“Houses of Horror: Secrets of the Greek Life” (9 p.m., A&E, TV-14) explores fraternity life and its impact on college society.
Take a group of young men, remove them from their families and neighbors and put them together where they may feel under pressure from academic and sporting competition and add to that the feral, conforming nature of a group enlisted as “brothers,” and you may get some outlandish behavior. Movies like “Animal House” celebrated drinking and hangovers as part of rude bacchanalia forming memories to be cherished or long regretted.
As the title implies, “Horror” doesn’t focus on hijinks. Part 1 recalls 19-year-old Daniel Santulli, who pledged Phi Gamma Delta at the University of Missouri. His new brothers subjected him to a gruesome hazing process that included extreme sleep deprivation and boot-camplike sadism. After commanding him to drink an entire bottle of vodka, his brothers dumped him on a couch to sleep it off. His blood alcohol rate reached six times the legal limit, and Santulli barely survived. Years later, he requires nearly full-time medical care.
Santulli’s parents join others to protest the extreme behavior cultivated at fraternities. While the 1978 comedy “Animal House” recreated frat life in a scripted fashion, the party where Santulli nearly died was well-documented by smartphone cameras. Such footage casts a damning eye on the Greek life and creates plenty of material for series like “Houses of Horrors.”
Subsequent installments will explore tales of bingeing, more hazing excesses and inappropriate sexual activity. As sad as many of these stories can be for individuals and their families, there’s a certain timelessness to their shock value. Stories of campus bad-boy behavior, tribal cruelty, conformity and sadism date back at least to the 19th century.
A&E blends the familiar with shocking tabloid exposes. That’s why it’s been home to revelatory series about the Playboy Club and the Hells Angels, examples of institutionalized male misbehavior stretching back several generations.
— Mandy Moore appears on “Celebrity IOU” (9 p.m., HGTV, TV-G), the series that lavishes praise and publicity on the already-famous for helping out their friends and relatives. Things “normal people” do all the time.
In this installment, Moore calls on hosts Jonathan and Drew to create a big outdoor space and “oasis” for Ce-Ce, a friend and source of support to Moore for more than 15 years. Isn’t that special?
— The Hulu sci-fi comedy cartoon “Solar Opposites” enters its fifth season with a focus on Terry and Korvo’s marriage and attempts to foster “family values.” Help yourself.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— The 1932 pre-Code comedy “Skyscraper Souls” (4:45 p.m., TCM, TV-G) explores the overlapping melodramas shared by people working in a 100-story office building. Look for Maureen O’Sullivan and Anita Page, today’s featured actress in TCM’s “Summer Under the Stars” film festival.
— The gang mourns Ducky (David McCallum, 1933-2023) on “NCIS” (8 p.m. CBS, r, TV-PG).
— “American Ninja Warrior” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
— A group date in Seattle is covered by the local media on “The Bachelorette” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
— The investigation of a sailor’s corpse in Sydney Harbor requires diplomatic cooperation on “NCIS: Sydney” (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— The last three participants raid their family cookbooks on the season finale of “The Great American Recipe” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-G, check local listings).
— Sparks fly between a single mom and an NFL player in the 2023 romance “Fourth Down and Love” (9 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— A pilot’s death in a military resort exposes a criminal operation on “NCIS: Hawai’i” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
Does the nostalgia for all things mid-1980s, like the recent documentary “Brats” (Hulu), extend to Steve Guttenberg? The actor gained leading man status at the time, appearing in such films as “Diner” (1982), “Three Men and a Baby” (1987) and the franchise of slob-comedy movies inspired by the unlikely success of the 1984 feature “Police Academy” (8 p.m., AMC). I think the short answer to that question is “no.”
SERIES NOTES
“Name That Tune” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … Patton Oswalt hosts “The 1% Club” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … “The Wall” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) … “Celebrity Family Feud” (10 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Jimmy Fallon welcomes Channing Tatum, Liza Colon-Zayas and Lawrence on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Olympic medalist Ilona Maher visits “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Taylor Tomlinson hosts “After Midnight” (12:35 a.m., CBS).
