Choose ‘Helen Keller’ over ‘Queens’
Imitation can be the sincerest form of flattery. It’s also a way to take an idea for an already-existing show and turn it into something boring. Debuting tonight, the melodrama “Queens” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14) follows the four members (Eve, Naturi Naughton, Nadine Velazquez and Brandy) of a female hip-hop ensemble who were on top of the world in 1999, when they released their album “Nasty.”
“Queens” glances back at their over-the-top videos, complete with an MTV logo, then fast-forwards nearly a quarter-century to find the women struggling with middle-age issues like failing marriages, long-repressed sexual urges and the estranged children they bore during their periods of hard-partying abandon.
If this all sounds familiar, it’s because it’s spectacularly similar to the plot of the comedy “Girls5Eva,” which began streaming this summer on Peacock. But while that series played up the ridiculousness of the group’s Y2K-era songs and the gruesome misogyny of the music industry that fabricated them, “Queens” plays it pretty straight, so as not to offend the soap-opera crowd. It doesn’t seem to have the wit, or the courage, to laugh at the vulgar materialism of the hip hop scene.
Watching the “vintage” promotional clips for “Nasty,” I was reminded of the savage album reviews that the guys in “This Is Spinal Tap” had to endure: “They are treading water in a sea of retarded sexuality and bad poetry.” Landing with a thud, “Queens” may even be too boring for the fans of “The Bachelorette” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
› “American Masters” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) wraps up its 35th season with a profile of Helen Keller. Born blind and deaf, Keller (1880-1968) was brought to the public’s attention by the Broadway drama and 1962 Oscar-winning film “The Miracle Worker.” While the film emphasized Keller’s childhood breakthroughs, this “Masters” profile recalls how she transcended her role as a disability advocate to become an activist and spokeswoman for important causes of the 20th century, including civil rights and universal health care.
Keller’s longevity put her at the center of historical struggles that may seem forgotten today. A lifelong socialist, she was a member of the I.W.W. Union, known as the “Wobblies,” a group subject to violent suppression in the early decades of the last century. She was active enough in debates of that era to have had an evolving position on eugenics, once championed as a “progressive” approach to population control that would inspire “master race” theories on both sides of the Atlantic.
“Helen Keller” features narration by actress Cherry Jones and will be accessible via American Sign Language interpretation.
› A podcasting comic is captured before a live audience at Nashville’s
Ryman Auditorium in the comedy special “Theo Von: Regular People,” streaming on Netflix.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› Samuel L. Jackson stars in the 2006 shocker “Snakes on a Plane” (7:30 p.m., MTV2, TV-14).
› The battle rounds conclude on “The Voice” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
› Keeping witches in stitches “The Resident” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
› “Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr.” (8 p.m., repeat, PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) climbs up the family trees of journalists Gretchen Carlson and Don Lemon.