Hilary Swank stars in a new original movie about an American who takes her son to Africa for an adventure and loses him to malaria. She also meets a British mother who had the same heartbreak. Together they plan to fight the preventable disease that still kills so many in “Mary and Martha” (HBO, 8 p.m.).
Brenda Blethyn, the Oscar nominee for “Secrets & Lies” and “Little Voice,” portrays her British friend. James Woods also eventually shows up as the father of Swank’s character. The screenplay by Richard Curtis (“Love Actually,” “The Girl in the Cafe”) approaches preachiness at times, but its emotional appeal can’t be denied.
A number of stars get involved on another original film on TV tonight. “Call Me Crazy: A Five Film” (Lifetime, 8 p.m.) an anthology of five stories on aspects of mental illness. Jennifer Aniston is executive producer; Laura Dern and Ashley Judd are among the directors and in the stories, Jennifer Hudson has post-traumatic stress disorder and Brittany Snow is a law student with schizophrenia. Melissa Leo, Lea Thompson, Melanie Griffith, Chelsea Handler, Jean Smart, Jason Ritter and Octavia Spencer also take part.
In a third original film on tonight, Wendie Malick stars as a primary suspect in her ex-husband’s murder in “After All These Years” (Hallmark, 8 p.m.). Andrea Martin also stars.
Premium cable premieres tonight include “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World” (Cinemax, 10 p.m.) with Steve Carell and Keira Knightley, and “Resident Evil: Retribution” (Starz, 9 p.m.).
The wife of Howard Stern is a bit of an animal advocate, but not as much as those Beth Stern visits in the new series “Spoiled Rotten Pets” (Nat Geo Wild, 9 p.m.) in which some domesticated loved ones are lavished with luxury.
“Bombshell” finally opens on “Smash” (NBC, 9 p.m.), in what is the only new scripted show on network TV tonight.
“Doctor Who” (BBC America, 8 p.m.) visits a haunted mansion on a desolate moor.
“Bet On Your Baby” (ABC, 8 p.m.) didn’t have terrible ratings last week. Maybe because nothing else was on.
The new episode of “Vegas” (NBC, 8 p.m.) bumped last night by Boston coverage gets another chance tonight, replacing the scheduled rerun of “NCIS: Los Angeles.”
Two popular movies from 1984 run back to back: “Gremlins” (Encore, 8 p.m.) and “Ghostbusters” (Encore, 9:50 p.m.).
Four movies that include trapeze acts are on Turner Classic Movies tonight starting with Ted Browning’s classic 1932 “Freaks” (8 p.m.) and continuing with “Trapeze” (9:15 p.m.), “The Dark Tower” (11:15 p.m.) and “Polly of the Circus” (1 a.m.).
They are followed by a couple of occult films from the 1960s, “Burn, Witch, Burn” (TCM, 2:15 a.m.) and “The Devil’s Own” (TCM, 4 a.m.).
The concert film “Bon Jovi: Inside Out” (VH1, 10 p.m.0 is taken from a London tour in 2008 and a New York concert in 2010.
It’s time for the first round of what will be a long line of NBA playoffs with Boston at New York (ABC, 3 pm.), Golden State at Denver (ESPN, 5:30 p.m.), Chicago at Brooklyn (ESPN, 8 p.m.) and Memphis at Clippers (ESPN, 10:30 p.m.).
Florence and the Machine play an old “Austin City Limits” (PBS, 9 p.m., check local listings).
The “Saturday Night Live” (NBC, 11:30 p.m.) with Christoph Waltz and Alabama Shakes is rerun. Earlier, there is a one hour version of last week’s show with Vince Vaughan at 10 p.m.