AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: "McCARTHY"
PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET
DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE: Plenty of documentaries have been made about the junior senator from Wisconsin, and Joe McCarthy’s temporary stranglehold on political power and national fear in the 1950s. His tactics and impact, however, seem to all but cry out for a new treatment, and here it is. When candidate or President Donald Trump makes unsubstantiated allegations against perceived enemies, or asks where is his modern-day Roy Cohn, or talks of “witch hunts” and McCarthyism itself – well, this is the wellspring from which it all originates, with Sen. McCarthy’s zealous, increasingly venomous self-appointed mission to identify and ostracize alleged Communist sympathizers. For full reviews, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower and Mike Hughes' Open Mike. Check local listings.