Stars dance for decade; Vietnam falls in chaos
Ten years on television is nothing to sneeze at. The “Dancing With the Stars 10th Anniversary Special” (7 p.m., WATN-TV Channel 24) presents clips from the series’ first 20 seasons as well as the return of 15 celebrity alums and seven professionals.
“Stars” has worked well for so long because it has the immediacy of sport and the familiarity of soap opera or game shows. It’s the perfect comfort food or time-waster, depending on your tastes, mood or appetite. I’m not certain that this kind of series lends itself well to nostalgia. It’s a spectacle that thrives in the present tense.
“American Experience” (8 p.m., WKNO-TV Channel 10) invites viewers to revisit a nightmare with the two-hour documentary “Last Days in Vietnam.” The film recalls the evacuation of Saigon by American Embassy personnel, CIA agents and other aid workers as North Vietnamese forces besieged the city and overran South Vietnam.
The grim, harrowing and logistically daunting task of extricating Americans was complicated by the presence of thousands of Vietnamese friends, colleagues, wives, lovers, mistresses, children and subordinates who would be subject to gruesome treatment by the new regime.
Things were made worse by a U.S. ambassador who refused to recognize the reality of South Vietnam’s military collapse. “Days” recalls a concerted effort by military officers and embassy staff to secretly improvise in the face of catastrophe.
The film has too many scenes of heartbreak to catalog here. But one stands out that captures the chaos with bizarre poignance. Civilian American disc jockeys had orders to signal their compatriots that the moment of immediate evacuation had arrived by means of a special code. They were to report that the temperature was “105 ... and rising” and then play a recording of Bing Crosby’s version of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas.”
On the morning of April 29, 1975, the radio waves were filled with “sleigh bells in the snow” and everybody knew that a nightmare had reached its final, agonizing chapter.
TV-themed DVDs available today include “Mama’s Family: Mama’s Favorites, Season Five.”
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
“One Big Happy” (8:30 p.m., WMC-TV Channel 5) concludes its brief, sixepisode season.
Liv eats the brains of a woman who had been eating for two on “iZombie” (8 p.m., WLMT-TV Channel 30).
Rival crime bosses bicker on “Person of Interest” (9 p.m., WREG-TV Channel 3).
Kidnapping victims tell all on “20/20” (9 p.m., WATN-TV Channel 24).