Some giants are saluted at the BET Honors 2014 (BET, 9 p.m.) taped earlier this month in D.C. Wayne Brady hosts the gathering where Aretha Franklin and the late Nelson Mandela are honored, as is Ice Cube and Motown founder Berry Gordy. Performers include Jennifer Hudson, Mariah Carey, Janelle Monae (pictured above), Smokey Robinson and Tamar Braxton.
In all the chair switching on late night, the first unknown will be the host of “Late Night with Seth Meyers” (NBC, 12:35 a.m.). Familiar from his years helming Weekend Update on “Saturday Night Live,” Meyers is a sharp and unflappable comic voice, who will be able to excel in monologue where his predecessor Jimmy Fallon, now on “The Tonight Show” (NBC, 11:35 p.m.) has not. But can he interview and do skits? With Lorne Michaels at the helm, we’re sure he’ll do well. His first guests are pretty strong with Amy Poehler and Vice President Joe Biden (so there will be a one-day Biden joke moratorium).
“The Voice” (NBC, 8 p.m.) returns for its sixth season, with Usher and Shakira returning to join Adam Levine and Blake Shelton in the chair that spin for another round of blind auditions. Carson Daly returns to host, just as his “Last Call with Carson Daly” (NBC, 1:35 a.m.) returns after nearly three weks off due to the Olympics.
The end of the Winter Games means other networks rush to put on new episodes instead of reruns, with two nights of February sweeps left. That means new episodes of “How I Met Your Mother” (CBS, 8 p.m.), “Almost Human” (Fox, 8 p.m.), “Star Crossed” (The CW, 8 p.m.), “2 Broke Girls” (CBS, 8:30 p.m.), “The Following” (Fox, 9 p.m.), “Beauty and the Beast” (The CW, 9 p.m.), “Mike & Molly” (CB, 9 p.m.), “Mom” (CBS, 9:30 p.m.), “The Blacklist” (NBC, 10 p.m.), “Castle” (ABC, 10 p.m.) and “Intelligence” (CBS, 10 p.m.).
But the Olympics aren’t quite over. How about a night-long “2014 Sochi Winter Olympics Recap” (NBC Sports Network, 6:30 p.m.)? Or a replay of the Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding documentary “The Price of Gold” (ESPN2, 9 p.m.), which, unlike Sunday’s NBC documentary, did not include the participation of Kerrigan.
After doing its own variation on the Kerrigan-Harding affair last week, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” (Logo, 9 p.m.) is back for a sixth season and higher profile than ever before. How else to snare Neil Patrick Harris, Paula Abdul and Adam Lambert for guest judge?
“Ice Warriors” (PBS, 10 p.m., check local listings) follows the 2010 U.S. Olympic gold medal sled hockey team preparing for the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games which will be held next month in Sochi.
“The Bachelor” (ABC, 8 p.m.) goes on hometown visits to meet the families of his four finalists. Some of the parents, not surprisingly, question the process.
“PiersMorgan Live” (CNN, 9 p.m.) is Piers Morgan dead — the network said its canceling the talk show. So any fans should watch while they can; the problem is that the successor of Larry King didn’t have enough fans.
Meanwhile there are two other premieres on news channels today. “Opening Bell with Maria Bartiromo” (Fox Business, 9 p.m.) signals a new network for the finance anchor once the subject of a song by Joey Ramone. And “Ronan Farrow Daily” (MSNBC, 1 p.m.) is a new outlet for the prodigy son of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen.
Filmmaker Keith Beauchamp seems an anomaly on a network that otherwise is full of lurid crime re-enactment, but he takes the occasion of Black History Month for another one of his fine investigations. “The Injustice Files: Sundown Towns” (Investigation Discovery, 8 p.m.) looks at towns in the South and elsewhere where African-Americans were not welcome to see of things have changed.
Artist Mickalene Thomas pays tribute to her mother and her troubled life in the short documentary “Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman” (HBO, 9 p.m.).
A four part history, “The Tanning of America: One Nation Under Hip Hop” (VH1, 11 p.m.) begins, showing how the culture influenced the country, with opinions offered by, among ohers, Dr. Dre, Russell Simmons, Cory Booker, Al Sharpton and Diddy.
The idea of “wives” on cable are just the opposite of reality: Big glitzy dresses, high society fights. The latest, “Private Lives of Nashville Wives” (TNT, 10 p.m.), from the producers of “The Real Housewives of Orange County” and “…Beverly Hills,” features one wife married to Bryan White, another to Gary Chapman, a third to Raul Malo of the Mavericks. The rest are realtives or married to party planners and dentists. Will they hit each other with guitars?
Oddly, the show is listed as a “TNT Drama,” probably so it could fit next to the rebooted “Dallas” (TNT, 9 p.m.) which returns for a third season, still revolving over feuding oil families and the ghost of J.R. presiding over it all.
If it’s not bad enough there are shows about bigfoot and mermaids, now there’s one about an alleged creature in the swamps of the South. “Cryptid: The Swamp Beast” (History, 10 p.m.) makes its premier on the History channel, for Pete’s sake, a network now moving solidly into Fake History.
The 1965 Oscars were the first to be broadcast in color, but its nominees were divided. The black and white art and set direction nominees were “Ship of Fools” (TCM, 8 p.m.),art direction winner “King Rat” (TCM, 10:45 p.m.), “The Spy Who Came In from the Cold” (TCM, 1:15 a.m.), “The Slender Thread” (TCM, 3:15 a.m.) and set decoration winner “A Patch of Blue” (TCM, 5 a.m.).
Men’s college hoops includes Syracuse at Maryland (ESPN, 7 p.m.), Oklahoma at TCU (ESPNU, 7 p.m.) and Oklahoma at Kansas (ESPN, 9 p.m.). In women’s games, it’s Penn State at Nebraska (ESPN2, 9 p.m.).
In one NBA game, it’s Dallas at New York (NBA, 7:30 p.m.).
Daytime Talk
Kelly & Michael: Beth Behrs, Josh Henderson. The View: Gabrielle Union, George Lamson Jr., Sunny Hostin. The Talk: Chris O’Donnell, Mim Serafin, Makini Howell. Ellen DeGeneres: Tim Allen. Wendy Williams: David Arquette.
Late Talk
David Letterman: Kaley Cuoco, Dale Earnhardt Jr., the Fray. Jimmy Fallon: Reese Witherspoon, Fred Armisen, Rick Ross. Jimmy Kimmel: Liam Neeson, Dave Salmoni. Seth Meyers: Amy Poehler, Vice President Joe Biden, A Great Big World. Craig Ferguson: Zooey Deschanel, Vera Farmiga, Roddy Hart & the Lonesome Fire. Carson Daly: David Walton, You Won’t, Jade Catta-Preta. Tavis Smiley: Steve Coogan. Jon Stewart: Hooman Majd. Stephen Colbert: Darlene Love. Arsenio Hall: LL Cool J, Jesse Williams, Prentice Powell. Conan O’Brien: Jonah Hill, Lupita Nyong’o, John Butler Trio. Chelsea Handler: Julianne Moore, Jen Kirkman, Beth Stelling, Jo Koy. Pete Holmes: Judd Apatow, Bode Miller.