Who’s in the mood for a sitcom about cancer?
CBS swaps out one bad sitcom for another. It has placed the non-performing show “Me, Myself & I” on hiatus and has put “Man With a Plan” (8:30 p.m., TV-PG) back on the schedule. “Plan” stars Matt LeBlanc (“Friends”) in the kind of jaw-droppingly unoriginal house-husband sitcom that his character would ridicule on his much better show, the just-finished “Episodes.”
If the situations in some CBS sitcoms are overly familiar, Showtime’s new BBC import comedy “Ill Behaviour” (10:30 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA) may be too innovative for some. Who’s in the mood for a sitcom about cancer?
“Ill” isn’t the first comedy to ask viewers to swallow some outrageous contrivances. Thirty-something Joel (Chris Geere, “You’re the Worst”) is first seen in his underwear on a building ledge throwing money into the street. Seems he’s just been dumped by a shrewish hedgefund manager who buys him off with a 2-million-pound divorce settlement. There’s nothing to suggest what a mega-rich go-getter would see in such a lazy guy, but it does establish Joel as independently wealthy.
His best friend, Charlie (Tom Riley, “Da Vinci’s Demons”), puts him up for a few weeks and then sets him up on an internet date with American doctor Nadia (Lizzy Caplan, “Masters of Sex”), a cynical chain-smoker who happens to be a cancer specialist.
Not unlike Joel’s windfall, this convenient coincidence comes in handy when we learn that Charlie has just received a cancer diagnosis, something he’s decided to treat with holistic fruit drinks and herbs rather than submit to chemotherapy.
Suddenly Joel the flake is the responsible party, trying to save his friend’s life with the help of an embittered and reluctant Nadia and Tess (Jessica Regan), an underemployed mutual friend of Joel and Charlie’s.
Written by Sam Bain (“Peep Show”), “Ill” is filled with absurd conversations and awkward silences. Strenuously unsentimental, it takes a stark look at how much we owe to each other. Think of the old line from the “Friends” theme, “I’ll Be There for You,” and add the specter of early death.
While clever and sporadically amusing, “Ill” seems closer to an improv sketch than a story you might follow at length. Then again, it’s only six episodes long.
PATRIOTIC SALUTES
› Slightly overdue for Veterans Day, the documentary “War Dog: A Soldier’s Best Friend” (8 p.m., HBO) explores the bond between soldiers and combat canines.
› The “POV” documentary “Almost Sunrise” (10 p.m., PBS, TV-MA) follows two veterans who embark on a 2,700-mile walk to put their war experiences behind them.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› Playoffs begin on “The Voice” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
› A reporter’s wife has an undercover indiscretion on “Lucifer” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
› The Carolina Panthers host the Miami Dolphins in “Monday Night Football” (8:15 p.m., ESPN).
› Eclipse receives a call from an ex on “The Gifted” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG).
› Robbery at a Renaissance festival on “Scorpion” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-PG).
› A drone crash necessitates a Plan B on “The Brave” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
› Shaun treats a kindred spirit on “The Good Doctor” (10 p.m., ABC).
› A city doctor returns to her hometown when her dad retires from his practice in the 2017 romance “The Christmas Cure” (10 p.m., Hallmark).
› A workplace accident invites a possible lawsuit on “Kevin Can Wait” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG).
› “Dancing With the Stars” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
› Painful memories return on “Supergirl” (8 p.m., CW, TV-14).
› Franco mentors on “Superior Donuts” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-PG). › Nora harbors misgivings on “Valor” (9 p.m., CW, TV-14).
› Babying the nanny on “9JKL” (9:30 p.m., CBS, TV-PG).