1) “American Experience: The Ruthless History of Monopoly,” 9 p.m., PBS. When Ralph Anspach created Anti-Monopoly in the 1970s, the Parker Brothers company tried to smite it. Clearly, the company said, this violated a patent it had held since Monopoly (shown here in its current form) was invented in the 1930s. Anspach didn’t budge. He traced the game to a Lizzie Maggie patent in 1904 and then to Atlantic City women in the 1920s. Here’s a fun portrait of an intense, six-year battle.
2) “Fantasy Island,” 8 p.m., Fox. After a Valentine-eve episode last week that included some fun, the show reverts to its ongoing flaw – obvious and repetitious stories that would work better at half this length. This time, a woman wants her family to be as happy as it seems on social media; also, a guy wants to know when he’ll die. Don’t bet on either to go smoothly.
3) “Quantum Leap,” 10 p.m., NBC. So far, this show hasn’t really reflected on the Asian roots of its lead character, Ben (Raymond Lee). Now that changes: Ben leaps into the body of a womany whose parents emigrated from India. Her family reminds him of his own.
4) Family films. On Presidents Day, kids may run out of things to do. So Freeform has two non-cartoon musicals – the gorgeous “Beauty and the Beast” (2017) at 3:45 p.m. and the adequate “Aladdin” (2019) at 6:55. Also, the Disney Channel has the animated “The Princess and the Frog” (2009) at 7.
5) “Bloodlands” and “The Madame Blanc Mysteries,” www.acorn.tv. Clearly, all mysteries aren’t the same. “Bloodlands” has an Irish police detective scrambling to hide his past deeds; the final two episodes, airing today, are intense, disturbing and well-crafted. “Madame Blanc” is the opposite, a light-hearted tale of an Englishwoman solving crimes in small-town France. The season opens with two episode; the opener is fun … if you allow some unlikely twists.
— Mike Hughes, TV America