Best bets for April 22: It’s Earth Day

1) Earth Day shows. Shouldn’t there be a gap between holidays? Fresh from all the Easter events, we find that this is Earth Day. Kids get a special “Nature Cat” (shown here) episode, at 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on most PBS stations and 6 p.m. on PBS Kids. Adults can try National Geographic’s “The Last Animals” at noon ET and a jungle episode of the splendid “Hostile Planet” at 9 p.m., rerunning at 11. Or they could all go to a movie theater; “Penguins,” a delightful DisneyNature film, is in its first week. Read more…

1) Earth Day shows. Shouldn’t there be a gap between holidays? Fresh from all the Easter events, we find that this is Earth Day. Kids get a special “Nature Cat” (shown here) episode, at 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on most PBS stations and 6 p.m. on PBS Kids. Adults can try National Geographic’s “The Last Animals” at noon ET and a jungle episode of the splendid “Hostile Planet” at 9 p.m., rerunning at 11. Or they could all go to a movie theater; “Penguins,” a delightful DisneyNature film, is in its first week.

2) “American Idol,” 8-10 p.m., ABC. It’s time to pause and survey the field. After trimming to eight people on Sunday, ABC has a “Meet the Finalists” special, profiling each person and showing how he or she got this far. After that, the Sunday-and-Monday eliminations resume.

3) “The Neighborhood” season-finale, 8 p.m., CBS. It’s been a tough year for new situation comedies, but “Neighborhood” has survived. Ratings were so-so overall, but solid in the key (ages 18-49) demographic, so the show has been renewed. Its first season ends with Calvin inviting Dave golfing. Dave thinks that shows their friendship is growing; Calvin may have a scheme in mind.

4) “Independent Lens: Charm City,” 10-11:30 p.m., PBS (check local listings). Baltimore has been the brutal backdrop for the fictional “The Wire,” “The Block” and “Homicide”; now comes some non-fiction. Marilyn Ness spent three years filming this documentary. That was a grim time — including Freddie Gray’s 2015 death in police custody — but she also found glimmers of hope. “Charm City” includes an idealistic councilman, a police captain and a kindly old man who holds barbecues and delivers mini-lectures.

5) “Queens of Mystery,” any time, www.acorn.tv. This three-week season concludes with a movie that is quick and clever … then deteriorates in a wayward epilog. The main story finds a theater production enmeshed in envy and murder; when the killer is hauled away, jettison the rest. It has some so-so bits of failed romance, plus some hints of future stories … which are no help in a season-finale.

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