Cancer, Alzheimer’s, addiction in the spotlight
The annual “Stand Up to Cancer” (8 p.m.) fundraiser returns. It will be carried on multiple channels, including ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, as well as such cable stations as American Forces Network, Aspire, Audience Network, Bloomberg TV, Bravo, Comedy Central, Discovery Life, Epix, FXM, Great American Country, HBO, HLN, ION, LMN, Logo, National Geographic, Pivot, Showtime, Smithsonian, Starz, TBS, VH1 and WGN. You can’t really miss it. Look for performances by Celine Dion, Keith Urban and Little Big Town and appearances by Viola Davis, Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig and Ed Helms, among others.
Stand Up To Cancer was launched in 2008 by a number of women, including former “Today” anchor Katie Couric, whose lives had been changed and challenged by the disease.
CLOSE TO HOME
On “20/20” (10 p.m., ABC) enters a new season with a story close to home. Diane Sawyer interviews ABC News colleague Elizabeth Vargas about her struggles with alcohol and anxiety and her new book “Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction.” Another episode of “20/20” (9 p.m.) airs earlier.
CANCER COMEDY
Cancer has certainly affected Tig Notaro, a standup comedian who has incorporated her diagnosis, double mastectomy and remission into her performances. Notaro stars in the six-episode autobiographical series “One Mississippi,” streaming on Amazon Prime beginning today.
CAMPBELL TRIBUTE
Following the “Stand Up to Cancer” fundraiser, CBS broadcasts the “10th Annual ACM Honors” (9 p.m.). Members of Lady Antebellum host the event, taped live at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Aug. 30.
The night included a special tribute to singer Glen Campbell, who is in the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease and could not attend. Keith Urban, Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley and Toby Keith performed a medley of his popular songs, ballads that crossed over from country to pop. Members of Campbell’s family were in attendance.
Campbell’s affliction and his family’s efforts to help him perform right up to the end of his career were captured in the moving 2014 documentary “Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me,” available, for a fee, on a number of streaming services, including YouTube, Vudu and iTunes.
TONIGHT’S HIGHLIGHTS
› Best known for his eponymous 1990s sitcom, a comedian returns to the standup stage in the 2016 special “Martin Lawrence: Doin’ Time: Uncut” (9 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA).
› The new docuseries “Jagger Eaton’s Mega Life” (7:30 p.m., Nickelodeon, TV-G) follows a teen skateboarder as he “pushes the limits” on and off his board. First up: A competition has him return to his hometown of Phoenix.
› Men’s Semifinals take center stage at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships (3 p.m., ESPN).
› A choice of fish or poultry on “MasterChef” (9 p.m., Fox, repeat, TV-14). ›
The suicide of a Baptist minister’s wife leaves her family suspicious on “Killer Clergy” (9 p.m., ID, TV-14).
› A 70-year-old widower (Robert De Niro) becomes a force at an online fashion site in the 2015 comedy “The Intern” (9 p.m., HBO), also starring Anne Hathaway and Rene Russo.
› “50 Years of Star Trek” (10:05 p.m., History, repeat) features reminiscences and observations from Nichelle Nichols, J.J. Abrams, Jonathan Frakes, as well as segments from Leonard Nimoy’s last interview.
› Missed chances on “Dark Matter” (10 p.m., Syfy, TV-14).
› A veteran falls into Memphis’ criminal demimonde after returning from Vietnam in the new eight-part series “Quarry”
(10 p.m., Cinemax, TV-MA), based on a series of novels by Max Allan Collins.
› Dean Cain hosts “Masters of Illusion” (10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., CW, repeat, TV-14).
› Illusionists audition on “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” (11 p.m., CW, TV-PG).
› A two-hour “Dateline” (9 p.m., NBC). Contact Kevin McDonough at kevin.tvguy@gmail.com.