A true-crime take on ‘The Producers’
Who says “indie” movies can’t make money? “American Greed” (10 p.m., CNBC) returns to Hollywood once again for a tale of audacity and fraud. Mired in a rut as a B-level, at best, actor, Jason Van Eman turned his career around as a movie producer. You can find his credits on the internet. You may not have seen (or even heard of) “Assimilate,” “Camp Cold Brook” or “The Tale,” but they are real films.
Apparently, some of his claims were not so legitimate, and he and his collaborator, a corrupt financier, were pursued by the law. Van Eman was eventually convicted and sentenced to 21 years in prison for defrauding investors out of more than $60 million.
› As Dorothy Gale taught us, “There’s no place like home.” Unless it’s a homestead. And just what is the difference?
For a hardy few, homesteading allows families to become subsistence farmers. They raise their own foods and live off the land, and in some cases make their own textiles and fashion their own clothing. They aim to cut down on their reliance on the commercial world and lighten their impact on the environment.
It’s not for everybody, and subject to many hardships. That’s why the Raney family, the “stars” of “Homestead Rescue” (8 p.m., Discovery, TV-PG), now in its 10th season, have made it their business to save fellow homesteaders from financial ruin.
In the season opener, Raney patriarch Marty, the author of “Homestead Survival: An Insider’s Guide to Your Great Escape,” travels to Wyoming to help a family deal with an inherited property bearing a tragic legacy. And on a more down-to-earth project, he helps them revive an unfinished well. Over the course of the season, the Raney clan will visit an Idaho home under threat by a collapsing mountain and Alaska-based homesteaders preparing for a harsh winter.
› Netflix streams “A Whole Lifetime With Jamie Demetriou,” a sketch comedy special that includes an absurd parody of a “Bachelor”-like show.
› Olivia Colman portrays a movie-theater manager with a bipolar disorder in the period romance “Empire of Light” (9:45 p.m., HBO2), costarring Micheal Ward, Colin Firth and Toby Jones.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› An ex-Marine goes on a violent rampage on “FBI” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
› A fetching military veteran returns to rescue her grandpa’s ailing barbecue joint only to inadvertently find a side order of lovey-dovey in the 2021 fantasy “Roadhouse Romance” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
› Upon his release, an ex-con finds himself ghosted by his prison pen pal on “Catfish: The TV Show” (8 p.m., MTV, TV-14), resuming its eighth season tonight.
› The road to Morocco on “FBI: International” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14).