Complaints about television would wither if you spent most your time watching absorbing, commercial-free documentaries on important topics. Two of them are on tonight.
Eugene Jarecki’s “The House I Live In” on “Independent Lens” (PBS, 10 p.m., check local listings) tackles both the folly of the failed war on drugs and the human costs of the resulting prison society, with more than 2.3 men and women behind bars in the country, which is more than Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and Iran combined.
The crackdown on drugs, Jarecki maintains, began as sure fire fodder for law and order candidates, who found it politically advantageous to say things like “lock them up and throw away the key” or “three strikes and you’re out.”
As a result, judges’ hands are tied to mandatory sentences. And while it may seem to be a ploy to incarcerate minorities (especially since sentences for crack cocaine used in the ghetto are 100 times more harsh than those for powder cocaine preferred by white professionals), it is a war against the poor in general (which explains the campaign against meth). Among the experts consulted in the film are Michelle Alexander, author of “The New Jim Crow,” and David Simon, creator of “The Wire.”
To commemorate Holocaust Remembrence Day is the previously untold story of Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus, a Jewish couple from Philadelphia who took it upon themselves in 1939, despite the indifference of their own government, to bring the largest group of Jewish children allowed into the U.S. from Vienna. Filmmaker Steven Pressman, who made “50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. And Mrs. Kraus” (HBO, 9 p.m.) after seeing the manuscript left to his wife, the couple’s granddaughter. Several of the saved children are alive and are interviewed.
It’s Michigan vs. Louisville (CBS, 9 p.m.) in the NCAA championship game, putting an end once and for all to this year’s madness.
Those who felt they didn’t get to see enough of Elisabeth Moss in even a two hour season premiere of “Mad Men” Sunday are advised to get on board to the hypnotic and jolting “Top of the Lake” (Sundance, 10 p.m.), in which she does the kind of things Peggy would never do. Tonight, she confronts a young man stealing groceries who may be helping out the missing girl Tui.
The season finale for “The Carrie Diaries” (The CW, 8 p.m.), comes just as prom approaches. Also marking (premature) season finales: “Being Human” (Syfy, 9 p.m.) and “Monday Mornings” (TNT, 10 p.m.).
The blind auditions on “The Voice” (NBC, 8 p.m.) have to wind up this week, don’t they?
With Wynonna Judd the first to be voted off “Dancing with the Stars” (ABC, 8 p.m.) and Dorothy Hamill the first to quit, the remaining 10 perform dances representing the “best year of my life.”
The kidnapped mother and son thing is still going on in “The Following” (Fox, 9 p.m.)
Not surprised that Norma doesn’t trust her neighbors on “Bates Motel” (A&E, 10 p.m.).
Steven Weber joins the cast of “Dallas” (TNT, 8 and 9 p.m.), which offers two new episodes.
A clambake goes haywire on “The Real Housewives of Orange County” (Bravo, 8 p.m.).
The unanswered questions about Sarah Polk are answered in “First Ladies: Influence & Image” (CSPAN, 9 p.m.).
Some big fish are booked for late night, with Keith Richards dropping by “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” (NBC, 12:37 a.m.) and Bill Clinton on “The Colbert Report” (Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m.).
Films about defense attorneys are on Turner Classic Movies tonight, with the 1942 “Roxie Hart” (8 p.m.), “Knock on Any Door” (9:30 p.m.), “Compulsion” (11:15 p.m.), “Anatomy of a Murder” (1:15 a.m.) and “The People Against O’Hara” (4 a.m.).
The cameraman Pam has gotten friendly with on “The Office” also plays Moe in the feature “The Three Stooges” (Cinemax, 8:30 p.m.).
Are you talking to me? “Taxi Driver” (Sundance, 8 p.m.).
It’s Mets at Phillies (ESPN, 7 p.m.) in Monday Night Baseball.
Daytime Talk
Kelly & Michael: Eva Longoria, Jordana Brewster, Burnell Taylor. The View: Edie Falco, Elizabeth Petrakis, Melania Trump, Giada De Laurentiis. The Talk: Ana gasteyer, Roy Yamaguchi. Ellen DeGeneres: Chris O’Donnell, Aubrey Plaza.
Late Talk
David Letterman: Jeremy Renner, Jack Hanna (rerun). Jay Leno: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Anthony Jeselnik, Vintage Trouble. Jimmy Kimmel: Rachel McAdams, Kelly Oxford, Kid Rock. Jimmy Fallon: Keith Richards, Edie Falco, Dennis Rodman, Ghostface Killah. Craig Ferguson: Max Greenfield, Debbie Reynolds. Carson Daly: Hannah Simone, Kurt Braunohler, Local Natives. Jon Stewart: David Stockman. Stephen Colbert: Bill Clinton. Conan O’Brien: Adam Sandler, Molly Shannon. Chelsea Handler: Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian, Kris Jenner.