TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
8PM _ MasterChef In the new episode “Winners Mystery Box — Spirit of Vegas,” the chefs face their first mystery box challenge of the season, presented to them by returning Season 7 winner Shaun O’Neale. The chefs have just 60 minutes to cook three identical dishes using the spirits their mystery box contains. How well they perform may determine whether they win immunity or suffer elimination. Host Gordon Ramsay, Aarón Sánchez and Joe Bastianich are the judges.
8PM (TCM) MOVIE The Bounty It’s definitely not the 1962 version, but it’s not half bad. Mutinous Fletcher Christian (Mel
Gibson) goes up against cruel Captain Bligh (Anthony Hopkins) in this highly scenic 1984 version of the classic sea saga. After a shipboard standoff erupts into a mutiny, each of the two men leads a faction of followers. Laurence Olivier, Daniel Day-Lewis and Liam Neeson co-star in the film, which kicks off a lineup of movies starring Gibson.
9PM G Wellington Paranormal Officers Minogue and O’Leary (Mike Minogue, Karen O’Leary) are back on the beat as this zany police spoof returns for Season 3. In the opener, “Invisible Fiend,” the cops respond to a distress call from a family who has returned from holiday to discover that someone appears to have broken into their home. Arriving on the scene, the officers discover a violent unseen force that is wreaking havoc on the interior. Maaka Pohatu and Thomas Sainsbury also star. 9PM (HBO) Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes Emmy-winning filmmaker James Jones (“Frontline: On the President’s Orders”) looks back at the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 and its far-reaching ripple effects, as viewed through immersive footage shot on the site in the months following the accident. As soldiers, pilots and miners were summoned to help contain leaking radiation at their immense personal risk, the Soviet propaganda machine continued to deny and distort the facts. Deeply personal testimony from witnesses puts the tragedy in a human context.
10 PM ^ Planet California This new docuseries explores the Golden State from the perspective of its geographical diversity and how the conditions in each region affect the animals and plant life growing there. The opening hour, “Rivers of Gold,” examines how California’s wildlife adjusts to a world where drought, dams and fire pose dire threats to an ecosystem connected by rivers on land, in the air and in the sea.