‘Meet the Patels’ examines a blending of cultures
“Meet the Patels” on “Independent Lens” (10 p.m., PBS) takes a bittersweet look at love, marriage, family and the immigrant experience. Fresh from a breakup with his “American” girlfriend, Ravi Patel, the “star” and co-director of this film, visits his parents who worry that he is nearing 30 and unmarried. Ravi had kept his white girlfriend a secret from his mother, Champa, and father, Vasant. Born in India, they had agreed to marry after an interview lasting less than 20 minutes. They believe Ravi might benefit from the same approach.
The film follows his submission to his parents’ wishes and the insular world of the Patel people, a group from a small part of India who only marry with other Patels. As the name signifies location and not bloodline, this intermarriage is not incest. But it does make for a community that crosses that fine line between close-knit and suffocating.
In some ways, Ravi’s dating life is not terribly different from the kind offered by other online services. Only this one is organized by his parents via shared Patel “resumes” called “biodata.” Ravi travels throughout the United States and Canada looking for the right girl with the right name. Some of these encounters are filmed by Ravi with the help of his sister, Geeta. An awkward touch, at best.
And Ravi keeps in touch with his American girlfriend, who complains about his commitment issues. If only she knew.
In many ways, this often-funny tale of a loving, meddling family follows in the tradition of such films as “Crossing Delancey.” But the intrusion of the reality TV and social media elements that allow us to follow Ravi’s search may be the greatest impediment to his success.
‘GAME’ AGAIN
HBO2 will air a 10-episode marathon of season one of “Game of Thrones” (noon, TV-MA). All six seasons will air in this fashion, every day through Dec. 31.
REAL LIFE
“Every Brilliant Thing” (8 p.m., HBO, TV-PG) presents an adaptation of the hit off-Broadway one-character show of the same name written by Duncan Macmillan and starring British comedian Jonny Donahoe.
“Thing” examines its character’s reaction to his mother’s depression and suicide attempts. The show’s title refers to the list he creates as a boy, an attempt to enumerate all of the things worth living for. As he grows up, the list matures from childish things (“ice cream”) to the more profound (“surprises” and “falling in love”).
While telling a tale of a life lived in the shadow of death, Donahoe cajoles audience members to participate and add to the list, and even act out other characters in his story. Some may see this as theater as group therapy. But one London critic called “Every Brilliant Thing” the “funniest play you’ll see about depression.”
TONIGHT’S HIGHLIGHTS
A plus-sized dancer becomes a social activist in the 2016 musical adaptation “Hairspray Live!” (8 p.m., NBC, repeat, TV-PG).
Mad Hatter arrives on “Gotham” (8 p.m., Fox, repeat, TV-14).
The “Peanuts” gang celebrates in the 1986 special “Happy New Year Charlie Brown” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-G).
“iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2016” (8 p.m., CW, repeat) presents a concert from New York.
A serial killer leaves his mark on “Lucifer” (9 p.m., Fox, repeat, TV-14).
The voices of Red Skelton, Frank Gorshin and Morey Amsterdam animate the 1976 special “Rudolph’s Shiny New Year” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-G).
Anthony Melchiorri visits very cool places to stay, from the fjords of Finland to Quebec City on “Ice Hotels … Not Impossible” (9 p.m., Travel, TV-G).
Cult choice
An interracial love triangle (Harry Belafonte, Inger Stevens and Mel Ferrer) survives a nuclear apocalypse in the 1959 drama “The World, the Flesh and the Devil” (10 p.m., TCM).