After a considerable wait, the audacious U.K. comedy “We Are Lady Parts” returns for a second season, streaming on Peacock. For the uninitiated, “Parts” is a romantic comedy built on a pile of seeming contradictions. Set in an unfashionable section of London, the show follows a group of bold young Muslim women who form a punk band whose name provides the series’ title.
True to the musical genre, their songs are loud and purposefully abrasive, sending up assumptions about demure and self-effacing Muslim girls. My favorite song title: “Ain’t No One Gonna Honor Kill My Sister But Me.”
Season two sees the band on tour, enjoying modest success and being asked to record an album. Professional life is so good that they’ve attracted imitators. Do they invite them into the “sisterhood”? Or hate them as plagiarists? Such contradictions are built into the stories that explore each character as she tries to reconcile her modest immigrant upbringing with budding stardom.
Season two will also carve out roles for education activist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai and comedian Meera Syal, who join the fun and challenge stereotypes about Muslim women and society. A rather tall order for a silly little show.
— Streaming on Freevee, the FAST (Free, Ad-supported Television Streaming) part of Prime Video, the 2024 documentary “American Tragedy 25” recalls the 1999 Columbine school shooting from a particularly painful perspective. It follows the story of Sue Klebold, who, after a quarter-century, still tries to fathom what turned her little boy into one of history’s most notorious mass killers.
The film blends her story as one of the most judged and loathed mothers in America with professional studies about the links between mental illness and these murderous “performances” and the roles that mental wellness efforts and gun control might play in preventing mass tragedies like Columbine.
— Anybody who has ever watched “The Real World” or “Project Runway” knows that reality TV is often about exploiting the strange dynamics of unlikely combinations of people sharing communal space under pressure. The new docuseries “Inmate to Roommate” (10 p.m., A&E, TV-14) follows recently released convicts as they try to adjust to “civilian” life, while sharing temporary housing with complete strangers.
The series explores the awkwardness of their adjustment and the sometimes dubious reasons that landlords “foster” former inmates as well as the often fabricated charges lodged against them. Some of the former inmates hope for the best. Others feel like they’ve been subject to a whole new form of imprisonment.
“Inmate” follows the ninth season premiere of “60 Days In” (9 p.m., A&E, TV-14).
TONIGHT’S SEASON FINALES
— Lives on the line on “9-1-1” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
— Wildfires threaten Seattle on “Grey’s Anatomy” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
— A fire brings winds of change on the series finale of “Station 19” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Murder in Central Park on “Law & Order” (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
— A woman accuses her husband of trafficking child pornography on “Law & Order: SVU” (9 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
— An aerospace engineer demonstrates a marvelous signing voice on “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG).
— Face lifts can be murder on “Elsbeth” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— A figure from Stabler’s past vanishes on “Law & Order: Organized Crime” (10 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
TCM continues its monthlong exploration of Hollywood’s depiction of Asian characters and themes with the 1963 drama “The Ugly American” (5:45 p.m., TCM). Based on a novel by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer that offered a thinly disguised critique of U.S. relations with South Vietnam, it follows an American ambassador (Marlon Brando) who comes to questions Washington’s treatment of the fictional country Sarkhan as a mere sideshow in the battle between Communism and “freedom,” and that there might be local complications and nuances that do not fit into that worldview. In some ways, Brando’s appearance in this cautionary tale offers a bookend with his role in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 fever dream “Apocalypse Now.”
SERIES NOTES
On four episodes of “Ghosts” (CBS, r, TV-PG): giving a hoot (8 p.m.); in dreams (8:30 p.m.); Pete’s wife drops in (9 p.m.); hospitality (9:30 p.m.) … Country music provides the playlist on “I Can See Your Voice” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Jennifer Hudson and Marisa Abela are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS, r) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Anne Hathaway, Melanie Lynskey and Lang Lang on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC, r) … Quinta Brunson, Bobby Moynihan, Les Savy Fav and Jon Theodore visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC, r) … Taylor Tomlinson hosts Jack Martin, Maggie Winters and Vinny Thomas on “After Midnight” (12:35 a.m., CBS, r).
