BBC America, 8:00 p.m. ET
TCM is busy concluding its “Out of This World” sci-fi month, but BBC America is not to be left behind on the launch pad. Tonight at 8 ET, it presents a comedy that manages to spoof the entire Star Trek canon and fandom, while itself becoming a strong space-voyage action film. (And this 1999 movie also should get credit for using the same time-shift plot device as some of today’s most popular Marvel Universe franchises, on TV as well as film. Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver star as former stars of a classic TV space show – but there are stellar performances (sorry) all through this film’s roster.
CNN, 8:00 p.m. ET
This is the second set of two-night debates featuring Democratic candidates jockeying for position in the 2020 presidential race. Tonight’s debate, and tomorrow’s, are presented by CNN. Luck of the draw dictates which candidates debate on which evening – and tonight’s finalized lineup includes, for the first time in this campaign cycle, both Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Beto O’Rourke also appear tonight, while current frontrunner Joe Biden anchors tomorrow’s edition. This live two-hour CNN debate emanates from Detroit – somewhat ironically, from that city’s Fox theater.
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
On TCM, as part of its latest menu in its month-long “Out of This World” film voyage, the network starts with Steven Spielberg’s 1977 classic. You’ll never look at space the same way again. Or mashed potatoes. And what a magnificent, vitally important score by John Williams!
TCM, 10:30 p.m. ET
How do you salute sci-fi space films properly without including George Lucas’s 1977 blockbuster? It introduced the franchise, and now is retitled Star Wars: A New Hope. And the answer is, you don’t. So TCM has it… and is showing it tonight. Also shown this evening, as part of the lineup: 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (at 12:45 a.m. ET) and 1976’s Logan’s Run (at 6 a.m. ET).