1) “Mambo Legends, 10 p.m. , PBS. A propulsive sound emerged in 1940s and ’50s New York. It merged big-band horns with Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican rhythms, under the leadership of Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez and Machito. Now some of their musicians have revived the sound with the Mambo Legends band (shown here). This film has snatches of great music, plus a portrait of the era.
2) “American Historia.” 9 p.m., PBS. The mid-section of this three-week film leaps across centuries. It ranges from the Dominican merchant who was New York’s first non-native to the Puerto Rican who molded Black history libraries in New York (with 4,000 of his books) and Nashville. We also see the “manifest destiny” that plagued Hispanics in the Southwest.
3) “Murder in a Small Town,” 8 p.m., Fox. If you didn’t see this episode Tuesday (which was debate night), catch it now. After a noisy start – it’s homecoming week in this Canadian town – it settles into a smart mystery, with great work by Rossif Sutherland (as the police chief) and Kristin Kreuk.
4) More reruns, 8 p.m. NBC has a good one, “Brilliant Minds,” this time with Dr. Wolf treating a basketball coach who feels she’s lost contact with her body. CBS has Wednesday’s “Survivor,” followed at 9:30 by the third run of the “Summit” debut, an adequate survival show maid New Zealand beauty.
5) ALSO: Classic villains get the spotlight, with “Cruella” (6 p.m., Freeform)
and “Joker” (6:54, HBO). There’s also football – Michigan State-Oregon, at 9 p.m. on Fox – plus lots of streaming with a horror touch. Recent arrivals include Hulu’s “Hold Your Breath,” Prime’s “House of Spoils” and the season-opener for Max’s “Gremlins: The Wild Bunch.”
— Mike Hughes, TV America