1) “Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World,” 9 p.m., PBS. After a strong start Jan. 31, this three-parter skipped a week because of the State of the Union address. Now the mid-section starts in 1980s New York, with cocaine and AIDS, but also a strong rap scene — peaking in 1990 with Spike Lee’s epic video (shown here) of Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power.” Then the film leaps to Los Angeles, where fierce police action spurred the “gangsta rap” era.
2) “Night Court,” 8 p.m., NBC. The bailiff is excited that her nephew and some classmates are visiting the court, but she doesn’t realize what they have in mind. That gives her a chance for a few fairly good moments on the serious side. Still, “serious” is not this show’s strong point. Mostly it has noisy humor, semi-salvaged by the skill of Melissa Rauch and John Larroquette.
3) “La Brea,” 9 p.m., NBC. “It’s a lot,” one character says. Another soon adds: “None of it makes any sense.” Both have apparently paid attention to this tangle of time-travel, tribesmen and sinkholes. Tonight, one character returns after a few days (or 10 years). Another becomes the world’s worst look-out guy … then starts an anthropological lecture that speeds his captors’ urgency to kill him. There’s much more, somehow keeping us watching.
4) “Love Trip: Paris” debut, 9 and 10 p.m., Freeform. On Valentine’s Day, we see a richly cinematic version of a dating show. Four American women reach Paris. One is lesbian, two are hetero and one — a Mexican native who is a gorgeous, post-op trans model – is new to dating and undecided. Upstairs are eight French men and women. The people are sometimes overwrought and a lock-and-key dismissal scheme is lame, but the visuals are gorgeous.
5) More for Valentine’s Day. PBS Kids has an hourlong “Pinkalicious” at noon and other Valentine episodes, from “Clifford” at 6 a.m. to “Molly” at 7 p.m. There are romance marathons on Turner Classic Movies (concluding with “Brief Encounter” and “Dear Heart,” at 4:30 and 6 p.m. ET) and Hallmark. And there are special clusters on Paramount+ (including the new “At Midnight”) and Disney+ (including, through Wednesday, “Rosaline”).