‘American Masters’ profiles Amy Tan
“American Masters” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) profiles Amy Tan. Her debut novel, “The Joy Luck Club,” and its multigenerational take on a Chinese-American family spent more than 40 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. “Masters” recalls the excitement about “Joy” and its subsequent adaptation as a motion picture in 1993. Not unlike the adaptation of Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple,” the film was seen as an important celebration of women at the margins of “white” American society, but also criticized for its brutal depiction of the men in their lives.
This “Masters” includes interviews with Tan and Kevin Kwan, Isabel Allende, Lisa Lu, Rosalind Chao, Tamlyn Tomita, Kieu Chinh, Dave Barry and Ronald Bass.
Tan was an active member of the charity rock group Rock Bottom Remainders, consisting of a rotating crew of professional musicians and authors, including Barry, Matt Groening, Stephen King and Scott Turow. They performed at meetings of the American Booksellers Convention way back before the retail book industry was devoured by corporate giants Barnes & Noble and then Amazon. Their performances affirmed their support for independent bookstores and raised money for literacy charities. I saw them at their first performance in Anaheim, California, in 1992. Assessing their talent, Dave Barry observed, “We play music as well as Metallica writes novels.”
› “Antiques Roadshow” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-G, check local listings) continues its 25th season with a “Celebrities” edition. COVID kept the series from the large gatherings we’ve come to expect, so its crew visited boldfaced names, including comedian Jay Leno, S. Epatha Merkerson (“Law & Order”), author Jason Reynolds, Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan and professional golfer Dottie Pepper, in their own homes.
Athletes Pepper and Kerrigan check out the monetary values of some of their prized possessions, including the Vera Wang “wedding” outfit Kerrigan wore in the 1992 Games. Social distancing moved the Kerrigan segment to her backyard. Standing with her stuff against a plain wire fence, the former Olympian looks like just any other mom gathering her old things for a yard sale.
In her Harlem apartment, Merkerson shows off her quirky collection of minstrel collectibles, and Reynolds, author of young adult novels such as “All American Boys,” displays his collection of vintage watches.
Each of these participants displays the passion and excitement we’ve come to expect from “Roadshow.” They’re here to learn.
Jay Leno is another matter entirely.
“Roadshow” visits the Los Angeles-based comedian in a vast mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, that he describes as something he liked, so he bought it completely furnished and appointed. He affects a gee-shucks naivety about the paintings on the wall. When told that one is part of an Impressionist revival, popular in the 1940s, he remains nonplussed. “You can’t even see the numbers!” he quips. Is he indifferent, or putting on an act?
There’s a certain pathetic vulgarity to his routine. He wants you to know he’s rich enough to buy a mansion on a whim, but seems afraid that exhibiting a curiosity about “culture” might seem unmanly to his mainstream audience. But what audience? He retired from “The Tonight Show” years ago.