Cuisines past; TV’s past, present and future
“Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern” (9 p.m., Travel) enters its 18th season with a glance in the rearview mirror. So much “foodie” culture and programming is devoted to introducing viewers and eaters to new cuisine and exotic undiscovered gastronomic worlds. This season, Andrew Zimmern sets out to rediscover forgotten food cultures. First up: a look at the chow of the Texas cowboy, from the ephemeral snacks served at the local rodeos to barbacoa made with the centuries-old traditions of vaqueros, the cowboys of Texas long before Texas existed.
HIPPIE INVASION
Speaking of rearview mirrors, “American Experience” (8 p.m., PBS) presents “Summer of Love,” a 2007 glance at the hippie invasion of San Francisco in 1967.
The film is rich in documentary footage of an American city trying to cope with an invasion of tourists, idealists and teenage runaways, as dreams of a transformative youth revolution gave way to a squalid scene of crime, drug abuse and vagrancy.
The film fails to mention that the summer of 1967 was anything but a love-in for millions of Americans living in dozens of cities — most notably Detroit and Newark — convulsed by rioting. Not to mention the half-million soldiers serving in Vietnam that summer.
Perhaps one of the reasons that the subject of the 1960s remains so divisive is the impression that the concerns of white middle- and upper-middle-class “hippies” dominate popular history, while other stories are marginalized and forgotten.
YOUTUBE HUMOR
A couple of veteran television comics discuss the talk shows they’d like to see and do it on a show that doesn’t appear on traditional “television” at all. “Norm Macdonald Live” enters its third season today on the Norm Macdonald Live YouTube Channel.
In the first episode, he’ll sit down with David Letterman, who will discuss his retirement, his health scare and television legends including Mary Tyler Moore and Johnny Carson. Upcoming guests on Macdonald’s talk show will include Jerry Seinfeld, Mike Tyson, Sarah Silverman, Margaret Cho and Caitlyn Jenner.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› Judges continue their cuts on “America’s Got Talent” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
› Spain’s Iberian lynx, China’s Yangtze giant softshell turtle and the Cross River gorilla are captured (on film) in Cameroon on “Rare” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-PG).
› Jane puts her feelings in escrow on “The Bold Type” (9 p.m., Freeform, TV-14).
› Misty Copeland guest-judges on “World of Dance” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
› Laura teams up with an old partner on “Somewhere Between” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
› Bad news for a petty officer on “NCIS” (8 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-14).
› Reunion in blue on “Lethal Weapon” (8 p.m., Fox, repeat, TV-14).
› Axl needs to man up on “The Middle” (8 p.m., ABC, repeat, TV-PG).
› Hanging out in Gorilla City on “The Flash” (8 p.m., CW, repeat, TV-PG).
› Never mind the mind control on “Bull” (9 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-14).
› Games of chance on “The Mick” (9 p.m., Fox, repeat, TV-14).
› Adult beverages on “Fresh Off the Boat” (8:30 p.m., ABC, repeat, TV-PG).
› Thanksgiving on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (9:30 p.m., Fox, repeat, TV-14).
› On two helpings of “Blackish” (ABC, repeat), Internet-free (9 p.m., TV-14), theme-park antics (9:30 p.m., TV-PG).
› Back to Capone’s Chicago on “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” (9 p.m., CW, repeat, TV-14).
› A copycat killer strikes on “NCIS: New Orleans” (10 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-14).
Contact Kevin McDonough at kevin.tvguy@gmail.com.