Tuesday viewing on A&E for guys
What do men want? That’s the billion-dollar question for TV programmers and advertisers. Some cable networks have found success by creating “reality” programming around hyper-masculine figures like Discovery’s “American Chopper,” about a family of motorcycle craftsmen. A&E, a network once considered the “Arts & Entertainment” home of ballet, jazz and deep thinkers, now brags that one of its most popular shows is “Dog the Bounty Hunter” (9 p.m., A&E).
Now entering its second season, “Dog” follows a bounty hunter as he tracks down desperate characters while trying to keep his extended and at times dysfunctional family together.
Hot on the heels of “Dog,” A&E introduces “Knievel’s Wild Ride” (10 p.m.), which follows the son of the famous motorcycle stunt-jumper as he replicates his father’s daredevil ways.
“The Adventures of Errol Flynn” (5 p.m., TCM) examines an earlier generation’s notions of masculinity. Narrated by Ian Holm, “Adventures” looks at the many films and headline-grabbing personal life of Flynn, the greatest swashbuckling star of Hollywood’s golden age.
Sword-brandishing Flynn would be typecast in “The Sea Hawk,” “Captain Blood,” “The Adventures of Robin Hood” (6:30 p.m., TCM) and other adventures.
Flynn also excelled in westerns, including “They Died with Their Boots On” (12:30 a.m., TCM), and starred in many combat pictures during World War II, when the lingering effects of malaria and tuberculosis, which he contracted during his early days in New Guinea, kept him out of combat.
Flynn would live his final decades in physical and financial decline, dying at age 50 after making the odd pro-Castro film “Cuban Rebel Girls,” co-starring his teenage lover Beverly Aadland. While TCM won’t show “Cuban Rebel Girls,” Flynn’s other films will air every Tuesday this month.
The “Frontline” (9 p.m., KSPS) documentary “Israel’s Next War?” offers a chilling look at the “culture wars” facing the embattled nation. “War” looks at Israel’s small, violent population of religious extremists, some American-born, who have erected religious settlements as a means of provoking their Palestinian neighbors. Violent, messianic and uncompromising, these zealots hope to destroy the secular Israeli state and provoke all-out war with Arabs that they believe will fulfill biblical prophecy and bring redemption.
Other highlights
The final nine compete on “American Idol” (8 p.m., Fox).
Richard uses vehicular mayhem to make his point on “Gilmore Girls” (8 p.m., WB).
Longitudes and attitudes on “The Amazing Race” (9 p.m., CBS).
A woman’s rare disease puts her marriage in jeopardy on “House” (9 p.m., Fox).
A woman seeks custody of her half-sister on “Judging Amy” (10 p.m., CBS).
Billy Campbell guest stars as a professor accused of rape on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (10 p.m., NBC).
A serial sicko leaves his victims with a brand on “Blind Justice” (10 p.m., ABC).
Series notes
Cuffed to a suspect on “Navy NCIS” (8 p.m., CBS) … Patti Lupone cameos on “Will & Grace” (8 p.m., NBC) … No sanctuary on “My Wife and Kids” (8 p.m., ABC) … An old friend hears a divine calling on “All of Us” (8 p.m., UPN).
On back-to-back episodes of “Scrubs” (NBC), brotherly love (8:30 p.m.), Carla’s caress (9 p.m.) … Work woes “George Lopez” (8:30 p.m., ABC) … Top-heavy on “Eve” (8:30 p.m., UPN).
Locked in the garage on “According to Jim” (9 p.m., ABC) … Valedictory wars on “Veronica Mars” (9 p.m., UPN) … The top three audition on “The Starlet” (9 p.m., WB).