity challenges on “Survivor” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … Beverly relishes wedding preparation on “The Goldbergs” (8 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) … Jellybean vanishes on “Riverdale” (8 p.m., CW, TV-14) … The art crowd holds its own against the jocks on “Schooled” (8:30 p.m., ABC, r, TV-14).
Let loose in Laos, contestants face a u-turn on “The Amazing Race” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … Cam copes with a bully on “Modern Family” (9 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) … A milestone birthday party on “Jane the Virgin” (9 p.m., CW, TV-PG) … Will awaits Mia’s choice on “Single Parents” (9:30 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) … Swan’s troubles continue on “SEAL Team” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
LATE NIGHT
Howie Mandel appears on “Conan” (11 p.m., TBS) … Emilia Clarke, Henry Winkler and H.E.R. are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS, r) … Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 50 Cent and TNT Boys appear on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” (12:35 a.m., CBS, r).
