1) “Fosse/Verdon,” 10 p.m., FX. On a rainy weekend, some remarkable people gather at a beach house. There’s Bob Fosse, who recently was briefly in a mental institution … his wife, Gwen Verdon … his girlfriend, Ann Reinking … Verdon’s boyfriend … and two gifted writers, Neil Simon and Paddy Chayefsky. The idea is to comfort the widowed Simon, but other agendas surface. People want Fosse to do a movie or do a musical or just rest. Beautifully directed by Tommy Kail, this ends with a jolt.
2) “State of the Union,” 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT), Sundance. The first effort at marriage therapy went poorly: Tom (Chris O’Dowd) got to the office, then fled. Preparing for the second session, he and Louise (Rosamund Pike) argue about everything from Brexit to whether the therapist really has “Kenyon” for a first name. It’s a splendid, 10-minute conversation, alternately funny and solemn, with two clever people. “I can’t remember the last time we didn’t speak sarcastically,” Louise says.
3) “NCIS,” 8 p.m., CBS. Two weeks from the season-finale, the team comes across an ominous plot: A secret government account is funding vigilante justice.
4) “Bless This Mess,” 9 and 9:30 p.m., ABC. There’s no “Black-ish” tonight … which is good news (indirectly) for fans. The show had planned a flashback to Bow’s childhood as a biracial kid from a commune, hesitantly trying suburbia. ABC liked it and will have it launch a “Mixed-ish” series next season. Instead, we get a double “Mess” tonight: Rio (Lake Bell) has trouble fitting into small-town culture; then she finally gets Constance (Pam Grier), the local cop and storeowner, to open up to her.
5) “Frontline,” 10 p.m., PBS. Is the day coming when the U.S. economy is no longer No. 1? “Our population is four times the U.S.,” a Chinese official says. “So our economy should be four times as big.” Instead, he says, it’s 60-percent … but growing. To sell to this mega-market, we’re told, a U.S. company often must link with a Chinese one, giving away its technical secrets … while China finds its own ways to make cars and more. This balanced report views a tangled issue, including tariff battles.