A ‘Pink’ take on female desperation

CBS introduces “Pink Collar Crimes” (8 p.m. today, TV-PG), a summer replacement series that touches on several current themes. A cursory glance at the cable schedule tells us that true-crime documentaries, particularly those featuring more “reenacting” than acting, are all the rage. The ID network is basically devoted to the genre.

“Pink” puts the focus on unlikely criminals and suspects — soccer moms and PTA chairwomen — driven to felony. Every episode offers interviews and perspective from former prosecutor, author and television correspondent Marcia Clark.

While review copies were not made available, the title and the promotional material for “Pink” keeps the emphasis on the “outrageous” and whimsical. As if its subjects’ actions and motivations are not to be believed or taken seriously. “Put down that Uzi, little lady!”

That tone contrasts with a spate of recent series (discussed in yesterday’s column), from “Orange Is the New Black” to “The Handmaid’s Tale,” that deal with rebellious, law-breaking women from a serious perspective. “Pink” seems more in line with the NBC comedy “Good Girls,” starring Christina Hendricks, Retta and Mae Whitman as three suburban women who descend somewhat farcically into a life of organized crime. The fact that “Girls” has been renewed seems to indicate that not every viewer wants to be tortured in Gilead.

At the same time, it seems odd that Clark, a victim of gruesome gender-based condescension during the O.J. Simpson trial, would associate herself with this series’ “Pink” take on female desperation.

CARTOON COMEDIES

The ongoing series “The History of Comedy” (10 p.m. Sunday, CNN) offers an hourlong look at an entertainment genre that has gone from the margins of pop culture to become a dominant force.

“Drawn To Be Funny” surveys the history of cartoon comedies from the earliest silent works of Fleischer Studios to the international appeal of Mickey Mouse, the antic brilliance of Warner Bros. Animation and six decades of cartoons on television.

“Drawn” does a good job discussing how different comedy genres influenced each other. The talking cartoons of Mickey Mouse appeared just as silent slapstick shorts were vanishing. Charlie Chaplin accurately predicted that Mickey would replace him. The survey also does an admirable job talking about the economics of the entertainment industry and how movie studio cartoonists were put out to pasture in the 1950s when studios stopped making shorts to introduce feature films. That forced William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the creators of the Oscar-winning “Tom & Jerry” shorts, to cut their budgets and work for the low-rent ABC network and create the simpler animation behind “The Flintstones.”

Curiously, some of Hanna and Barbera’s lesser works would be recycled a generation later, when Cartoon Network and its Adult Swim division added absurd voices to their characters from “Space Ghost,” “Sealab 2020” and “Birdman.”

“Drawn” concludes with a look at cartoon comedy as it dominates the world of pop culture, from the decades-long prime-time runs of “The Simpsons,” “South Park” and “Family Guy” to billion-dollar film franchises “Toy Story” and “Minions.”

“Drawn” takes an uncritical look at the evolution of the cartoon voiceover. Once the province of singular talents like Mel Blanc, it has become dominated by popular comedians and Hollywood actors.

Completely absent is any discussion of music in the art of cartoon comedy. As a big fan of the “difficult” mid-20th century Carl W. Stalling scores that propelled hundreds of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, I think this is a serious omission.

These shortcomings stem from the hourlong treatment of a subject that deserves unending discussion. As one expert opines here, cartoons aren’t a comedy sideline any longer. They are comedy itself. As live-action comedies become more miss than hit, animated features have become one of the most lucrative entertainment genres in Hollywood.

WHAT’S STREAMING

Netflix begins streaming season eight of the Showtime comedy “Shameless” today. Amazon Prime streams the sixth and final season of FX’s “The Americans” on Sunday.

ROASTING WILLIS

Dennis Rodman and Martha Stewart help headline the “Comedy Central Roast of Bruce Willis” (10 p.m. Sunday, TV-14). The arrival of Demi Moore is supposed to be a surprise, but it’s already been touted by network publicity on YouTube and elsewhere.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS

› Pleasure seekers strike up a shipboard friendship with some bad actors in the 2018 shocker “The Wrong Cruise” (8 p.m., Lifetime).

› Researchers scour the deep on “Great White Abyss: Sharkopedia Edition” (8 p.m., Discovery).