TCM salutes the work of the late Roger Corman, producer and director and celebrator of low-budget exploitation films. Featured movies include the 1963 shocker “X: The Man With the X-Ray Eyes” (8 p.m., TCM) and “A Bucket of Blood” (9:30 p.m.), produced in a few days for a pittance in 1959. The sets for “Bucket” were recycled for use on “The Little Shop of Horrors” (12:15 a.m.) made just days later. “Shop” would inspire an off-Broadway musical that helped launch the career of future Disney composer Howard Ashman (“The Little Mermaid”), which was adapted into a major motion picture in 1989. The original “Little Shop” featured a performance by Jack Nicholson, who would become a part of Corman’s acting ensemble.
Nicholson became famous only in the 1970s, when many directors who got their start working for Corman began to make movies of their own. Many thought that attending “Roger Corman University (RCU)” was better than going to USC film school. The directors who made their first or early films with Corman include Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, Peter Bogdanovich, Joe Dante, John Sayles and James Cameron. Some would go on to cast their mentor in cameos in their films.
While best known for drive-in fare, monster and biker films, Corman’s other great contribution to film culture was as a distributor of European art-house films. In the 1970s, his New World Pictures company was responsible for importing films directed by Ingmar Bergman, Francois Truffaut, Federico Fellini and Akira Kurosawa.
In his own way, Corman, who died this past May, may be among the most influential Hollywood figures of the late 20th century.
— Can a change in diet help save the oceans? The third and final episode of the series “Hope in the Water” (9 p.m., PBS) follows Shailene Woodley as she joins divers off the coast of California harvesting so-called “zombie” sea urchins, which are then taken to an aquatic farm where their buttery roe is grown and harvested.
Not only does this practice create a delicacy, but it thins the ocean floors of an overabundant species that has been crowding out the sustainability of other life on the ocean beds, including kelp.
Can they take the “zombie” out of the picture? Popularizing fish dishes with a name change is nothing new. Do you like Chilean sea bass? It was less popular when it was known as Patagonian toothfish.
— The business of begetting is so intimate, so vital and so unregulated. That is at least one lesson from the three-part U.K. docuseries “The Man With 1000 Kids,” streaming on Netflix.
It documents the shadowy world of fertility clinics and the ways that Dutch scam artist Jonathan Meijer managed to father so many children in so many countries.
Meijer found himself banned from Dutch fertility clinics in 2017, but went on to donate his sperm in other locales. In addition to his work as a donor and fraud, Meijer passes himself off as a musician and has a YouTube channel with thousands of subscribers.
— Also from the U.K., the mystery thriller series “Suspects” streams its fifth season on Britbox.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— A fine romance on “Chicago Med” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Brett departs on “Chicago Fire” (9 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Targeting a repeat offender on “Chicago P.D.” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— A college student is slain in a crowded house on “The Real CSI: Miami” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
FX unspools the first two “Star Wars” sequels: “The Empire Strikes Back” (7 p.m.) from 1980, and the 1983 adventure “Return of the Jedi” (10 p.m.).
SERIES NOTES
“The Price Is Right at Night” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-14) … “MasterChef” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … On two episodes of “The Connors” (ABC, TV-PG): a violent burglary (8 p.m.); shaking up the cafeteria (8:30 p.m.) … “Let’s Make a Deal Primetime” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14) … “Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
On two episodes of “Abbott Elementary” (ABC, TV-PG): Gregory’s classroom becomes a hangout (9 p.m.); lighting up (9:30 p.m.) … A murder mystery game with a twist on “Shark Tank” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Jimmy Fallon welcomes Will Forte, S. Epatha Merkerson, Miranda Rae Mayo, Jason Beghe and the cast of “The Great Gatsby” on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Eddie Redmayne and Dan Licata visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Taylor Tomlinson hosts “After Midnight” (12:37 a.m., CBS).
