Abstract newspaper in a fluid shape, 3d rendering
“American Experience” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings) will spend two nights reflecting on two efforts to integrate public schools. Both campaigns took place more than half a century ago, and each occurred more than a decade after the 1954 Supreme Court decision declaring that schools should be desegregated “with all deliberate speed.”
Tonight’s film, “The Busing Battleground,” explores the politics of Boston in the mid-1970s, when white working class residents reacted violently and viscerally to federally mandated orders to bus their children to other neighborhoods and to bus Black students into their neighborhood schools.
“Battleground” explores the long-simmering roots of the 1970s backlash, looking at decades of decline in the city of Boston and particularly its public school system, as well as efforts of local activists to compare substandard schools in Black neighborhoods to their white counterparts and to link their efforts to the greater civil rights struggle taking place across the nation in the middle of the 20th century.
Tomorrow’s film, “The Harvest,” looks at efforts to integrate public schools in a small rural Mississippi town.
“Busing Battleground” may harken back to the Nixon era, but its themes remain resonant to this day, when issues of local and parental control of school boards and curriculum have become the center of the so-called “culture wars.”
— Need a good cry? An elderly couple (Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi) must separate after they lose their home because none of their five children will take care of them together in the 1937 drama “Make Way for Tomorrow” (8 p.m., TCM, TV-G).
Released during the Great Depression just two years after the introduction of Social Security, the film reflected concerns about the poverty afflicting senior citizens.
The film generated strong reactions, good and bad. Writing as a film critic, novelist Graham Greene dismissed it as “a depressing picture about an old couple.” Orson Welles was deeply moved, declaring that the film could “make a stone cry.” Japanese writer Kogo Noda based the script for the acclaimed 1953 drama “Tokyo Story” on “Make Way.”
Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris ranked it at the top of his favorites, calling it “The most depressing movie ever made … providing reassurance that everything will definitely end badly.”
“Make Way for Tomorrow” was cited by Roger Ebert as a great forgotten film and has been preserved by the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry and enshrined in the Criterion Collection.
— As demand for true-crime programming continues, CBS has made its long-running newsmagazine “48 Hours” available for daytime syndication. It will air on a variety of broadcast stations owned by CBS, Fox, Nexstar (CW), Gray Television, Cox, Tegna and Scripps.
“48 Hours” is now in its 36th season and continues to be the most-watched program on Saturday nights.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— The New York Jets host the Buffalo Bills in NFL action (8 p.m., ABC).
— An elite agent (Charlize Theron) embarks on an impossible mission against the chaotic backdrop of the fall of the Berlin Wall in the 2017 thriller “Atomic Blonde” (7:45 p.m. and 10:05 p.m., FXM, TV-MA). Not to be confused with this summer’s “Barbenheimer” phenomenon.
— A winner emerges on the season finale of “American Ninja Warrior” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
— Sparks fly when a big city developer tries to buy a quaint beach in the 2021 romance “Sand Dollar Cove” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— An agent from across the pond ends up in the morgue on “NCIS: Hawai’i” (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— Undercover in the drug trade on “NCIS: Los Angeles” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
A boating accident plunges a woman (Goldie Hawn) into amnesia, causing her to forget her husband (Edward Herrmann) and take up with a free(er) spirit (Kurt Russell) in the 1987 screwball comedy “Overboard” (7 p.m., TMCX). A cable programming evergreen, almost on the level of “Pretty Woman” (8 p.m., Paramount, TV-14).
SERIES NOTES
Dave pulls the plug on “The Neighborhood” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG) … “Beat Shazam” (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG) … A squabble casts a shadow on the factory opening on “Bob Hearts Abishola” (8:30 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG) …
“MasterChef” (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14) … “Weakest Link” (10 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG)
LATE NIGHT
Due to the Writers Guild strike, all late-night shows are in reruns.
Jimmy Fallon welcomes Sylvester Stallone, Linda Cardellini and Louis Tomlinson on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Catherine Zeta-Jones and Hong Chau appear on “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC).
