Profile of ”Imelda” a telling narrative
“Independent Lens” (10 p.m., KSPS) presents “Imelda,” a jaw-dropping profile of the wife of Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Director Ramona Diaz set out to rescue Marcos from her status as a shoe-obsessed punch line. She spent years interviewing Marcos, her aides and her friends, as well as Filipino dissidents and victims of her husband’s prisons.
The figure who emerges is fascinating, complex and hideous – a crafty woman who played the good wife with Machiavellian skills, as well as a powerful politician buffered from the often ugly truth by layers of comforting delusions about love, beauty and God.
Touted as the Jackie Kennedy of the Third World, Imelda explains that her taste for extravagant wardrobes was part of her plan to “elevate” her people. Vintage clips of Marcos entertaining in embroidered finery are juxtaposed with interviews with her favorite designer, who explains how batteries of peasants worked around the clock to keep up with her imperious demands.
Vintage clips include California Gov. Ronald Reagan and wife Nancy attending the opening of Imelda’s pet project, an arts palace based on New York’s Lincoln Center, considered by many to be a garish edifice completely inappropriate to an impoverished nation. There are also clips of Imelda slow-dancing with Henry Kissinger, sharing laughs with Libya’s Col. Moammar Gadhafi, saying prayers with Pope John Paul II, and being serenaded by actor George Hamilton at an all-night shindig. Don’t miss “Imelda.”
“Frontline” (9 p.m., KSPS) offers a grim look at how America’s prisons have become mental health centers of last resort in the documentary “The New Asylums.” Fewer than 55,000 Americans receive treatment in psychiatric hospitals today. In stark contrast, there are approximately 500,000 mentally ill inmates in America’s prisons.
Some judges and experts interviewed here discuss the tragic catch-22 at work. Many prisoners are sentenced for the sole purpose of receiving psychiatric care and medication in prison, help that no one else is providing. But after the prisoners are treated and eventually released, they return to the streets, where there is no one to help them or keep them on their medications.
Season finales
The scrambling, scheming and screaming stops on a two-hour season finale of “The Amazing Race” (9 p.m., CBS).
Long-term relationships are put to the test on the season finale of “Scrubs” (9 p.m., NBC). A repeat, featuring Julianna Margulies, airs at 8:30 p.m.
Veronica puts her life in danger to discover who killed Lilly Kane on the season finale of “Veronica Mars” (9 p.m., UPN).
Other highlights
Only four remain on “American Idol” (8 p.m., Fox). And one of them is Anthony Fedorov?
Good press and bad press on “Gilmore Girls” (8 p.m., WB).
House prepares for a date on “House” (9 p.m., Fox).
A new ex-smoker joins the house on “Cold Turkey II” (9 p.m., PAX).
Extreme sports loom large on the 100th episode of “According to Jim” (9 p.m., ABC). A clip show follows (9:30 p.m.).
Series notes
A mysterious powder on “Navy NCIS” (8 p.m., CBS) … Double dating on “Will & Grace” (8 p.m., NBC) … RV life on “My Wife and Kids” (8 p.m., ABC) … Mary Hart guest-stars on “All of Us” (8 p.m., UPN).
Stacy Keach guest-stars on “George Lopez” (8:30 p.m., ABC) … Shelly can’t pass the sleeping-bag test on “Eve” (8:30 p.m., UPN).
Nathan dreams of role reversal on “One Tree Hill” (9 p.m., WB) … Intimations of mortality on “Will & Grace” (9:30 p.m., NBC).
Late night
Helen Hunt and Tom Dreesen appear on “Late Show with David Letterman” (11:35 p.m., CBS) … Jay Leno hosts Matt LeBlanc, Ann Coulter and Theory of a Deadman on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Jonathan Winters and Keyshia Cole appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (12:05 a.m., ABC).