”Penn & Teller” offers humorous take
Cable’s crankiest contrarians return with the third season of “Penn & Teller: Bull!” (10 p.m., Showtime). In their show, with a title unprintable in family newspapers, the witty illusionists take an intellectual blowtorch to popular wisdom, political correctness, fads and trends.
In the past they have presented caustic cases against accepted wisdom on secondhand smoke, bottled water and TV mediums.
At their best, they make you think. At the very least, they make you laugh.
And at their weakest, they are a thousand times more entertaining and provocative than smug network libertarian John Stossel.
Tonight’s season-opening rant tackles the sensitive subject of male circumcision, a medical practice grounded in religious and cultural traditions. Penn & Teller host experts on both sides of the issue and offer a fusillade of seventh-grade-level jokes about the subject at hand.
The current season of “Bull!” will unfold over the next seven weeks and return for six additional episodes in August. They will examine the political atmosphere of America’s college campuses and offer viewers little-known insights into the lives and teachings of sacred figures including Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama and Gandhi.
Penn & Teller also appear (as themselves) on tonight’s Las Vegas-themed episode of “Listen Up” (8:30 p.m., CBS).
On a similarly skeptical theme, the National Geographic Channel offers three original episodes of its series “Is It Real?” The first, “Is It Real?: UFO’s” (8 p.m., National Geographic) analyzes “evidence” and eyewitness accounts of “close encounters.” “Is It Real?: Ghosts” (9 p.m.) looks at man’s eternal fixation on spectral phenomena, and my personal favorite, “Is It Real?: Spontaneous Human Combustion” (10 p.m.) looks into stories about people who suddenly burst into flames.
“American Experience” (9 p.m., KSPS) repeats the 1997 documentary “The Fall of Saigon,” recalling the hurried evacuation during the days and hours leading up to the communist occupation of Saigon in April 1975.
Here’s a sobering thought for those who can recall 1975: We are now as far removed in history from the end of the Vietnam War as that year was from the end of World War II.
Other highlights
A Vermont maid (Carole Lombard) melts the heart of a cynical reporter (Frederic March) in the 1937 media satire “Nothing Sacred” (10:45 a.m., Turner Classic Movies).
Couples in need on “Marriage 911” (8 p.m., Fox).
Bugs be gone on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition: How’d They Do That?” (8 p.m., ABC).
Ray, Robert and Frank lie about attending therapy in a funny repeat of “Everybody Loves Raymond” (9 p.m., CBS).
A lapse in security on “Las Vegas” (9 p.m., NBC).
Jack’s methods come under scrutiny, and Chloe is forced to do fieldwork on “24” (9 p.m., Fox).
Gang war spills over into a hospital emergency room on “CSI: Miami” (10 p.m., CBS).
The wife of a pilot (Chad Lowe) vanishes on “Medium” (10 p.m., NBC).
Tiny terrors on “Supernanny” (10 p.m., ABC).
Cult choice
Doris Day plays an industrial spy in the 1967 thriller “Caprice” (5 p.m., Fox Movie Channel), co-starring Richard Harris. Leonard Maltin gives this a “Bomb” rating, calling it “Muddled, unfunny, straining to be ‘Mod.’ ” As if that’s a bad thing.
Series notes
Too close for comfort on “Yes, Dear” (8 p.m., CBS) … Joe Rogan hosts “Fear Factor” (8 p.m., NBC) … Flex demands equal treatment on “One on One” (8 p.m., UPN) … Melissa Gilbert and Bo Derek appear on “7th Heaven” (8 p.m., WB).
Corbin Bernsen guest-stars on “Cuts” (8:30 p.m., UPN).
You’re in serious need of a life if you’re still watching “The Bachelor” (9 p.m., ABC) … Jabari vents on “Girlfriends” (9 p.m., UPN) … Ephraim feels confused on “Everwood” (9 p.m., WB) … Creative input on “Two and a Half Men” (9:30 p.m., CBS) … Mona asserts herself on “Half & Half” (9:30 p.m., UPN).