Tune in Tonight: Anything but All Rise; a lost Rainbow Coalition – Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Our corporate overlords just want what's best for us! The CEO of a waste management firm joins a tank-scrubbing team on "Undercover Boss" (9 p.m., CBS, TV-PG). Nothing like a supervisor unafraid to get his hands dirty.

This "Boss" installment was quickly inserted into the schedule to replace a survey of "Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials 2020" that has since been moved to Wednesday.

Both shows are replacements for the court procedural "All Rise," a slow performer for CBS this season. Despite a full-season order for the show starring Simone Missick as a prosecutor-turned-judge, the series has yet to attract a healthy audience.

I'd blame this on the series' rather uneven tone. It blends the solemn with silly in ways that don't always make sense. Viewers are smart enough to know the difference between "Law & Order" and "Night Court."

The show does offer fans a chance to catch "CSI" favorite Marg Helgenberger in a supporting role. But that's probably not enough to save "Rise," the network's worst-performing freshman series, from cancellation.

The "Independent Lens" (10 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) documentary "The First Rainbow Coalition" recalls a very brief moment that ended badly.

The notion that poor people might unite has always been considered dangerous. Racial divisions have often been used to thwart such "subversive" coalitions. "Rainbow" recalls the organization of Chicago groups, including the Black Panthers, the Puerto Rican Young Lords and the Young Patriots, representing poor white migrants who had left Appalachia for Chicago.

Unified in their complaints about a lack of jobs and decent housing, crime, an influx of drugs and a machine-run city that clustered them into ghettos, these disparate groups earned the wrath of Chicago's mayor, the local police and the FBI.

While it sounds trivial, "Rainbow" also offers an amazing glance at radical fashion, symbolism and style. Interviews show the Panthers coming to grips with the Patriots' use of the Confederate flag as a sign of identity, pride and resistance.

Panther leader Fred Hampton emerges here as a leader wise enough to look past labels and vestiges of the Confederacy to create a powerful voice for the poor. His organizations would be infiltrated by police spies and FBI agents, and Hampton would be riddled by bullets on Dec. 4, 1969. All before reaching his 22nd birthday.

Rich in powerful characters, conspiracies and historical what-ifs, this film could inspire a series not unlike Epic's "Godfather of Harlem."

The "Rainbow Coalition" moment may have been brief, but the politics of this moment lived on in many Hollywood movies, albeit from a very different angle. Rather than cheer a poor people's movement, audiences lapped up the vigilante violence of unrestrained police in such "Dirty Harry" movies as "Magnum Force" (7:15 p.m., Sundance, TV-14) and "The Enforcer" (9:45 p.m., Sundance, TV-MA) from 1973 and '76, respectively.

TONIGHT'S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

Golden buzzers await on "America's Got Talent" (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).

A steak-eating contest does not go down well on "9-1-1: Lone Star" (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14).

Cleveland-bound on "The Bachelor" (8 p.m., ABC, TV-14).

Bright faces Internal Affairs on "Prodigal Son" (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14).

John Malkovich stars on "The New Pope" (9 p.m., HBO, TV-MA).

An accused con artist may be a business visionary on "Bull" (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).

Michaela becomes embroiled in a mysterious bank robbery on "Manifest" (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).

A terminal patient wants to let the good times roll on "The Good Doctor" (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14).

CULT CHOICE

Created by Rankin/Bass Productions ("Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer") and the Japanese animation company Topcraft (whose veterans include Hayao Miyazaki), the 1982 children's-book adaptation "The Last Unicorn" (7 p.m., HBO Family) features the voices of Alan Arkin, Jeff Bridges, Mia Farrow, Angela Lansbury and Christopher Lee, and a musical score by Jimmy Webb ("Wichita Lineman").

SERIES NOTES

Dave's past emerges on "The Neighborhood" (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG) ... Tyrone returns on "All American" (8 p.m., CW, TV-PG) ... Last bequests on "Bob Hearts Abishola" (8:30 p.m., r, CBS, TV-PG) ... The entire Pierce family finds itself in the crosshairs on "Black Lightning" (9 p.m., CW, TV-14).

LATE NIGHT

Larry David and Pedro Gonzalez are booked on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" (11:35 p.m., CBS, r) ... Jimmy Fallon welcomes Michael Strahan, Matt Bomer and Nick Thune on "The Tonight Show" (11:35 p.m., NBC).

Colin Quinn, Julia Garner, the Broadway cast of "Jagged Little Pill" and Chris Coleman visit "Late Night With Seth Meyers" (12:35 a.m., NBC) ... Sting appears on "The Late Late Show With James Corden" (12:35 a.m., CBS).

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Tune in Tonight: Anything but All Rise; a lost Rainbow Coalition - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

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Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero
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