Best-bets for Jan. 27: agony of past and present

1) “American Masters,” 9-10:30 p.m., PBS. The first half-hour is compelling and deeply moving. Using his words (plus photos and stylish art), it tells of the Holocaust experience of Elie Wiesel (shown here) and the dark years after he was freed at 16. The final minutes are also moving. Some middle portions (a modern classroom, a Reagan controversy) run too long. Read more…

1) “American Masters,” 9-10:30 p.m., PBS. The first half-hour is compelling and deeply moving. Using his words (plus photos and stylish art), it tells of the Holocaust experience of Elie Wiesel (shown here) and the dark years after he was freed at 16. The final minutes are also moving. Some middle portions (a modern classroom, a Reagan controversy) run too long.

2) “33 Photos From the Ghetto,” 9 p.m., HBO. At the same time as PBS’ Elie Wiesel portrait, HBO has this documentary. It focuses on the only known photos taken inside the Warsaw area where Jews were confined.

3) “Best Medicine,” 8 p.m., Fox. The doctor keeps finding health problems in people’s favorite places. Now it’s the local bar/restaurant … and it’s the hunky hermit whom local women lust for. It’s a good episode that turns serious when the doc’s assistant refuses to go to her mother’s wedding.

4) “Harlan Coben’s Final Twist,” 8 p.m., CBS. At first, police though Joy Hibbs had died in a house fire; then an autopsy showed she’d been stabbed and strangled. In the aftermath, her husband was a suspect and their children lived in fear. But her son persisted; a cold-case probe started 22 years later and — a decade after that — brought a conviction.

5) “Will Trent,” 8 p.m., ABC. Any fun activity, it seems, can be turned into an intense competition … and, for TV, a murder. In this hour, the victim is a dancer at the World Salsa Competition; then, in “High Potential,” it’s a champion videogame player. At 10, “The Rookie” reruns Monday’s hour.

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